Mr. Zdeb's Computer Lab

Weeks of January 10, 17, 24

 ***

"The Prairie Hill definition of publishing is: combining text

and graphics in a layout." - from an ancient Prairie Hill  proverb.

 

The 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades will begin basic typing skills with MAVIS BEACON. Visit the Mavis Beacon web site to learn more about this fine program.

 

This week the 6th - 7th and 8th grades will start examining the HTML Editor. These are the programs used to create web pages. The one we will examine is an 'open-source' program originally written for the Linux operating system by Mozilla and now ported over to Windows. As such it is totally free and able to be downloaded off the internet at WWW.NVU.COM.

Lab Activity One (An introduction to basic skills with the program)

Lab Activity Two (Tables, colors and text formatting)

Lab Activity Three (More on backgrounds and advanced image placement)

Lab Activity Four (Linking to internal and external sites)

Essay Questions

Grades

Document made with Nvu

First Grading Period's Activities

Grades 6-8 Study of Vector vs. Raster (bitmap) graphics.

  • Intro G.I.M.P. (GNU Imapge Manipulation Program).  

  • Basic interface, tools (masks, clone and layers) and file management.  

  • Intro Layers / Layer Properties and Dialogs

Study Guide:

Can you:

  • Open an image in G.I.M.P?

  • Create two transparent layers on that image?

  • Paste bitmap objects(selection) on to each transparent layer?

  • Demonstrate to the teacher layer visiblity?

  • Create an opaque layer and add some freehand drawing or fills?

  • Demostrate to the teacher the 'opacity' and 'modes' commands?

 

Essay comparing vectors to bitmaps. Spelling, grammar etc. will be factored into the grade. To earn a 'B' the essay must compare (difference or similarity) four issues. There is no word, paragraph or length requirement. This is due by the last day of the grading period.

Students may write the essay using MSWord at PH or any word processing program they have on their home computer. I will accept assignments in hardcopy, diskette, hand written or attached to an e-mail and sent to admin@prairiehill.org.

Students may use the internet to look up many of the excellent sites that deal with computer graphics. If information is copied and pasted from the net to the essay, I will expect appropriate references.

Remember: plagarisim is discouraged and will result in a failing grade!!

 

G.I.M.P. (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is an Open Source program originally written for the Unix Operating System.  As such, it is totally free!!!  It is an extremely powerful and professional package.  In its second version it has been ported over to the Windows Operating System.  For more information on GIMP licensing, versions, tutorials and availability visit gimp.org