ScratchAnimated Greeting Cards Level 2

What You’ll Learn… The history of the greeting card Current trends in the greeting card industry More advanced computer programming skills in Scratch How to import images for Sprites and

backgrounds into Scratch How to record and import sounds into Scratch How to design animated greeting cards

in Scratch

Stuff You’ll Need… Scratch Account

Evernote Suggestions… Write down three interesting things you learn every day while using

Scratch. Keep a glossary of words you learn during these activities. Pay

particular attention to the bold, italicized words you find. Explain why you chose the greeting card for your Scratch project. Include any sketches of your greeting card ideas in your Portfolio. If you went online to look for greeting card ideas, list the sites you

used that were most helpful. List the sources of any images or sounds you imported for your

project. Include screen captures of your work in process in your Portfolio.

Explain the steps you used to program the objects in your greeting card.

Keep a record of the “bugs” in your program and the steps you took to debug your program.

What You Should Know…

Before beginning the activities in this Learning Launcher, you should already be familiar with basic programming in Scratch. You should:

Be familiar with the Scratch workspace and how to use its basic programming tools

Be able to create a simple animation using the Sprites, Palettes, and Blocks provided by Scratch

Know where to find Scratch resources online

If you are unfamiliar with these concepts, you may want to consider doing the Level 1 – Computer Programming and Animation Learning Launcher first.

What you should already know!

We’ve all given and received many greeting cards – birthday cards, holiday cards, thank-you cards. The average American receives 20 greeting cards each year. In fact, Americans buy over 7 billion greeting cards annually (and that doesn’t even include e-cards)!!

The History of Greeting Cards

What You Should Know…

The custom of sending greeting cards goes back to ancient Chinese New Year traditions and to ancient Egypt. By the early 15th century, Europeans were exchanging greeting cards made from handmade paper.

In the mid-19th century, advances in printing and paper production technology made greeting cards much more affordable. And with the introduction of the postage stamp in 1840, the practice of sending greeting cards grew quickly!

Valentine Card - 1909

The World’s First Known Christmas Card – created by John Calcott Horsley for Sir Henry Cole – 1843

The History of Greeting Cards

What You Should Know…

E-Cards represent the fastest growing segment of the greeting card industry with over 500,000 e-cards sent annually worldwide.

Lewis Prang, a German immigrant, is generally credited with starting the American greeting card industry when he began printing and selling Christmas cards in the1870’s.

Today there are more than 3,000 greeting card publishers in the United States, ranging from small family businesses to large publishing corporations, and greeting cards are sold in approximately 100,000 retail stores!

What You Should Know…

In the Level 1 Learning Launcher – Computer Programming and Animation, we watched several short video tutorials to learn the programming skills necessary to give characters a setting, program character interactions, and add music to the scene. If you need to review these skills click the images at right.

Scratch ReviewNeed a refresher?

Click on each image to watch the video tutorial and review

programming techniques.

What You Should Know…

Let’s explore how to create a simple animated birthday card using Scratch!

First, let’s decide the features of the card, then let’s use the software to make it.

In this example, we’ll make a humorous birthday card. Let’s have a duck quack as it crosses the stage. Also, let the duck say, “Duck! It’s your birthday”.

Let’s also add a background for the stage.

Duck! It’s Your Birthday!!

Duck! It’s your birthday.

What You Should Know…

The top set of blocks controls the behavior of the duck and the sounds.

The bottom set of blocks controls text bubble.

Duck! It’s Your Birthday!!

What You Should Know…

Let’s examine each set of blocks carefully. Examining the work of others will help you to solve similar challenges.

A Closer Look

This stack of blocks has two parts. The first part tells the Sprite to play the sound called, “Duck” and move 5 steps.

The second part of the stack tells the Sprite what to do when it hits the edge of the stage. In this case, the Sprite stops all behaviors. To get the computer to

make the sound, “quack” for the duck, open the sound tab

and select the Import button.

What You Should Know…A Closer Look

The bottom stack of blocks is much more simple. It assigns the words that appear in the text bubble

What You Should Know…Importing ImagesAs you get more creative with Scratch projects like animations, games and greeting cards, you’ll probably want to use your own characters for Sprites or your own pictures for stage backdrops. You may also want to record or import your own sounds, like your voice, music or sound effects.

Let’s learn how…

What You Should Know…Importing a Sprite1. Select the Paintbrush button.2. Click the Import button.3. Browse to the location of the image

you want for your new Sprite.4. Double click on the image.5. The image should appear on the

Paint Editor screen. Click “OK”6. Your image appears as a new

Sprite!

What You Should Know…Importing a Background1. If it’s not visible, double-click anywhere

on the stage area to launch the Background tab.

2. Select the Background tab.3. Click the Import button.4. Select the location of your new image.5. Double click on the image.6. The image should appear in the

Background menu and as a new Stage.

What You Should Know…

Scratch includes a wide collection of sounds.

Recording & Importing Sounds

If you want a new sound, you can record your own or import one into Scratch.

What You Should Know…Recording & Importing SoundsThere are two ways to access the sound recording and importing tools on Scratch.

1. Use the pull down menu on the “play sound” block.

2. Select the Sound tab from the tools

What You Should Know…Recording a Sound

1. Click on the Sounds tab2. Select the Record button3. The Sound Recorder will appear on your

screen.4. Click the red dot to start recording. Click

the black square to stop recording. 5. To save the sound, click “OK”.6. To name your sound, double click,

“Recording 1” in and type the new name.

First, let’s learn how to record a sound in Scratch!

You can also record sounds using the pull-down menu on the play

sound block!

What You Should Know…Importing a Sound

1. Click on the Sound tab.2. Click the Import button to import a

new sound.3. Navigate to the location of your

sound file.4. Highlight the sound file and click,

“OK”.5. The new sound will appear in menu

of sounds.

Here’s how to import a sound file in Scratch, like a voice recording, music, or a special sound effect!

What You Should Know…

We covered the next two slides in Level 1, but it’s worth taking another look!

Remember that almost EVERY program goes through a debugging process! Take your time and try not to get too frustrated. The answer is always somewhere right in

front of you!!

What You Should Know…

“It didn’t work!!” You’ll find yourself saying that a lot as you work with Scratch (or, for that matter, any other method of computer programming).

That’s because computer programs are rather “simple-minded”; they do exactly what they’re told – no more, no less. They don’t know what you want your program to do, they can only perform each instruction literally and in the exact order given.

When creating a program with a complex set of instructions, you are bound to miss an important step or have something in the wrong order.

When this happens (and it will), you need to debug your program. The most important element of the debugging process is always the same: Don’t get discouraged, you can fix this!!

SmartLabs are all about problem-solving, so approach it like a puzzle and have some fun!!

Programs only do what they’re told

What You Should Know…Debugging Your ProgramHere are some important things to keep in mind:

You’re not alone! Virtually every computer program must be debugged. In fact, software companies often continue debugging for years after software is released to the public!

First, think about how the program is behaving unexpectedly – often that will be your best clue to the problem.

Second, carefully examine each program step in order to identify the problem instruction(s).

If you have multiple program modules, try playing each one separately to see if that helps you find the problem.

Your program IS working; it’s performing each step exactly as instructed, it’s just not doing what you expected! So all you need to do is find the instruction that’s causing the unexpected behavior. Most of the time the problem comes down to something simple. A problem with a single instruction can often lead to dramatically unexpected behavior.

Don’t give up! With Scratch everything you need to solve the problem is

right in front of you!

Do It! Now it is your turn to make your own animated greeting card in Scratch!

Include some of the following features in your card:

Blocks from the following Pallets: Motion, Sound, Control, and Sensing

Sprites from the Scratch collection or import your own Backgrounds for the stage from the Scratch collection or

import your own

Check out the greeting card ideas on the next page!

Do It! Need Greeting Cards Ideas?

Get the duck to drop a birthday cake onto a second Sprite

Special Days: Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Birthday

Holidays: New Years, Easter, Chanukah, Halloween, Valentines day, Thanksgiving, Christmas

General Cards: Friendship, Thank You, Get Well, Congratulations

Need more inspiration?

Go online to search for animated greeting

card ideas!!

A big advantage for programming in Scratch is the huge online user community! You can find lots of project ideas, tutorials, and helpful hints online. You can download other user’s projects and build upon their work. You can even post your own projects (the next slide will show you how)!

Go Online for Ideas, Help, Tutorials and to Share Projects

Check out the official MIT Scratch Site: http://scratch.mit.edu/ Browse the many great tutorials on YouTube (if you can’t access YouTube from

your SmartLab, you may have to do this from home) Explore the video tutorials at http://learnscratch.org/ Do an online search for other great Scratch resources and tutorials (HINT: Search

for “Scratch software” or Scratch MIT” to narrow your search)

Extend Yourself…

Scratch allows you to share your work with others who use Scratch.Steps: 1.Once you complete your project, select the Share menu. 2.Select, “Share This Project Online…”3.Complete the form and Click, “OK”.4.If you do not have an account, click on “Create account”.

a. Create account will take you to the Scratch website.

b. Select, “Signup” c. Return to Step #2.

Share Your Projects Online

Extend Yourself…

Extend Yourself… Explore other palettes and blocks to learn more ways to control the

behavior or appearance of a Sprite.

Create a list of links to helpful Scratch online resources for your classmates.

Go online and explore careers in computer programming. What kind of education do computer programmers and software engineers require?

Swap programming ideas with a friend to share and learn new ways to control the computer animation.

Explore the Scratch activity cards. Pick a card and see if you can solve the programming challenge. Or take turns challenging your partner!

Extend Yourself… What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of e-cards compared to

traditional printed cards? Explore some of the applications in the SmartLab you can use to design e-cards like Photoshop and Flash.

Go online to look for antique greeting cards. What can you tellabout society by looking at greeting cards of the day?

Are you the next great greeting card writer or designer? What kinds of careers are there in greeting card design? Do most greeting card designers work for the big greeting card companies or do they freelance? Go online and learn more!

What would it take to design and sell greeting cards on your own? Could you earn money selling printed or electronic greeting cards at school?

Learn more about the American greeting card industry from the Greeting Card Association website: http://www.greetingcard.org/

How do musical birthday cards work? Could you make one?

Valentine Card c. 1940