Scratch Flag

1. Scratch Flag Digital Technologies Lesson Yrs 5/6

2. Curriculum Links Digital Technologies • Acquire, store and validate different types of data and use a range of commonly available software to interpret and visualise data in context to create information • Implement digital solutions as simple visual programs involving branching, iteration (repetition), and user input Geography • Present findings and ideas in a range of communication forms, for example, written, oral, graphic, tabular, visual and maps; using geographical terminology and digital technologies as appropriate English • Navigate and read texts for specific purposes applying appropriate text processing strategies, for example predicting and confirming, monitoring meaning, skimming and scanning • Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive print and multimodal texts, choosing text structures, language features, images and sound appropriate to purpose and audience • Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations for defined audiences and purposes incorporating accurate and sequenced content and multimodal elements • Use a range of software including word processing programs with fluency to construct, edit and publish written text, and select, edit and place visual, print and audio elements

3. Task Your task is to select a flag from a country of your choice. You are then to create a small Scratch program that will explain the various symbols or emblems on the flag you have chosen. If you’re new to Scratch then have a quick look at the sample link below. This task will help you better understand world of software programming or coding. Sample

4. Process • Select Flag (Click here) • Save Flag • Open ‘Scratch’ • Create new project • Upload flag • Start Coding • Present

5. Select Flag Go to the provided URL and browse the flags. Once you have found a flag that you would like to learn more about, click the thumbnail image to open the large version.

6. Select Flag Continued Once the high-resolution (large) image loads, click the right mouse button on the image and select ‘Save Image As’. Save the image to a location that you won’t forget.

7. Create new project

8. Getting Started The first thing we need to do is change the colour of the ‘backdrop’ and remove the default ‘sprite’. Watch the video tutorial to get you started. Click me

9. Upload Flag Now it’s time to upload your saved flag (sprite). Hope you remember where you saved it to! Watch the tutorial video below to see how easy it is to upload your first sprite to Scratch. Click me.

10. Start Coding This is the part when you need to use your best problem solving skills! Your goal is to have a textbox popup when you hover your mouse over certain parts/elements of the flag. You will need to upload another sprite for this part, luckily I’ve prepared one for you. Download the sprite file below and save to the same location you saved your flag.

11. Start Coding Continued The first sprite we need to download is a mouse-pointer image. The purpose of this sprite is that it will follow the mouse pointer everywhere on the screen. Also, when it touches another sprite, it will trigger the popup textbox. The mouse-pointer image sprite is a tiny black square (1px by 1px to be exact). So when you click the download button below, you won’t see it, but it’s there! Download Sprite

12. Then click on the ‘Scripts’ tab. This is where the ‘code’ blocks go for the individual sprites. Start Coding Continued Upload the downloaded mouse-pointer sprite the same way as you uploaded the flag sprite. Click on the mouse-pointer sprite (located in the ‘Sprites’ section.

13. Start Coding Continued Scratch is really simple to use. It’s simply a matter of dragging, dropping and connecting the blocks that you require for that sprite. The blocks are the code/script that will be run for a particular sprite. For the mouse pointer sprite, you will require the below blocks. Don’t be shy in trying others!

14. Start Coding Continued Well, now it’s up to you! Remember your goal, a textbox must appear when the mouse-pointer sprite touches a different element of your selected flag. If you get stuck, remember that you can look at the sample version. Have fun, and remember to be patient when learning coding.

15. Presenting It’s now time to present. The class could share their projects on a ‘shared’ Padlet wall. Padlet is an excellent tool for sharing and collaborating. You could also consider creating a quiz about your flag, e.g. What does the seven pointed star represent on the Australian Flag?