Hey everyone! Welcome back to a new year of fun and learning! I’m Rick Rose, and I’m Eric, also known as Speak Visually on Scratch. We’re excited to bring you episode two of our weekly updates. If you missed the first episode, don’t worry! In these videos, we talk about all the cool things happening in the Scratch community.
Last time, we asked you to help us come up with a name for our show. We received over a hundred awesome suggestions! Thank you so much for your ideas. It was tough to choose just one, so we decided to mix and match different suggestions. The name we chose is “Scratch Video Update.” It’s simple and combines the best parts of all your ideas!
In our first segment, “Love It,” we explore some exciting Scratch studios. This time, we’re focusing on the “Lit” section. One studio we featured is called “Just Like Real Life.” It’s all about simulations, which are projects that mimic real-life activities. There are simulators for eating, flying airplanes, and even one where you watch a pot of water boil! It’s a fun way to practice patience before making a delicious macaroon onion cheese.
We also discovered the “Scratch Construction Zone.” Here, you can share your projects by posting a link in the comments. It’s a great way to get feedback from other Scratchers and improve your work. We’ll include links to these studios in the video post.
Our next segment is “Things to Try,” and we have some exciting new features for you! First, check out the new sounds in the Scratch library. They were created by Connor, a student from Boston who makes beats and music. You can use these new loops in your projects!
We also have new sprites, including dancing ones with real dance moves. You can create your own dancing sprite and have fun with it!
Another cool thing to try is our new tutorial, “Creating Your Own Virtual Pet.” You can make a virtual puppy or unicorn and interact with it by feeding or playing with other sprites. Look for this tutorial in the tips window!
Now, let’s take a quick tour of Scratch headquarters! We work in the Lifelong Kindergarten research group at the MIT Media Lab. When you visit, you’ll see the Scratch Cat welcoming everyone. Our space is filled with projects made by students and team members.
We have a Lego project area and a meeting space where we discuss new ideas. There’s also an electronic workbench, which is a bit messy because we’ve been busy creating!
Our workspace includes different areas for team members, and we often meet in Em’s office to talk about the community and new designs. Thanks for visiting our space!
Thanks for joining us in the Scratch Video Update! Before we go, Rick Rose wants to know if there are any studios that have inspired you. Share the links below the video, and we’ll check them out!
Alright, see you next time! Bye-bye!
Create Your Own Simulation: Think about an activity you do every day, like brushing your teeth or making a sandwich. Use paper and crayons to draw each step of the activity. Then, try to act it out with a friend or family member, just like a simulation! Discuss how this is similar to the “Just Like Real Life” projects mentioned in the video.
Sound Exploration: Listen to different sounds around your home or school. Try to identify what makes each sound. Then, create your own sound by tapping on different objects like a table, a book, or a cup. Record these sounds using a phone or a tablet, and see if you can use them to make a simple beat, just like Connor did for the Scratch library!
Design Your Virtual Pet: Imagine you have a virtual pet, like the ones you can create in Scratch. Draw a picture of your pet and think about what it likes to eat or play with. Share your drawing with a friend and explain how you would take care of your virtual pet. You can even create a story about a day in the life of your pet!
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the YouTube transcript:
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Hi everyone, welcome back to a new year! I’m Rick Rose, also known as Rick Rose on Scratch, and I am Eric, also known as Speak Visually on Scratch. I really need a haircut! With that said, welcome to episode two of our weekly updates. If you didn’t catch episode one, in these videos, we’re going to talk about things happening in the community.
Last episode, we asked you all to come up with names for this show, and we had over a hundred suggestions. Thank you all for sending in your ideas! It was hard to pick just one, so we decided to take bits from each suggestion and combine them. What did we come up with? Scratch Video Update! It’s pretty straightforward, but we’re happy with the name, and it reflects a combination of all the other names.
Now, let’s move on to our first segment, “Loved It.” Is it “Love It” or “Loved It”? I continue to love it! So, it’s “Love It.” This episode, we’re focusing on studios in the “Lit” section. We recently featured a studio called “Just Like Real Life,” which revolves around the theme of simulations. A simulation mimics what happens in real life. There’s an eating simulator, an airplane simulator, and one simulator I really like where you watch a pot of water boil for about five minutes. You just sit there and watch the Scratch project, and you have to be patient before you can make your macaroon onion cheese. I actually went through the whole five minutes! Was it delicious? Yes, it was delicious and very suspenseful!
Another studio we found is called the “Scratch Construction Zone.” In this studio, you can submit a project by dropping a link in the comments, and they’ll add it. It’s an opportunity for you and other Scratchers to check out your project and, more importantly, to get constructive feedback. We’ll leave links to both of those studios in the post with the video.
Next up is our second segment, “Things to Try.” We’re really excited about this! My thing to try is that we have a bunch of cool new sounds in the library. They were made by a student here in Boston named Connor, who creates beats and music. He made us some new loops for Scratch, so definitely check those out! We also have new sprites, including dancing sprites with real dance moves. You can choose from them and create a dancing sprite, which is pretty awesome!
Another thing to try that we just released is a new tutorial called “Creating Your Own Virtual Pet.” It’s very adorable, and you can create a virtual puppy or a virtual unicorn if you’ve always wanted one. You can make it interactive, so it can do things like be fed or play with other sprites. Check out the new tutorial in the tips window!
Now, our next segment is a message from the Scratch team. This week, we’re giving you a tour of where we work—Scratch headquarters! So, let’s cut to a short segment about that.
[Segment begins]
Hi everyone! Welcome to our space! We are currently in the Lifelong Kindergarten research group at the MIT Media Lab. Right now, you just checked out the Scratch Cat, which says hi to everyone who comes through. This is our space, and over here are some of our other projects made by students and team members.
This area is where we have our Lego projects, and we sometimes meet here. We have lots of materials that we work with, and this is also our Scratch Video Update studio. There’s an electronic workbench area, and it’s a little messy right now because we’ve been quite busy.
Over there is a workspace for different team members, and there’s Em’s office where we often meet to discuss the community and new designs.
That about wraps up the tour! Thank you so much for visiting, and we’ll see you in just a moment.
[Segment ends]
Welcome back! Thank you for hanging out with us in the Scratch Video Update. We’ll get it down next week!
Before we go, Rick Rose has one more thing to say. We started this segment by showing you some things we loved in the community. Have there been any studios that have inspired you? We would love to see them, so please paste the link below this video, and we’ll check them out.
Alright, bye-bye!
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This version removes any informal language and personal remarks while maintaining the essence of the original transcript.
