Reflecting on Hour of Code
Last week, students in classrooms across the globe celebrated Computer Science Education week by participating in the Hour of Code. My home district of Lynnfield, MA was no exception. Students from our AP Computer Science class came down to the elementary schools and guided students as they kids worked in pairs through coding activities from code.org. For teachers looking to
provide more opportunities beyond the Hour of Code, below are some ways to cash in on the momentum of Computer Science Education Week:Coding is a new form of literacy and can be used in classrooms as a way for students to express themselves. There are many opportunities to move beyond the Hour of Code and begin to incorporate coding in your classroom throughout the year. Here are some resources to help teachers get started:
Lesson Ideas incorporating Coding:
- Teacher-Led Hour of Code Lessons – check out this list which includes a wide range of activities teachers can do in class with students, many of which can be integrated with core subject area lessons.
- ELA+ Coding – Lessons from Kodable (K- Gr5)- perfect option for pre-readers to engage in coding
- Scratch Help Resources & project ideas – (Gr4+) My favorite drag & drop coding platform for use with students, Scratch is incredibly flexible and can be used for digital storytelling projects and so much more! Scratch now offers teacher pages and “Things to Try” ideas with step-by-step tutorials to build your Scratch know-how. I’ve shared some projects in previous posts that I’ve done with kids including: Creating Interactive Exhibits with Scratch and Makey Makey, as well as Coding Math Word Problem Games using Scratch
- One One Condition – Use Flocabulary resources along with ELA to teach students about conditional statements in coding
Enrichment Activities / Classroom “Centers” / After-school Programs:
- Code.org/learn – filter by device & age range, many self-paced options to choose from
- Osmo Coding Game – iPad only, requires purchase of base kit + coding kit, great for “centers”
- Scratch Jr. – pre-readers can enjoy learning to code on iPad, Android or Chrome devices
- Technovation Challenge – middle and high school girls can participate in this app development & business entrepreneurial competition
- Made with Code Projects – appropriate for middle and high school students, this site has a variety of high-interest maker-style projects aimed at young girls
- MIT App Inventor Tutorials – students can create their own Android apps using this block-style coding platform developed by folks at MIT
Professional Development/Learning Opportunities for Teachers:
- No-cost teacher workshops from Code.org – Attend in-person or online CS Fundamentals workshops to begin using Code Studio
- TheCodingCorner teacher resources – browse this great blog for teaching resources
- Beyond the Hour of Code – a resource-rich website maintained by my friend and TechEducator Podcast co-host, Sam Patterson. He also has a book available focused on incorporating computer science in the primary grades.
- CS Unplugged – free online book of “unplugged” activities to develop computational thinking skills with hands-on activities and no device
- Subscribe to podcasts – learn throughout the year by listening to podcasts about how to incorporate coding and computational thinking into your classroom
