Summer SAVY, Session 6 Day 1, Intro to Coding (1st – 2nd)
It was a fun first day in Intro to Coding! We started our day learning about the rules and procedures of our classroom. We have motions to go with each rule, so we can learn them more efficiently. Our rules are ‘be respectful,’ ‘be safe,’ ‘be kind,’ and ‘flex your intellect.’ See if your kiddo remembers the motions for our rules. When students do a great job with our rules and show how they are making connections to their learning, they will earn Flex Points as a class. The goal each day is to beat our Flex Point total from the day before. On Friday, we will get to choose a prize for ‘flexing their intellect’ all week!
We next asked the question, ‘What is a computer coder?’ We defined code as the language of computers and found that there are lots of different types of code. We read the book, How Coding Can Change the World. It helped us to make connections to other ways code is used besides telling robots what to do. We explored how code can help people, animals, and the planet. We will be making this real-world connection throughout the week. It would be great to come up with other ways your family thinks coding can help our world.
Next, we were able to get with a partner and get familiar with our Sphero Bolt robots. Students learned how to change colors, speed, and direction, and practiced driving Sphero with the joystick. Once students were comfortable using the Sphero app, we began our first coding mission!
In honor of the beginning of the Olympic Games this week, we pretended that our Sphero robots were Olympic sailing boats. We watched a video about how Olympic sailors must maneuver their sailboats around a course, completing 2-4 laps, and not hitting any of the buoys as they pass. For our coding mission, students used the draw code canvas to tell Sphero how to move around the cones we used as buoys. Students worked with their partners to write, test, and improve the code to complete the racecourse. We learned that it takes many tries to get the code just right to carry out the task. Mistakes just give us more information so that we can improve on the next try!
Finally, we finished our day with STEAM Stations. Our stations include painting using the Sphero, coding with LEGO bricks, using shapes to code sandcastles, and the game Cracking the Code from National Geographic. Students worked hard and enjoyed our station time.
We had a great first day in Intro to Coding! Tomorrow, we will begin working with Block code. We’re excited to see how writing with block versus draw makes a difference in our students’ coding missions.
Mrs. Lewis and Ms. Kat