Summer SAVY, Session 6 Day 2, Intro to Coding (1st – 2nd)
What amazing strides we are making in our coding knowledge! We started the day reviewing our code definition and were introduced to the vocabulary words, ‘computer programmer’ and ‘sequence.’ We practiced sequence and code by pretending that Mrs. Lewis was the programmer and the students were the computers. She programmed the class to do the sequence (or code) ‘head, shoulders, knees, toes.’ We did it on a loop, at a slow speed, and a fast speed. It was fun to show code with moving our bodies!
We next asked, ‘What attributes does a computer coder have?’ We thought about the attributes (traits) of athletes to get ourselves comfortable with what attributes are. Then the class said that knowing each of the components of STEAM and being persistent were attributes coders should have. We read the book Computer Decoder: Dorothy Vaughn, Computer Scientist. We connected Dorothy’s attributes like being a learner all her life, working hard in math and reading, not giving up when the work changed or got harder, and trying new things to the attributes that coders have. It would be fun to talk about your own attributes with your students and what attributes your students have that would make them good at coding or other things they try, such as sports.
We then dove into our next coding language—block code! Our very first block task was to code a program for Sphero to move in a square shape with sharp corners. We had to think about the speed, duration, and direction in degrees that Sphero would go. Students also realized that they needed to add a delay command into their program to make the sharp corners of the square. They then got to explore with their partner ways they could change the square as they got more comfortable using the block code.
After lunch, we worked on our Sphero coding mission for today. Our mission was Target Math. Each pair of students chose a target number between 1 and 24. With this number, they created an equation using either addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division to get to that target number. For example, for the target number 10, an equation could be 13-3=10. We laid out a grid of these numbers on the floor. Each team had a starting position for Sphero and used block code to write a program for Sphero to stop at each number in their equation. They could also use blocks to make Sphero speak the number as it stopped. The teams worked very hard on this. It was tricky to get Sphero to land on the exact place it needed to, and we had to improve or debug our code several times. It was so fun to see each team present their hard work!
Finally, we finished our day with STEAM Stations. If your child would like to try the Cracking the Code game at home, the URL is below.
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/games/action-adventure/article/crack-the-code-1
We also used a Mario Brain Break video since we had no outside time today due to rain. The students moved their bodies when the commands were given on the screen, just like when we gave Sphero commands.
We had a big learning day today in Intro to Coding! Tomorrow, we will continue working with Block code. We’re excited to see how the students get even better at this skill.
Mrs. Lewis and Ms. Kat