Summer SAVY, Session 6 Day 3, Intro to Coding (1st – 2nd)
Today, we put our coding knowledge to the test for two big coding missions. After we played a little name game, we reviewed our rules and vocabulary for coding. Then we jumped right into our literacy lesson.
We asked the question, ‘How is a coder like an engineer?’ The students had very thoughtful answers to this question, including that they both work on projects, come up with ideas, write out directions, and use their knowledge of the components of STEAM. We read the book How to Code a Sandcastle, and it showed us how we could code a robot to build a sandcastle. The students saw examples of writing a sequence, a loop, and an if/then/else code. We connected the character to an engineer and looked at how she followed the Engineering Design Process in the story and how we followed it in writing our code yesterday. We also discussed how coding can be an example of breaking a big problem down into several small problems.
Our coding mission this morning was to help Sphero get home! We found out that Sphero was lost in the woods, but he had a protractor (compass) with him. Each team created a map of Sphero’s land. They imagined cool places for their maps along with a mountain and plateau. We used Sphero’s compass to triangulate his position and where his home was. The teams were each required to create an adventure for Sphero that had at least two stops that finished with his home and used at least one sound block. They got creative with their adventures and worked hard to get the code right. Ask your student about their map and what adventure they had Sphero go on.
We took another brain break this afternoon to move our bodies and had our snacks outside since we were indoors again for ORA time. Then we came back in to learn a little about food chains and webs. We learned that there are producers, different levels of consumers, and decomposers in a food web. Each pair was given cards with different producers, consumers, and decomposers. They worked together to develop their food chains. Tomorrow they will use Sphero to map out their food web using number variables.
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
Students are learning so much in Intro to Coding! We love seeing how engaged they are in testing and improving their code! Tomorrow, we will continue working with Block code and add more variables and commands. It was a great day!
Mrs. Lewis and Ms. Kat