Summer SAVY, Session 6 Day 4, Intro to Coding (1st-2nd)
Today we had fun in our learning! We started the day by playing the Animal Toss Game with our Sphero. Mrs. Lewis showed the class how to write the code for this toss game using the if/then/else block and the loop block. We circled up and tossed Sphero to each other like a game of hot potato. When a student caught Sphero, it would make a random animal sound. The student had to guess the animal sound before tossing it to the next person. This was a fun way to warm up our brains and bodies for a big day of coding.
We asked the question, ‘How can we think about coding from perspectives?’ We looked at how we can think about coding through the perspectives of others. We used DeBono’s Six Thinking Hats to think through coding in other ways. The White Hat is the facts about coding. The Black Hat is the dangers or risks of coding. The Yellow Hat is the benefit of coding. The Red Hat is how coding can make people feel. The Blue Hat is the process or steps in coding. The Green Hat is the creative ideas we can think about for coding. The class worked in groups of 3 and each had their own hat to think about. This is a big stretch for this age group, as global thinking is not something they have developed much of yet. They worked well in their groups and came up with great components for each perspective.
Our coding mission this morning was to use the Food Chains/Webs we built with our partner yesterday and write block code with speak blocks and a loop to show the transfer of energy from one organism to another. Students had to use speak blocks to denote the producer, level of consumer, and decomposer. We used the loop to show that the bacteria feed the soil for the plants to grow and then the chain can begin again. Students practiced using the loop block that was demonstrated in the morning’s toss game. We were impressed at how the students were able to develop the code and then explain the transfer of energy. Some even added animal sounds! Ask your students about the food chain they demonstrated.
Before the end of the day today, students had Sphero Free Play with their partners. This allowed them to write a program in both draw and block code using their own creativity. The students’ only criteria for this Free Play time was that Sphero must have a purpose and must play for at least 30 seconds. This was a blast!
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
I am so impressed with how much these kiddos are learning. Coding is such a safe and effective way for kids to experience mistakes and how to improve them. It was fantastic today to see them cheer when they finally got something to work or when they said, “I think we’ve got it!” Tomorrow, we will use Sphero to play space and soccer games. We can’t believe tomorrow is the last day!
Mrs. Lewis and Ms. Kat