I first used this lesson with my 5th grade students, I then adapted it to 4th grade. In this lesson students use music to learn about fractions.  They create music while recording the fractions they used. They then input their songs into Scratch in order to hear the music they wrote. I love this lesson … Continue reading Musical Fractions

I used this lesson in my grade 4 classroom. It is adapted from a LogoPaths lesson. I wanted my students to demonstrate a deeper understanding of permitter then they often show by plugging in a simple perimeter formula. In this lesson students: Are given the code to create various shapes in Scratch. They copy that … Continue reading Perimeter Coding Challenge

Grades: 3-5 Subject- Writing and Humanities In this lesson my students animated a narrative story they wrote to demonstrate their understanding of rocks from our How The World Works unit.  You could adapt this concept of having students animate a narrative story  through coding to just about any grade. Example Student Projects  Lesson Outline: Background: … Continue reading Animate your Story

Grade Pre K-2 Subject- Literacy In this activity my 3 and 6 year olds retold a story using clay and Makey Makeys. It is a great activity for teaching parts of a story. Lesson Outline: Read a story with repetition to students. Students identify the main characters then make the characters out of clay. Choose … Continue reading Bring a story to life with Makey Makey

The beginning of the year is all about building routines and getting to know your students.  What better way to do that than through having kids create their own program to introduce themselves to the class. They will learn about coding while teaching each other about themselves. Lesson Outline: Decide on three main topic areas … Continue reading Get to Know you activity: Create an “All About Me” program

Grades Pre K-2 Learning Intention Give and follow precise directions. Success Criteria I can give directions that my partner can follow. Standard Acara year 1: Give and follow directions to familiar locations(ACMMG023) Lesson: Students use popsicle sticks or other material that is the length of the Beebot to create a path leading to “treasure”. Students … Continue reading Give and follow precise directions

Grades: 4-5 In this lesson students make discoveries and identify patterns they notice when creating polygons through coding. In order to create the polygons they need to enter the measurement of the angles and the number of sides.  As the students work through the code they start to make some fantastic discoveries.  Here is a … Continue reading Discover patterns in polygons

Grades-Middle School and up but can be differentiated for 4th grade up As an elementary teacher I like to highlight teaching practices in elementary rather than Middle and High School but this application of coding is too good not to highlight. Also, it can be a great way to challenge Elementary kids.  I recently challenged … Continue reading Coding to Simulate Gravity