1/3/2014 January 3, 2014Happy New Year to all! Third graders ended 2013 as budding computer programmers and they seemed to have a lot of fun in the process. We joined in on the national Hour of Code during Computer Science Education Week December 9-15 where millions of students, actually around the world, found out what coding was all about and experimented with a variety of coding programs and tutorials. We kicked off with the Code Stars video which got the students thinking about what a career in computer programming might be like and how important programmers are now to every day life. The program we used in third grade was Kodable, which is a free app for the iPad. This app allows students to explore the concepts of programming logic, sequence, conditions, loops, functions, and debugging, all in a fun but challenging environment. Some of the students said they downloaded it on their home iPads as well. After our coding activities each third grader received a certificate for participating in the national Hour of Code. The experience was not only fun but a great exercise in problem solving and logical thinking. I will probably sign out the iPads on another date to allow them to continue the activity. Next on the agenda in 2014, learning to cut, copy, and paste as well as some very useful keyboard shortcuts! Comments are closed.
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