I feel that this post is probably superfluous. Code.org has done a wonderful job already of promoting this year’s Hour of Code, scheduled for 12/7-12/13. However, it doesn’t hurt to give this great event more publicity (with the hope that Code.org’s servers can handle all of the extra traffic). The concept is simple – make sure every … Read more
Last week I gave a presentation called, “Code Dread,” at a tech conference. I’m not sure who had more dread at the time – the attendees who hadn’t tried coding before, or me, the teacher who can only speak publicly in front of people 10 and younger. My target audience was people who are interested … Read more
“Are we going to do Share Time today?” “Yes.” “When?” “Soon.” 5 minutes later… “When can I share?” This 5th grader was super-excited, and completely determined to make sure I didn’t forget to give him his 5-minute sharing opportunity. In my GT classroom, students can earn different privileges for certain achievements, and this was a … Read more
It’s not too early to start planning for this year’s Hour of Code! It’s December 8-14, and you know that November is going to fly by quickly. Hour of Code is an initiative from Code.org with the purpose of getting students around the world exposed to programming skills. All of my GT students, 1st through … Read more
I’ve just added two new resources to my Programming for Kids Pinterest Board: Pencil Code Gym and Code Studio. I haven’t played with either one of them, yet – but they look like they are worth exploring. Pencil Code Gym gives you the opportunity to code your own art, music, or fiction. It looks fairly … Read more
Last year, our school’s art teacher asked the students to fill out forms about their teachers which she then compiled into books for each teacher. I laughed as I was reading my book. For the sentence, “For fun, she likes to…” one student completed it with, “go on Kickstarter and get more things for our class.” … Read more