Watching Children Think

I was amazed at our students last week as I facilitated the Hour of Code in lower elementary classrooms with the help of classroom teachers.  Even the youngest students showed the ability to think through sequential steps and then test their hypotheses.  Watching them work through the problems and solve them was thrilling to my teacher heart. The kind of thinking needed for computer programming is also useful in so many other areas, and these children showed me that all of them could do it! Looking at their faces and seeing their minds work was so exciting!

If you are a parent of a child in grades K-3 and you would like to continue having your child use "Kodable," the iPad app we used during the Hour of Code, you can download the free app onto your iPad.  Once the app is opened, you should be able to find a place where you can enter a class code. No iPad, no problem, you can also play online on a computer and can enter a class code there as well! Go to kodable.com and click on "Play Now".  Any child can play online, even if they are not in one of these classes, but if your child is in grades K-3, choose "Play with class or student code" and then "Enter class code."


The class codes that I created for our lower elementary students are:
ccskindfirst - for kindergarten and first grades
ccssecond - for second grade
ccsthird - for third grade
Once you enter the code, your child can find his or her name in the list and get started!

Hour of Code

Every day this week, elementary students and some middle school students will be participating in this year's "Hour of Code" and will be exposed to fundamentals of computer coding. This is the second year that CCS has participated in the "Hour of Code," and this year grades K-3 will be using the elementary iPads to learn some of the logic and sequencing necessary for computer coding by creating commands for fuzzy creatures to follow in an app called "Kodable." Grades 4, 5, and 7 will incorporate the "Hour of Code" into their regular computer classes.

As CCS is ever moving forward in technology (we now have a computer programming class for high school and are introducing more programming at the lower levels) being one of 76,877 Hour of Code events around the world is just one part of our technology growth.  We hope that our students will become excited about the possibilities and will improve their logic and thinking in the process!

Check out the Hour of Code website at https://code.org/ and try some of the activities for yourself! Check back for an update after the week is over.

Last year's coders had a great time! >>>>