Kids Who Code: We are Learning to Code!

We are learning to code in our Grade 1 classroom.  We are hoping to get SO good at coding that we can teach other people to code. 

Our class watched this video about coding today:



Here is what we learned:

• people all over the world are learning to code
• there are still people all over the world who don't know how to code
• ANYONE can learn to code if they try
• Hour of Code is when people can sign up to try coding at https://hourofcode.com/ca
• Coding week is December 7 until December 13th

Time for Patterns

Mrs. Obach's smart Grade 1 learned about patterns in math.  We can make patterns, translate patterns and find patterns. We can teach you about patterns in this video.  Our class can take pictures of patterns.  This is our first time making a video to show what we learned and this is also our first class blog post!  We hope you like our video!

Our Special Guest

Local Author/Illustrator Dianne Conrad visited our classroom last week as part of our bookmaking project!  She is writing and illustrating her first children's book called "Dama Grows"  She brought one of the paintings for the book with her and her sketchbook.  We got to ask to ask her TONS of questions and we saw her website http://www.dianneconrad.com/ Then, she gave us some tips while we worked on the artwork for our greenscreening project.  We were so glad to have a special visitor in our classroom and we hope to buy her book when it's ready!

The Six Little Chickens & The Big, Bad Coyotes

One of our big projects this year was making books.  Our class wrote a fractured fairy tale and then we decided to turn the story into a play script.  Next, we wanted to act it out using our script.  We filmed our play using a green screen and the DoInk app to put in the backgrounds from our story.  You can read our story here or watch the video! 

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Poetry

Our class has been learning about poetry.  We have been reading and writing poetry.  Here are some of our shared writing poems:

Kids Who Code: Robotics with Bolts & Mini

Thanks to inspiration from watching the movie Big Hero 6 and from seeing some interesting robotics posts from Edtech Baton teachers, I decided to order our class a robotics kit this spring!  Since we have learned to code this year as part of the Kids Who Code project, I thought that programming a robot would be a great way to continue developing our skills in the final weeks of our school year.

So... I'd like to officially introduce our new class robots, Bolts and Mini:

Bolts & Mini came from http://www.robotshop.com/ca/ and they were made by Wonder Workshop


Getting robots has been a lot like getting a class pet, which was something we have talked about (and wished for) A LOT in our class!  So when we got our robots, we had a lot of fun with our new "pets".  We  discussed names, submitted our favourites and voted on the best robot names.  It has been hugely exciting for us to work with the robots and extend our coding skills.  As a class, we have discussed appropriate use and we are learning to take turns working with the robots.  In addition to developing our problem solving, critical thinking and collaboration skills, programming Bolts and Mini will help us to meet important science outcomes related to position and motion.  I'm sure we will learn a lot as we explore robotics in Grade 2!

Kids Who Code: Scratch Jr. Tutorials

The Kids Who Code project continues in our classroom.  My grade 2s have become proficient coders using a number of student-friendly coding tools.  We wanted to help others learn to use Scratch Jr., especially our Kids Who Code partner classrooms - Mrs. Lowe's Class & Mrs. Caldwell's class.  Since these students are in Kindergarten, my students tried to pick coding activities that would help them learn about numbers, letters and colours.  Students chose the learning activities they would like to design tutorials for and they used Book Creator to develop their instructions.  Here are the finished products: 

How to Change the Background Color
by Wyat & Peyton

Video: http://youtu.be/UpvFkg-SzS0
PDF instructions: http://1drv.ms/1Fgs35y


How to Create a Picture using Scratch Jr. 
by Addison, Sev & Martin

Video: https://youtu.be/zMUnjo4VuGc
PDF Instructions: http://1drv.ms/1bsRD9w



How to Code a Character to Count - Recording
by Haily, Connor & Charlie

Video: https://youtu.be/A-wnqxgWOvM
PDF instructions: http://1drv.ms/1K2ETpo


How to Code a Character to Count - Speech Bubble
by Kylynn

Video: http://youtu.be/_XkFELylp7o
PDF instructions: http://1drv.ms/1EIIrp0



How to Code a Character to say a favourite colour - Recording
by Landon & Jaxen

Video: https://youtu.be/Ci5_lJF16-o
PDF instructions:http://1drv.ms/1HddW1e



How to Code a Character to say the Alphabet - Recording
by Kayleigh, Madison & Sarah


Video: http://youtu.be/SA_evLnwMC4
PDF instructions: http://1drv.ms/1Eudi9G


How to Code a Character to say the Alphabet -Speech Bubble
by Camryn

Video: https://youtu.be/4VN8rWNUEvU
PDF Instructions: http://1drv.ms/1zWdRNk