My Middle School Students have been working with Scratch in preparation for The Hour of Code event in December. We began with the learn to code tutorial on Code.org. This was a great way to introduce the students to the basics of coding and they had fun as the Tutorial used Angry Birds and Plants vs Aliens levels. I was thrilled at how engaged all 6th, 7th and 8th graders were with the tutorial and were determined to reach the end. I loved how the tutorial made them think. The later levels were not easy and the students needed to try a few different things to reach the end.
I then had the students sign up for their own Web Based Scratch account. If they did not have an email address, I gave them one to use. (This website let me use the gmail+1 trick to create additional accounts.) This way they can work on their projects from home and it makes it easy to share projects. During our first class with Scratch we learned together, using directions I found on how to make a maze game. While the basics of the directions worked, we had trouble getting our Sprite to move correctly using the arrow keys. I went home and spent the next evening playing with Scratch and figuring it out. I found the best way to learn was to look at a game someone else made on the Scratch website. If you click on SEE INSIDE you will see the scripts written for that game. I found a maze game I liked and used it as my model for making my own maze game, complete with annoying noises which I knew the Middle School students would enjoy. Below is my game. You move the Butterfly through the maze using the arrow keys. I have students who attended Scratch summer camps, so they were already experts and able to help the rest of us. I needed to learn a little ahead of the other students so I could help them, but I also encouraged them to check out other projects to get ideas. I am excited to see where we go with Scratch and gaming. All grades will be participating in Hour of Code and my hope is that we are gaming, coding and creating on an ongoing basis throughout the rest of the year. There are other tutorials on the Hour of Code website, including an introduction to JavaScript and Tutorials for LightBot (for younger students) and Tynker (coding similar to Scratch.) I have also been using some FREE iPad Apps that teach coding with the students including Kodable, Daisy the Dinosaur, Hopscotch, Cargo-Bot.
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AuthorI teach technology to grades Preschool through 8th grade in the mornings, and 2nd grade math, science and religion in the afternoon.I love to share the ways we utilize technology to enhance our learning. Archives
September 2016
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