Celebrating CSEdWeek

CSEdWeek is December 9-15 this year! How are you celebrating? At our school, our principal is adding a fun fact about a pioneer in his morning announcement.  Of course, there are many more heroes in computer science, so this is one small way to raise awareness of the people who've made an impact in our daily lives.

Editable Resource:
CSEdWeek Pioneers

In the computer lab, we are creating binary code bracelets to teach students about the computer science word, binary, which means a way of representing information using two options.

Editable Resource:

Binary Bracelet activity

Happy Coding!

Coding with Robot Mouse

Robot Mouse is a simple programmable robot to start young students on coding. I have been looking for something tangible and easy to use for students in kindergarten and first grade.  The kit comes with maze boards that can be customized.  Initially, it would be easier to create a 2x3 grid for students to get comfortable before piecing the 3x5 or 4x4 maze together. Students can discuss and plan the algorithm using the coding cards (forward, backward, turn left, and turn right) to determine how the mouse will get to the cheese.  Then they enter the commands directly on the mouse using the different color arrows and then press the center green circle. 

Students have a great time programming and re-configuring the grids, and even putting up "walls" to challenge their mouse to get to his cheese.  Another way to use robot mouse is to create math grids with numbers or words to practice math fluency or sight words while coding! With the number grids, students can roll the dice, place the cheese on the sum, and code the mouse to the cheese.

Printable and editable resources:
Plan your Algorithm
Blank Grid for Robot Mouse
Number Grids for Robot Mouse 
Word Grids for Robot Mouse
Eric Carle Brown Bear Sequence for Robot Mouse

Scribbling Jitterbugs

Our student interest club was inspired by San Francisco's Exploratorium, where anyone can visit the museum and tinker, play, create items with different materials.  It is amazing to see students tinker and discover new ideas and products.  We combined Exploratorium's "Jitterbug" and "Scribbling" projects and made our own Scribbling Jitterbugs.  The students used a motor, leads with alligator clips, recycled cartons, weight (unclaimed erasers or hot glue sticks), markers and a battery as the base of their prototype.  They learned about a simple circuit and how electricity travels from the motor through the leads to the battery and back.  Here are some of their creations:

After the students create their prototypes, we had some fun with it.  We had them dance around the page and race down two tracks.  The Scribbling Jitterbugs made some pretty spirals, curves, dots, and lines.  With all the students' projects combined, we made some impressive art work.