In December, the girls began the coding unit by learning about Ada Lovelace, a famous, female computer programmer. Next, the girls participated in the Hour of Code. According to the Hour of Code website, "Launched in 2013, Code.org® is a non-profit dedicated to expanding access to computer science, and increasing participation by women and underrepresented students of color. Our vision is that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science. We believe computer science should be part of core curriculum, alongside other courses such as biology, chemistry or algebra." You can find more info about Hour of Code - even have your daughter do this at home - by clicking here.
The girls are now using Scratch, "a free programming language and online community where you can create your own interactive stories, games, and animations" (https://scratch.mit.edu/). The girls began learning this programming language in 4th grade, building onto their skills. This year, in fifth grade, the girls will continue to build on the basics of Scratch. They are learning how to: create animation incorporating movement and images, use xy coordinates to move sprites, alternate between different costumes, incorporate time and motion, import pictures and sound, create and recording sounds to use in projects, use the pen function, and use repeats to draw images. Then, they will use these skills and incorporate them into a variety of games and other projects.
We use the downloaded version at school. You can download this at home or create an account for your daughter (parents permission and email required) by clicking here. Please be aware that if you don't download the program, your daughter will be on an online community that should be monitored by parents.
