Hosting Engaging Hour of Code Activities During National CS Week!

In honor of National Computer Science Week, students in my class have completed numerous Hour of Code activities all while having a blast!

Students have been learning how to code in JavaScript and html. The class has completed various challenges including themed Minecraft and Star Wars units on Code.org. Our fastest coder completed the "Hero's Journey" module in 12:06! I timed students for the extra bragging rights - 80% of the class finished hour long activities within 30 minutes. Yay!

My STEM Smarties are also creating GIFs by drawing the pixels of characters like Clyde, a Pacman ghost, and also our school logo and Christmas GIFs. We have put our GIFs into Scratch as sprites to use as the featured characters. TinkerCAD submissions focused on Gingerbread houses this week.

We also utilized Dance Party within Code.org to code to favorite songs where they animate an avatar and replicate the avatar’s moves. Stellar dance moves have taken place and creativity has soared! Some use the same song but make different moves and then dance as their character so the audience can see the different moves while taking a gallery walk to view the screens of classmates.

#HourofCode #CSEdWeek #CSEverywhere 

Supplies

Chromebooks

EPSON Projector

Code.org

TinkerCAD

Scratch

Piskel

PowerPoint

Creativity!

Hour of Code Certificates =)

Step 1: Teach Students How to Create a GIF / Import the GIF As a Sprite Into Scratch

I really loved RooKosherbay’s Instructable { https://www.instructables.com/Teach-Kids-Pixel-Art-Animation-for-Games/?utm_source=teachernewsletter&utm_medium=email } on this and had students recreate Clyde – we changed his colors to turn in the various other ghosts. I wanted to use Piskel to the fullest as it will be going away Jan. 2022. Having done much Pixel art in paint while in high school, I liked teaching the GRIT involved in frame-by-frame animation in a program like Piskel. 

Basically, we outlined, filled our character, changed the eye movement, used the onion tool, changed colors, and lastly imported him into Scratch. My demonstration ended up being twelve Piskel frames total. 

Step 2: Students Create School Logo GIFs and Christmas GIFs

STEM Smarties then created their own version of Clyde and later our school SCS logo. Afterward we moved onto Christmas GIFs. One smarty did 150 frames of animation to make a festive snowman- extremely impressive! Another created an amazing tree where the ending said Thank you! I felt like I was melting more than the snowman!

Step 3: Complete All Four Minecraft Hour of Code Modules

Students completed all four of the Minecraft Hour of Code Challenges on Code.org. -Hero’s Journey, Voyage Aquatic, Designer, and Adventurer. Afterward, I awarded each a certificate the site made available to download. Students could type their name right onto it once a module was complete. Very fun! I did them all myself to know where the points of difficulty may arise. STEM Smarties became experts in assisting their peers with the difficult parts of the journey. We leave no classmate behind! Teamwork makes the dream work in our class.  

<Photos are rights of Code.org> A huge thanks to their site for the student resources loved by so many!

Step 4: Host a Code.org Dance Party

Students absolutely love Code.org dance parties! It is a fun time to jam out and add so much creativity while coding. The patterns in the framework of the code and the nature in using colors for each part of the code is a huge thing that Code.org excels in. The “how it works” button is a great feature.  Students can even change their song and the avatar will still dance to the newly chosen song. There is so much exploration constantly happening for learners. I can’t speak more highly of the site. Here is one of our favorite class beats: https://studio.code.org/projects/dance/7qewYvNCE3bh_awtUurOSbHft-p3sRbd359z89JyBCA . 

Step 5: How to Create Gingerbread Men and Women in TinkerCAD

Students additionally made their own gingerbread men and women in TinkerCAD as well as houses. One assignment was to write a step by step of the process of the gingerbread man. Here is Ryan's outstanding work.

Step 6: Create Detailed Gingerbread Houses in TinkerCAD

The house Ryan has created with this example is also attached.  

Step 7: Continue to Learn and Be Inspired

Continue to learn and practice as an educator to be the best for your students =). Microsoft has some neat courses to deepen one’s knowledge and continued learning.  Viewing other's Instructables is also very inspiring!

Step 8: Have a Blast and Encourage Others!

Encourage students to not only code during CSEdWeek but year round! Tell colleagues you are thankful for their hard work. Be an inspiration and know how awesome you are!