Lesson 4-15

Build-a-Band: Planning

Objectives

In this lesson, students will be able to:

plan how to create a music-themed program in Scratch that is controlled with loops.
create an open-ended project in Scratch that explores music to which they have a personal connection.

Objectives

In this lesson, students will be able to:

plan how to create a music-themed program in Scratch that is controlled with loops.
create an open-ended project in Scratch that explores music to which they have a personal connection.

Materials

projector
computing devices for students
Green Level Student Workbooks, pp. 16-19
Build-a-Band Planning Guide, printed

Standards

CSTA 1B-AP-10: Create programs that include sequences, events, loops, and conditionals.
CSTA 1B-AP-11: Decompose problems into smaller, manageable subproblems to facilitate the program development process.

Vocabulary

event: an action that causes something to happen
loop: repeat a sequence of instructions
parallelism: sets of instructions that run at the same time
program: a set of instructions written in a language that a computer understands
script: a set of Scratch blocks connected together to form a sequence
sequence: a set of instructions that follow one another in order

Additional Resources

Build-a-Band choice board (optional)
Build-a-Band public Scratch studio for inspiration!
Consider using the Scratch Starter Cards to help students who are feeling stuck.
Getting Unstuck Strategies from the Creative Computing Lab

Lesson Steps

1. Do Now: Digital Citizenship (5 min)

Show a short video from this list and prompt students to write key learnings in their journals. Then, briefly discuss.

2. Review: Loops (10 min, optional)

Review the concept of loops using p. 16 in the Student Workbook. Prompt students to discuss the questions on p. 17 using a classroom discussion technique like think-pair-share to develop a deeper understanding of loops.

3. Introduce Project (5 min)

Introduce the idea of creating your own band in Scratch with clickable sprites driven by events and music controlled by loops. Consider showing project examples from your other classes, or from the Scratch community’s public Build-a-Band studio.

4. Plan Project (25 min)

Use the Build-a-Band planning guide to help students plan for the project they want to create in Scratch. Encourage them to complete as many of the brainstorming questions as necessary, and to sketch the images of the stage, sprites, and code blocks they plan to use to create their project.

5. Start Building Project (15-25 min)

Provide students with work time in Scratch to begin creating their Build-a-Band project. Remind students how to navigate to the Scratch website, log in to their account, and click “Create” to start a new project. Use the Exploring Musical Instruments and Build-a-Band workbook pages (18-19) to help guide students as they begin creating in Scratch.

Encourage students to work together, ask each other for help, and share what they are figuring out. Identify “student experts” for Scratch-specific tasks who can help their peers (i.e. using the sound blocks, adding a backdrop, changing the color of a sprite).

6. Close-Out (5 min)

Ask students to think back on their experience planning for their Build-a-Band project today by responding to these reflection prompts:

How did the planning guide help you start your project in Scratch?
What are you excited to add to your Build-a-Band project next class?

Universal Supports

Provide sentence starters and word bank for students (for use during Do Now and Close-Out).
Provide personal copy of Student Workbook pages with highlighted or annotated notes.
Reference vocabulary posters when reviewing key terms. Acknowledge when students use academic words. Mirror their statements back to them in complete sentences so they hear the academic term and its surrounding context.
Model how to plan and program the actions of one sprite for all or some students.
For the planning, assign students to heterogenous groups with a range of comfort with English language. For programming, assign students to partners using driver/navigator roles.
Utilize a variety of resources to help students who get “stuck” while working on their project in Scratch. Encourage them to ask peers for support, explore Scratch tutorials or Starter Cards, or utilize one of these strategies to get unstuck!
Encourage students who are looking for a challenge to explore the option of importing their own images and music into Scratch. Be sure to show them how to provide credit for using those resources on the Scratch project page!

Reviewing Student Work

Are students able to think through the elements of their Build-a-Band project with the planning guide? Were they able to use the brainstorming section as well as the areas to sketch backdrops, sprites, and code blocks?
Are students using events to make things happen in their project? Are they using parallel events to trigger more than one thing at the same time?
Are students making creative use of sounds from the Scratch library? Are students using loops to control the music in their project?

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