Lesson 15

Squad Goals

We are expanding Scratch Kitten's solo talent show act to include Scratch Kitten's squad! Students discover that they may copy code from one sprite to another by dragging and dropping. The result is an expressive introduction to parallelism!

Agenda

Warm-up: Activate prior knowledge about talent shows and flash mobs. Emphasize dancer synchronization. (5 minutes)
Main Activity: Students create a dance algorithm for one sprite, then drag the code to other sprites so they all move in sync. (20 minutes)
Debrief: Would it have been possible for us to program a Flash Mob of Bee-Bots? How? Student project showcase. (5 minutes)

Materials

Tablets: 1-2 per pair of students

Vocabulary

blocks - a visual unit of code
initialize - to set a computer program to a starting position, value, or configuration
parallelism - running several sets of instructions at the same time. (Definition from Scratch Jr. Coding Cards.)
sprite - a virtual object, animal, or person that a programmer controls with code

Additional Resources

Sample Programs:

Standards

CA CSS K-2. DA. 7 - Store, copy, search, retrieve, modify, and delete information using a computing device, and define the information stored as data.
CA CSS K-2. AP. 14 - Develop plans that describe a program’s sequence of events, goals, and expected outcomes.
CA CSS K-2. AP. 15 - Give attribution when using the ideas and creations of others while developing programs.
CA CSS K-2. AP. 16 - Debug errors in an algorithm or program that includes sequences and simple loops.
CA CSS K-2. AP. 17 - Describe the steps taken and choices made during the iterative process of program development.

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