Create with CS

Identify the parts of this rocket to practice decomposition!

Some things you need to know:

• Link to the activity is HERE.

• This activity does not require computers.  

• You could use another shape with smaller sub-shapes (parts) if that other shape/ image is more meaningful to you and your students.  

• Decomposition is a crucial concept in computer science.  In general, it means looking at a larger object or problem in terms of its parts or smaller pieces.

• Here is a link to a large booklet.  This activity was from the decomposition section of this booklet, in case you are looking for more ideas!  

Use Run Length Encoding (the way images are stored in a computer) to create your own emoji!

Some things you need to know:

• Link to the activity is HERE.

• This activity does not require computers.  

• Students can use any two colors to make their images more colorful.  

• If students / you prefer to use an online tool or if you are looking to enhance this activity, piskelapp.com  might help.

• If you like this activity and are looking for more ideas like this one, it is from this larger booklet.  

• If you want a tool that allows students to draw more dynamic shapes than are possible here, PENCIL CODE is a great tool for this age group.

Create a winter storm!  

Some things you need to know:

• This tutorial uses Scratch to help students learn how to make clouds and rain, but it could definitely be adopted by students to make it snow! 

• Here is a link to teacher tips.

• You could use this to connect to science units about the weather.  The tutorial does not do this explicitly, but with a little creativity, it could work!

Frozen is still cool.  Try out this tutorial to see why!

Some things you need to know:

• Here is a link to the activity.

• Teacher notes are here.  

• This tutorial exists in multiple languages.

• Note that this does use some basic ideas from geometry.  You may need to scaffold for students as they are using this tool.

No snow? No problem.  You can still create a snowman!

Some things you need to know:

• Here is a link to the activity.

• Teacher notes are here (you will need to login).

• This activity is in Khan Academy.  It contains nice introductory video and very clear and scaffolded directions.  More confident coders may finish sooner than others.  That's okay!  There is a lot they can do to customize and make their drawing more interesting and fun.

Create your own PoemPortrait

Some things you need to know:

• Students do not need to login to participate.

• For teachers or students: This article and video explains what a PoemPortrait is and some of the background to this interesting project.

• Students can create their own PoemPortrait here: artsexperiments.withgoogle.com/poemportraits.  

• Students should follow their directions.  They can choose to include their image or not.  

• This is called artificial intelligence (AI), because it is not created by a human.  It is created by a series of computer algorithms who were designed to simulate the process of writing a poem.

• If students want to know more, here is an article with more details on how this works.