Make Note

Decomposition is part of computational thinking.  

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 PencilCode to learn about and create new music.  

This activity is perfect for someone who wants students to create rather than follow a tutorial.

Some things you need to know:

• Here is a link to the tutorial.

• Press the play button to see what the existing code does.  

• Students can hit the "More Ideas" button in the top left for more ideas or they can move down the left column to more advanced activities.

• Likely you will want students to have headphones.

Make music in Scratch! 

Some things you need to know:

• Link to the activity is HERE.

• Students will be coding in scratch, which is a block-based environment.  Students will be dragging puzzle pieces to create code.

• There is more here than meets the eye.  This teacher guide will be helpful to you to give you a sense of the directions you can head.

• You’ll definitely want to try this ahead of students.  

• Likely you will want students to have headphones.

EarSketch's Hour of Code

Some things you need to know: 

• Students do not need to login to do this activity.

• EarSketch is online software that allows students to create music, layer by layer.

• Here is a link to the activity.

• Here is a link to an introductory video.

• Code in this environment is written in Python.

• If students really enjoy mixing and creating in this environment, you could have a friendly competition to see ways students could mix different tracks.  There are sites like this that let you access multiple tracks of popular songs and then remix/adjust.

• Likely you will want students to have headphones.