Other Coding Resources

There are many resources available on the internet for coding. We would stress that coding should be done in pairs, this gives students opportunities to work on their global competencies of communication, collaboration, and critical thinking skills.

Class Management Tips

Have your class stop after each level, and if someone is stuck, another student will give them hints/advice so that the class as a whole is successful in completing the Hour of Code.

Instruct students to stop after completing certain levels, and try to "code" (give commands) to their partner to navigate a space in the classroom will really help some learners to solidify the concepts they are learning onscreen.

Have chart paper handy in the room where you can add new coding blocks with short definitions as the class progresses. This will help everyone to absorb all the new learning that is taking place.

Here are apps/websites to try:

Kodable is a great option for younger students. It is available on iPads, and on a Chromebook/computer on the internet.

This is where teachers can sign up their class: https://www.kodable.com/

Lightbot has great resources that are available on iPads/Android and Chromebooks/computers as well. The Lightbot Hour of Code apps are free in the App Store/Play Store. Click here for a resource that explains how Lightbot teaches students programming skills: http://lightbot.com/hour-of-code.html

Code.org has a great deal of options for Hour of Code, and a lot of other great resources as well. Two Hour of Code options are Minecraft Hour of Code, and Star Wars Hour of Code (more challenging). The Star Wars tutorial has a separate option to do it in Javascript this year! Great for more advanced classes. https://code.org/

Primary Level Scratch Tutorials with Video created by Scott McKenzie. These videos use Scratch programming: http://bit.ly/codeiscool

CS-First (Scratch):

If your students have already done the Code.org and Hopscotch tutorials then they might be ready to try Scratch programming. Scratch is an excellent online coding app provided by MIT, and it works on Chromebooks/computers. Google has created some excellent tutorials that are available here: https://csfirst.withgoogle.com/c/cs-first/en/curriculum.html

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