Scratch Jr. with 1st and 2nd Grade

Integrating coding into my classroom began with the Hour of Code in 2013. I started with baby steps and introduced LightBot to my 4th graders. It was an instant hit with kids, but I could also see how the use of sequencing, procedures and loops was making my kids think more critically and creatively. Lightbot's puzzle-solving, intro-to-coding skills was fostering a natural collaboration amongst my students that I had not seen with previous apps or tools.

Fast-forward a couple months and I recreated the same learning environment with my 1st and 2nd graders by using the Kodable. It was amazing to see just how engaged and tenacious my students could be while developing coding skills.

Kodable and Lightbot are fantastic tools for getting started with coding with lower grades. They are also a great way to add gamification to the classroom. Kodable provides great support for their product. They also moderate the weekly #KidsCanCode hashtag to facilitate an ongoing discussion about coding in the classroom.

However, the true joy of coding lies in the act of creation. From the simplest "Hello World" to the elaborate creation of apps and websites, coding is about making. Until recently, I hadn't found a tool that inspired young students to create with code.

Then Scratch Jr. was released. While I have been familiar with the MIT developed desktop version of Scratch for some time, I thought that I read somewhere that there would never be an iOS version of Scratch because of some old disagreement between Steve Jobs and the folks at MIT. Either way, Scratch Jr.'s arrival has filled a void that I think has been missing in the kids coding world.

My favorite way to introduce an app is during a part of my class called "Explorer Time". We spend about 15 minutes at the beginning of each class exploring a new app or engaging in some kind of creative play. With Scratch Jr., I showed students how to add and remove characters to a project. I also showed them how to use a couple trigger commands and the movement commands. Otherwise, they are free to explore the app on their own.

The following week, we had a discussion about the history of animation. We talked about how computers are used to do most animation for today's movies and cartoon series. I asked students to create an animated fish tank similar to the fish tank in Finding Nemo. We connected students' use of loops in Kodable to solve puzzles, to the use of loops in Scratch Jr. to make our fish continuously swim. Students were also instructed to make their fish talk by using the talk-bubble block. We tried to use the microphone block, but it crashed several of our iPads. I'm not sure if this is a bug or just our laggy iPad 2s.

Scratch Jr. opens so many opportunities to allow young student's to creatively code their own animations, stories and simple games. I wished it had some sharing options so that students could export their work to a portfolio or gallery. It would also be great if there were some cloud-based collaboration tools like Hopscotch.

Scratch Jr. is essential. And its FREE! Get on it!

MTETA ITA Links and Resources

Thanks for attending my session on Coding and Creating with the iPad. I hope you found the information helpful and informative. I have created a list links and resources below. Follow me on Twitter and enjoy!

Books
Invent to Learn by Sylvia Martinez and Gary Stager
The Invent to Learn Guide to 3D Printing in the the Classroom by Thornburg, Thornburg, and Armstrong
Make 3D Printing: The Essential Guide to 3D Printers by Anna Kaziunas France

Hashtags
#kidscancode
#minecraftEDU
#minecraft
#makerED

Hour of Code
Code.org

Apps
Lightbot
Kodable
Hopscotch
Scratch Jr.
Minecraft Pocket Edition
Autodesk 123D Apps

Websites
Kodable CCSS Resource
Thingiverse
Clark Barnett's Entomology Unit
Minecraft Teacher Forum
Raspberry Pi

Beginning 3D Printing Part I

Back in June, I filled out a DonorsChoose grant for a Makerbot Replicator 2 3D Printer. It was my first DonorsChoose project and I wasn't really sure about what I was getting into. I'd read a lot about 3D printing, but hadn't actually seen a 3D printer in action. I wasn't even sure if it was a tool that would have much application in my classroom.

At ISTE 2014, I had the opportunity to meet with the folks from Makerbot to got a better idea of how this technology actually worked. I also spent some time visiting with the folks from Autodesk. I was excited to learn that they had created several free 3D design tools for the iOS. I had my "Ah-ha" moment and decided I needed a 3D printer for my classroom.

By the end of the summer I struggled to bring any attention to our grant. It did not seem likely that our project was going to be funded. A couple weeks into the school year, we had our open house and I promoted the project with parents. Within 24 hours, we received a few donations. However, we were still very far from our goal. Coincidently, for the following weekend, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was offering to fund 50% of projects on DonorsChoose. We had 72 hours to try and meet our goal. By Monday morning, our project was fully funded.

About a week later, our Makerbot arrived. I was ecstatic. It still didn't seem real. I quickly got to work unloading it from the packaging and setting it up. I was surprised by the lack of documentation with which it was shipped. The instructions were clear and simple. I began by leveling the print plate shortly after assembling a few components. The small display walked me through the process. I then attempted to load some filament but encountered my first problem.

I followed the procedure carefully for loading the filament, but our Makerbot was not extruding as it should. I repeated the procedure multiple times with no success. After a little Googling, it appeared that the thermal barrier tube was clogged. I had to disassemble the fan and heat sink from the extruder to locate the clog. It seemed a little weird to be taking apart our brand new out-of-the-box 3D printer, but a friend of mine had warned me that 3D printing requires a fair bit of tinkering and problem solving to achieve a quality print.

I located the clog and removed the hardened filament as described by the Makerbot help video. I reassembled the extruder and attempted my first print. Our Makerbot shipped with an SD card preloaded with a few simple projects from Thingiverse. I decided to print the chain links directly from the SD card.

To watch the Makerbot print was magical, almost hypnotic. The speed and precision of the extruder's movements were fascinating. Within 12 minutes I had I first print. The color seemed a little off and there were a couple flaws, but our first print was a success!

Over weekend, I researched methods for improving my print and started designing my first project on my iPad. I planned to print it on the following Monday. For all that's been written about 3D printing, I found the barrier for entry to be surprisingly low. While I did have to overcome that clog of thermal barrier tube, my experience with Makerbot was quite positive.

Posting from Raspberry Pi!

I 3D printed a case for my Raspberry Pi and found a cheap HDTV on craigslist this week. Things just weren't going to work with the old 13" composite. Graphics and text and looking much better. Now I think I'm ready to go deeper with Raspberry Pi. I'm actually very interested in playing with Coder by Google.

Yay! Homemade computer!

Beginning Minecraft Pocket Edition

I have begun integrating Minecraft Pocket Edition into my class. I am starting with 4th Graders. In my class of 24, six students each created a host world. We renamed each world according to their table colors. After the initial world was created, the remaining students joined their world. This took about 5-10 minutes of setup.

I asked students to create one house in their world by working collaboratively. The results were amazing. The above video was created by Mrs. Peters' purple table group in about 15 minutes.

Ice Bucket Challenge

We did the Ice Bucket Challenge on Friday afternoon. It was awesome. We challenged our neighboring schools, Cole Elementary and AZ Kelley Elementary. We also challenged our district's director of elementary instruction, Dr. Nathan Lang.

Maxwell Elementary Inservice 2014

I am so excited to have a new principal and so many talented new teachers at my school this year. We spent 4 days in Responsive Classroom training, followed by 3 days of inservice. Our inservice activities involved lots of team building, scheduling, walking our neighborhoods and a "Meet the Teacher" event. It was the most inspiring inservice, I've ever experienced.