This week, my district put on an awesome 2 day tech conference called Highway 21. All employees were able to attend for FREE if they wanted to. It was amazing!
One of the teachers in our district is a certified trainer for the website code.org, so the first day we had the opportunity to spend the whole day being trained on their FREE curriculum!
This is a completely free resource that ANYONE can sign up for, including students. Or parents. Or whomever.
You can start off by signing up for a free account.
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| If you have a kiddo at home, they can sign up too! |
Then you have a ton of choices about what kinds of activities you want to do.
The Hour of Code
The Hour of Code is exactly what it sounds like. Take an hour, and learn some basic Scratch programming. There is an official Hour of Code day in December, but you can really do it anytime! This is great for kids who might use the word "bored" over the summer, or for adults to learn about programming too. I have done the Hour of Code, and let me tell you, I learned A LOT.
Student Section
This section lets students try out the Hour of Code, or any of the courses that code.org offers. They almost all come with videos to get them started and they can do as much or as little as they like. There are courses for kids who can read, and for the little guys who can't read yet!
If you want to think about how to get a Coding Club started in your school, or you want to try some of the lessons in your classroom, or you just want to see what's available, this is your section! You can have a look at all the courses they provide (for FREE) and have a look at professional development opportunities in your area. Which are also FREE, by the way!
I highly encourage you to just explore a little bit with code.org. It's a fun and engaging way to introduce students (and adults!) to the world of computer science. There are great videos, awesome tutorials, and the actual lessons really get kids thinking about how programming works!
Hugs,
