Learning to Code

Today my class learned some more about writing computer programs.  We have already worked on this with apps like Kodable and Hopscotch.  The students are learning to put the commands they want to use in a logical order to carry out a task.  Today we went to a website called learn.code.org and created our own versions of the Flappy Bird game.  The website has a nice tutorial that took us through the process step-by-step and then the final step was to design their own game.  Some students made the game character change locations as they played or created a game where you got points for crashing on the ground - a point for each bounce!  Some kids created an endless game that you can never lose.  Most of the kids have posted a link to their game on our class blog today.  You can try out their games by going to their posts here.  You can also go to the original site and try to make your own version or let your child show you how they program the game.  Here's my undersea version!

Stepping Stones Engineering Project

Our students were presented with a real life problem and they are working to solve it.  The problem is that it can get very muddy around our garden area at school.  We don't want to work on the gardens and then come back inside with muddy shoes.  We are working to design stepping stones to go around the garden plots on the playground.  Students have already designed the shape for their stone.  Today we were working to create a mosaic design to decorate the stones.  Here are some artists hard at work on their designs!