Grade 1: November 25 - Looping and Pattern detectors

This week, students used a "pattern detector" (a short pipe cleaner bent into an "L") to help find the paths in Kodable where the Looper feature should be used. To be able to use the Looper, there needs to be at least two spots, right side by side, where the pattern detector fits.

Grade 4 November 17 Lesson Plan - Scratch Challenges

This week, students will continue working on Scratch challenges, adopted from the Scratch Starter Projects. This week's challenges are:

• Maze Starter
• Pong Starter
• Multiplication Game

Grade 3 November 17 Lesson Plan - Science Fair Continued

This week, students will continue work on their science fair projects. Purpose, Hypothesis, Method and Materials rough drafts will be written, and work started on building their filters.

Grade 4, November 10 Lesson - Scratch Challenges

This week, students worked on the following Scratch Challenges (the first three are adopted from the Starter Projects available here on the Scratch website):

• Teens in the Castle
• Dress Up Tera
• Spiral Maker
• Interactive Quiz Game

Grade 3 November 10 Lesson - Starting our Science Fair Projects

This week, we introduced the idea for our science fair projects. Students will design a water filter to remove various pollutants from water (soil, cooking oil, soap, vinegar), and compare their filter against a basic filter made from a funnel, cotton cloth and dirt. Students researched on the internet about different types of filters that can be bought or built, and then drew pictures of their designs.

Grade 4 November 3: More Scratch

This week, students will continue exploring in Scratch by modifying these starter projects:

• Five Facts about Me
• Teens at the Castle
• Paint with Gobo
• Animal Gobo

The first three projects are available from the Scratch Starter Project page while the last is my own creation.

Grade 3 November 3 - Scientific Method

This week, students will start preparing for the upcoming science fair by applying what we have done and the results we collected from our Graham Creek field trip to the scientific method.

Grade 4 October 27, 2014 - Back to Scratch

This week, students started using Scratch again, the block based computer programming language that had been introduced last year. Students started with existing Scratch projects and added more details: extra commands to make a Wizard perform more spells, and changing a Gobo hide and seek game to make is easier or harder. Some students also wrote their own original projects that allowed a player to try to guess a number between 1 and 100.

Grade 3 October 27, 2014 - Field Trip to Graham Creek

Today we went to Graham Creek to test the creek's water and participate in the World Water Monitoring Challenge. We measured the water's temperature, turbidity, dissolved oxygen content and pH. Next, we will analyze our data to see if Graham Creek is healthy.

Grade 4, October 20 Lesson Plan: Conditionals

This week, we will learn what a conditional is in computer science (an if ..., then... else clause.) We will practise using conditional statements with card games, with code.org "Bee: Conditional" challenges, and if time permits, with Scratch Challenges.

Grade 3, October 20 Lesson Plan: World Water Monitoring Prep

Today, students are preparing for our field trip next week to Graham Creek, where we will be doing the World Water Monitoring Challenge. We will talk about temperature, pH, turbidity, and dissolved oxygen, the four indicators we will test. We will also learn about invasive species known to grow around Graham Creek. Finally, we will learn what type of clothing we need to wear on the field trip in order to stay warm.

Grade 3 aand 4, Lesson 5: More Loops (October 6, 2014)

This week, students practised finding and writing loops using paper activity sheets - no internet connection problems here! We then had a lot of fun using loops in our own Hopscotch programs, or some students continued to work on their code.org challenges.

Using Blogger App on iPads

Today with the grade 2,3 and 4 classes we will be adding posts to our e-portfolios using the Blogger iPad App. 

Students will use their Google accounts to sign in. 

Grade 4: Lesson 4 - Getting Loopy (September 29, 2014)

This week, we will learn what is meant by a loop in computer science, and find examples of items around the classroom that could be drawn using loops. Then we will practise using loops with the code.org "Maze:Loops" activities, and by using the "Repeat" and "Repeat Forever" blocks in Hopscotch.

Grade 3: Lesson 4 - Getting Loopy (September 29, 2014)

This week, we will learn what is meant by a loop in computer science, and find examples of items around the classroom that could be drawn using loops. Then we will practise using loops with the code.org "Maze:Loops" activities, and by using the "Repeat" and "Repeat Forever" blocks in Hopscotch.

Grade 4, Lesson 3: Perseverance; Letter Drawing (Septemeber 22, 2014)

Perseverance is a very important skill in computer programming. In this class we will build a tower using only q-tips and marshmallows that is strong enough to hold a book. Then, each student will develop an algorithm to draw the first letter of their name in Hopscotch.

Grade 3, Lesson 3: Perseverance; Artist Drawing (September 22, 2014)

Perseverance is a very important skill in computer programming. In this class we will build a tower using only q-tips and marshmallows that is strong enough to hold a book. Then, each student will work on the Artist sequence activities at code.org.

Grade 4, Lesson 2: Real Life Algorithms (September 15, 2014)

Today in class we talked about real life algorithms, such as getting ready for school in the morning. Students then created an algorithm for how to fold a paper airplane, and then tested them out by following each other's instructions to actually build a plane. We finished off by continuing work on the code.org Artist Sequence activities.

Grade 3, Lesson 2: Real Life Algorithms (September 15, 2014)

Today in class we talked about real life algorithms, such as getting ready for school in the morning. Students then created an algorithm for how to properly plant a seed. We finished off by continuing work on the code.org Maze Sequence activities.

Grade 4, Lesson 1: Graph Paper Programming (September 8)

Today we learned the word algorithm and did the first "unplugged" activity in Course 2 on http://code.org called Graph Paper Programming. Great first class!

Grade 3, Lesson 1: Graph Paper Programming (September 8)

Today we learned the word algorithm and did the first "unplugged" activity in Course 2 on http://code.org called Graph Paper Programming. Great first class!