Each year, Code.org celebrates "Hour of Code," a week-long event during which everyone in the world is encouraged to take one hour of their time to introduce themselves to programming.
Last year, students in the 9-12 Program participated in this event. Students used their iPads to access the coding materials hosted by Code.org to experience programming, some for the first time. Students had a choice of programming challenges; some students created their own Flappy Bird game while others worked on creating snowflake designs. A few students even chose to complete an introductory lesson that discussed directional control, number inputs and the very beginning of conditional statements.
All students (yes, even toddlers!) at Wilmington Montessori School will participate in Hour of Code during the week of December 7, 2015. Paula Sharpe, WMS's STEAM Coach, has programming materials for all ages and experience levels. Many of these programming activities have already been incorporated as part of WMS's STEAM curriculum. Code Week activities will be age-appropriate, focusing on the skill level and abilities of students in each age group.
In the Toddler Program (ages 1-3), Paula will introduce children to the Bee-Bot as a way to experience hands-on programming. To help our youngest students understand the basic concept of programming as a set of instructions, children can press arrow buttons to direct the movement of the Bee-Bot. Primary students (ages 3-6) will continue to utilize these concrete hands-on materials and also move toward more abstract digital programming activities such as Dash and Dot and Scratch Jr. Elementary students (ages 6-12) will have access to hands-on programming in the Maker Studio such as Little Bits, as well as digital programming through Khan Academy, Codecademy and Code.org.
Most of these digital tools used can also be used at home for families who would like to program with their children. For more information on the hands-on and digital platforms used at WMS, check out these links: