Learn Coding at Home:

Coding is a big deal right now, and rightly so. When our kids go into the workforce 10, 15, 20 years from now, they will be immersed in a world of technology. From robotic milkers to creating computer apps, even the simplest jobs will require basic technology skills. Why not give your kids up by teaching them coding while they are young, not only do they learn basic technology skills, they also learn problem solving, critical thinking, and creativity. Oftentimes, coding also breeds collaboration as kids work on projects in groups. Below is a list of some of my favorite coding websites and apps. I also listed a few kid friendly robots that I recommend. 

Websites

• Kodable.com: Kodable is a website and iPad app with many levels to teach coding. It is very basic and can be used with even early elementary students.
• Studio.Code.org: Code.org is a leader in coding education for grade school students. There are lessons easy enough for kindergarten students and lessons complex enough for high school students.
• Codecombat.com: CodeCombat teaches text coding in a game like atmosphere. Choose your hero and defeat the goblins through code. Some levels require a subscription.
• Codecademy.com: Codecademy is made for older students (upper-elementary on) and teaches many types of coding through open courses.
• Empireofcode.com: Empire of Code is a space game with a mix of strategy, tactics and coding. You can play the game with or without coding skills, but knowing how to code will definitely give you an advantage.
• Scratch.mit.edu: Scratch is a program through a partnership with MIT, the National Science Foundation and other groups that allows users to create videos and games through block based coding.
• Tynker.com: Tynker is a website and an iPad app with many different coding games. Some are simple enough for early elementary students.
• Codemonkey.com: An engaging platform where programming knowledge is acquired alongside 21st century skills through collaboratively playing and solving puzzles, inventing, creating and sharing.
• Codeavengers.com: Code Avengers allows users to learn coding through a game. There are two available levels: Jr. for 5-14 year olds and Pro for 15+ year olds
• Hacknslashthegame.com: Hack ‘n’ Slash is a puzzle action game about hacking — reprogram object properties, hijack global variables, hack creature behavior, and even rewrite the game’s code. The only way to win is not to play... by the rules! It uses an interface that looks much like Zelda

iPad/iPhone Apps

• Kodable: Kodable is a website and iPad app with many levels to teach coding. It is very basic and can be used with even early elementary students.
• Scratch Jr.: Uses simple drag and drop block based coding to build animations. Because the blocks use images rather than words it is simple enough for early elementary students. This is a simplified version of the PC Scratch app.
• Tynker: Tynker is a website and an iPad app with many different coding games. Some are simple enough for early elementary students.
• Lightbot: Code an on screen robot to complete different tasks while learning coding. There is also a simpler version called Lightbot Jr. for younger students.
• Osmo: Osmo is an iPad attachment that partners the iPad screen with tangible manipulatives. The basic Osmo kit contains the iPad stand, Numbers, Words, and Tangrams. There are additional packs like Coding Awbie and Code Jam that allow you to learn coding. This is great for younger students!

Robots

• Code-a-pillar: The Code-a-Pillar is a caterpillar robot with pieces that you arrange and rearrange to tell it how to move.
• Beebot: Beebot is a simple robot. Code it using the arrow buttons on top. Create different challenges and try to code it to make it through
• Cubetto: Cubetto is the friendly wooden robot that will teach your child the basics of computer programming through adventure and hands on play. It works much like Beebot, but utilizes a board and blocks to make the code.
• Sphero & Ollie: Sphero and Ollie are robots that are coded through the use of iPad apps. They connect via Bluetooth to the iPad. Sphero is a ball robot. Ollie is a cylinder.
• Dot & Dash: These robots work much the same as Sphero connecting to an iPad through Bluetooth, but have more apps available for programming and attachments to add to its abilities.
• LEGO Robotics: Do you love LEGOs? Me too! LEGO offers two different robotics kits. WeDo 2.0 is the simplest robotics kit. Mindstorms is the more complex kit.

If you are in the Upsala area, consider signing your child up for COR Robotics Camp as well!

*Some of the above descriptions were copied directly from the app's website.

Teaching Students to Find Their Way in the Library

I have a personal goal that all my students become independent users of the library by Winter Break of third grade. In order to accomplish this, I work on building their library skills slowly beginning in kindergarten.

Kindergarten: In kindergarten, we simply learn the basics of the library. We learn the parts of a book and the vocabulary word call number is introduced. We talk about how a book has an address to its home on the shelf. We also talk about how we can use the secret code called the call number to tell where the book goes. A basic introduction to using and exploring the library is a great foundation for what students will learn as they continue on.

First Grade: In first grade, I start to challenge the students a little bit. We review the parts of the book and reintroduce call number as a vocabulary term. As we approach Thanksgiving Break, I begin to have the students put little cards in ABC order with a group. We discuss how the books are in ABC order on the shelf by the author's last name. After practicing putting cards in ABC order, I explain the kind of books that we keep in our everybody section and we practice finding the A, B, C, etc shelf of the section. This allows the students to build a basic understanding of the order of the books on the shelf.

Second Grade: In second grade we begin to get even more in depth. My goal by the end of second grade is to have the students be able to locate books in the fiction and everybody sections of the library when given the book's call number. In order to get students to this point, I begin the year with a review of ABC order. As part of their first lesson, we put cards with one letter on them in order. During the next lesson, students work together to put cards with two letters on them into order. And finally, the students work together to put cards with three letters on them into order. After the student seem to have the hang of ABC order we start to translate this skill to finding books on the shelf. First students learn about the everybody section and the fiction section. We talk about the difference between the types of books in those sections and what their call numbers look like. We then work on finding the A shelf, B shelf, C shelf, etc of each section. After we have identified the shelves, the students begin working with partners to find a book by its call number. This skill is practiced briefly during each lesson for the continuation of the year.

Third Grade: At the beginning of third grade, we do a brief review of the call numbers from the various sections of the library. If a call number starts with E with three letters after it is in the everybody section, if it has just three letters it is in the fiction section, and numbers mean non-fiction. We then introduce using our library catalog to search for books. We spend one lesson just learning how to get to our catalog using the Chromebooks and begin to search for books. During the following lesson, we review how to search and talk about logging into the catalog and putting books on hold. From this point forward, students are able to use the catalog to search for books during their book checkout time. Later on in the year, the students are taught about the different categories of the Dewey Decimal System and practice putting nonfiction call numbers in order and finding them on the shelf. By the end of third grade, students should have a pretty in depth understanding of how to find their books in the library which simply needs to be reviewed in future grade levels.

Green Shirt and Green Screen... Oops.

In October, I began my first attempts at putting together a student new broadcast. The students and I learned lots of things in the first few months as I wrote about in a previous post. We learned how to use the iPad to record, how to utilize Google Docs for script writing, and how to use iMovie for editing among other things. We are still working on fixing some of the problems we noticed way back then, but we have also made other improvements along the way.

One of the problems that we noticed initially is the sound quality while recording with the iPad. This is still an issue that we are battling. We have tried a few different microphones and have not had a lot of success. There is one microphone we borrowed to try out that seemed to work well, so we are in the process of ordering that microphone. In the meantime, it has meant telling the students to speak up and adjusting sound in iMovie.

iMovie: When you click on volume on the bottom,
 you can raise up the sound levels.

Writing the script has been somewhat of a challenge for the students. Some kids are just better writers than others. This has meant that I set the students up to type and allow them to try their best, but then I end up looking it over to make sure everything is correct. When the students have done a good job, there's not much I need to redo, but sometimes the kids do very little and I end up rewriting the whole script. It's ok though because it is all about the experience.

We have made a few improvements over the months since I last wrote about the student news. Our first improvement was to get rid of the printed scripts as seen in this episode:

We replaced the printed scripts with a teleprompter. Our teleprompter consists of a LCD projector on a cart connected to my laptop which has the script set up in cueprompter.com. The script is projected onto a portable screen.

This improvement has meant that there is no more shuffling of papers while a student is speaking and the students are now looking up rather than down at their papers. The end result looked like this:

This was a great improvement, but after attending the TIES conference in Minneapolis this year, I just had to have a green screen. Luckily our previous Media Specialist, the great and powerful Tom Gilgenbach, gifted us the app Do Ink Green Screen. Our custodians were kind enough to paint one of the walls in our studio (back storage room) green over winter break. This has been such fun! We still record using the iPad, then we import the video into the Do Ink app to add backgrounds, save the video to the camera roll, and finish editing in the iMovie app.

Do Ink Green Screen App: Super easy to use!
Even my 4th graders can do it!

The green screen can end up looking really cool, like in this video:

But we have run into the issue of students wearing green shirts, like in this video (oops!):

Looking forward, there are still a number of ways we would like to improve the student news. Ordering the microphone to improve sound quality will be a great help. We are hoping to paint the two walls on the sides of the news desk to improve the adding of backgrounds. Each week we announce winners for good behavior and we announce birthdays daily. We will try to start adding photos of the students as their names are announced.

Looking to next year, I am considering different ways we could have students involved. Currently, all the students have an assigned date to type the script and to be an anchor. Some students dislike typing and others do not like being an anchor. I have had students help with recording and editing in minimal amounts. Next year, I am thinking that I may have students broken up into groups based on which role they would like. Perhaps some students will be our reporters and gather information for our script writers to write into the script. The script writers would perfect their writing skills in scripts that the anchors would read. While the anchors read there would be a director/ producer directing them when to speak, slow down, and speed up as they record on the iPad. After the recording is done, the editors would then put in the green screen background and edit the video in the iMovie app. This would mean that all of our 5th grade students would be involved in some way in the announcements, but in the way that they would most enjoy. This is still a thought I will be pondering for a while.

Mrs. Newhouse, why are there puzzles on the table?

Since the beginning of the year, students have had silent reading time after checking out their books. Many of the first and second grade students treasure this time to read their books and share them with friends. Many of the kindergarten students, however struggle with the amount of time they are given for silent reading. These kiddos have 25 minutes to check out a book and read through it. Some of them take the full 25 minutes just to pick out a book. Others take less than a minute to run and grab a book on display. We try to stress that they should take their time picking out a just right book that they will for sure enjoy, but for some that display book is the just right book.

With some kids getting their book so quickly, they are often done looking through it before it is time for their teachers to come back, so I have started something new with the little ones. They come in to the library to see puzzles on the tables. The kids are allowed to play with the puzzles after they check out their books on the condition that they share the puzzle with everyone at their table and play nicely together. I came up with the idea to finally use the puzzles that had been collecting dust in our storage room after attending a Media Specialist conference this fall. The session that inspired me was a session on MakerSpaces. MakerSpaces are a place where students can come to be creative and build or make something new. One Media Specialist had set up her MakerSpace with just a puzzle to start, so I decided that I would start my kindergartners off with a puzzle.

So am I just using these puzzles to fill time for the kindergartners? No. This activity teaches the students skills they will use on to adulthood without them even realizing they are learning. Students learn to match shapes and colors. They also build on their spatial awareness. More importantly, the students are learning problem solving and collaboration. These are skills that I believe will be incredibly important in the future. Future jobs will not need kids that know how to sit at a desk and work alone. The workplace is more and more becoming a place where individuals come together to form a creative, problem solving team. With students learning problem solving and creativity through jigsaw puzzles, they will be one step closer to being on the team that is bettering our world.


Lastly, puzzles simply give the kids a time to wind down and enjoy school.