Blog Four: Coding for Kids (Planning)

 

    Coding has become an essential tool that is virtually in every aspect of our daily lives, even if we're not consciously aware of it! It's everywhere, from the apps on our smartphones to the websites that we use. It is the invisible hand that is shaping our digital world.

    In these recent years, there has been a growing trend in the introduction of coding into our classrooms. This trend mirrors the digital transformation in our society, and it offers us opportunity to equip ourselves and our students with these essential skills from an early age. By embracing coding within the classroom, we not only prepare students for the impending digital age but also furnish them with invaluable problem-solving and critical thinking abilities that will remain valuable throughout their lives.

    Scratch is a coding program that provides activities for children to explore and create within the coding domain. Additionally, there is a ScratchJr. app designed for young children between the ages of 5 and 7, which they can use to program their own interactive stories and games!

    I had the opportunity to explore Scratch myself and create a lesson plan that aligns with the Kindergarten Alberta Curriculum. You'll be able to find it here if you're interested in taking a deeper look at how Scratch can be utilized within a classroom setting. 

Within this lesson that I've created, young learners will embark on a creative journey to explore the world of music and patterns through coding. Using Scratch, students will discover how to combine basic coding principles with their inherent musical curiosity. Through this in-class hands-on activity, we will work together as a class to design and code musical patterns and compositions on the SMARTboard, fostering both computational thinking and artistic expression. This lesson aims to ignite a passion for both music, coding, and pattern recognition, all while developing essential early STEAM skills in a fun and interactive way.

This experience has provided me with valuable knowledge on how to integrate coding into my classroom. Whether through mini-lessons or simply by exposing students to how coding is intertwined into our daily activities, coding is a great tool for enhancing the student learning experience while also introducing them to STEAM at an early age. 

I hope this lesson plan is able to give you some insight on how coding can be integrated into your classroom lessons and how it can be used to enhance the learner experience!

Thank you for joining me in this blog post in exploring coding for kids! ✿

With Gratitude,

Alexis