This year, Almond embraced the "Hour of Code". We signed up with our buddy classes to code together. The assignment was to make a holiday card using Scratch. The students needed to choose a background and insert it into the card. Then, they needed to choose at least one character and insert the character into the card. The final instruction was that the character must move. Many students programmed the character to move and say "Happy Holidays". With Scratch, students can program interactive stories, animations, cards, etc. It is free of charge, and I encourage all parents to go on and set up an account for your child. There are two versions, Scratch for 3rd grade and up and Scratch Jr. for TK-2nd. It really gave our buddy groups a chance to work collaboratively, the 4th graders helping the 1st graders and vice versa. It was amazing to watch them create some very cool cards.
This is what the program looks like while the students are still programming their interactive cards. Our lab was open during the week so that parents could come and work with their children on the program too!
There are so many options. The students can really explore and be creative. There were no direct instructions given. The students really had to figure it out on their own. I was amazed at the problem solving skills and the patience of my 1st graders.
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