Last week the 5^th through 8^th graders participated in a global learning event called The Hour of Code, a one-hour online tutorial in computer science. Even President Obama got in on the fun and wrote his first line of code. He is quoted telling kids “Don’t just play on your phone, program it.” Our students programed interactive Holiday Cards offered by Scratch, a type of software. Here is the link to follow if you would like to get in on the fun!

Scratch Tutorial for interactive holiday card

or try this link  Code tutorials

It is estimated that in 5 years there will be 1 million computer- programming job vacancies yet most schools are not offering computer science in their curriculum. The tutorials offered during The Hour of Code allowed students to write code to animate actions of cartoon characters on their computer screens. I was very excited at the level of engagement and success the students had with this activity. I plan to look for more computer science courses for my 5^th and 6^th grade technology classes that meet once a week! I also hope to learn ways to integrate computer science in my science classes. So much to learn – so little time!