Friday, January 17, 2014

6th graders learn to code

Over the past week the students have been coding or practicing their computer science skills. Computer science teaches students design and creativity, logical reasoning, and problem solving skills. It develops students’ computation and critical thinking skills and shows them how to create, not simply use, new technologies.  This fundamental knowledge is needed to prepare students for the 21st century, regardless of their ultimate field of study or occupation.

Check out what the students had to say about coding.

“I played "Sketch Racer" and I put commands in to get the turtle to draw it was amazingly fun!!! The skill I learned was that you have to put "start" for the character to move when I tell it to. I liked that game; it was lots of fun”!!

“I was using Java Script. In Java Script, I learned how to draw shapes. I really liked it because you can express your creativity and draw different shapes by writing ‘rect’ which means rectangle”.

“The game I was playing was the Scratch Project Editor. You get to program a character and make it do stuff like walking for example. It wasn't that hard to do actually it was really simple”.

“I worked on the light-bot game, in the game I had to try to get the bot to light up the blue squares with the directions I gave him, for that game I just used super-basic programming logic. I really liked it! It was a way to both learn code and have fun by playing the game”.

“The coding activity I did was the, Is Eliza Human? I made a whole conversation, for my friends, and they enjoyed talking to the robot. The skills I used were code language, by typing commands for the computer to do. I like coding the conversation; I thought it was really fun”.

 “I worked on Code Avengers: JavaScript Hour of Code. It is similar to Python, where you type in code and run it. It was JavaScript, as you can see in the name. I liked it because it was like Python (which I also liked), but instead of only teaching you about code, it made it like you were having fun and typing things in as you learned it”.

“Today the coding I did was Sketch racer you had to make a turtle to draw a shape it was kind of hard but at the same time you can use your thinking skills it was a really fun game and I think you will guys enjoy it to”.

“I worked on python and it got easier after a while you have make sure you get every letter right because if you get even one letter wrong like a capital letter or something you get the whole code wrong”.


“I used the Eliza coding thing. I used codes so that I could send and receive messages from the machine. It was really fun because I tested let other people try my program and I used theirs. I would like to try this at home and make one that is better than I just made now. I let my friends try it out and the results were really cool”.

Coders in Action



Tuesday, December 17, 2013

What most schools don't teach...

During Computer Science Education week (December 9-15), history was made as millions of students from around the world took part in the "Hour of Code". The Hour of Code was an opportunity for every student to try computer science for one hour.

What is coding or computer science, you ask. Think about things in your everyday life that use computer science: a cell phone, a microwave, a traffic light...all of these things needed a computer scientist to help build them. Computer science is the art of blending human ideas and digital tools to increase our power. Computer scientists work in so many different areas: writing apps for phones, curing diseases, creating animated movies, working on social media, building robots that explore other planets and so much more. Watch the 5 minute video below to get a first look at "coding".


I am thinking of exploring this topic more in 2014. What are your thoughts? Does anyone have experience coding? Is this something you might be interested in learning? For more information check out www.code.org.

Friday, December 13, 2013

More Recipe Cards

I am so proud of the way these turned out! Way to go!






Recipes created using Microsoft Publisher

The students worked diligently this week, searching for and locating their favorite recipes. Then, they used their new Microsoft Publisher skills to reproduce those recipes. Special attention was given to cite the source of the original recipe. Here are a few samples from our 6th grade Integrated Enrichment Cookbook! Enjoy!



Friday, December 6, 2013

Tools for Students and Teachers

Happy Friday Everyone!

As I was scrolling through Twitter this morning I stumbled upon a post from Edudemic. This post was a link to an article citing 20 tech tools every educator should know about. You can read the article by clicking here.

We do already use a few of these tools in class, but I am looking forward to trying some new ones as well! I recommend checking out a few!

Writinghouse.org is a citation generator. Students can easily create bibliographies.

For Science and Social Studies supplements and activities check out, Exploratorium  and iCivics. Exploratorium is a learning laboratory to encourage exploration and lead to profound learning. iCivics also provides interactive and engaging learning resources.

I also recommend HowStuffWorks. Their premise is simple: Demystify the world and do it in a simple, clear-cut way that anyone can understand.

The last site I want to tell you about is DoSomething. This site features weekly calls to action to encourage kids to collaborate with the goal of making a positive social change.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Welcome to TechTalk84!

I love learning about all things technology and sharing that knowledge with my students. This blog is place to read about  technology trends and see what's happening in our classroom. This is my second attempt at blogging and I am very excited about it. Join me as I begin this journey.....Let's Talk Technology.

Additionally, you can connect with me on Edmodo ~ Mrs. S Petrin and Twitter @sarahpetrin. See you online!