ScratchJr

Materials and Cost

ScratchJr App - free | iPad - school provided

Goals / Outcomes

Students will develop basic sequencing skills as they practice making the sprite/character move across the design board. Students become familiar with different types of code blocks and how to use them to be creative. Simple coding skills will be developed for future assignments that will use ScratchJr as the presentation tool.

Student Activity

As a whole class, students will review the premise of coding. Writing code is like giving the computer a list of instructions. The robot or character that you are animating needs to be told exactly what to do, so you have to be its brain and give it detailed instructions. Teacher can do a quick example using the game Simon Says. The students can give Simon Says directions to make the teacher move from the back of the classroom to the front board. Students must say things like "take 5 steps forward", and instruct the teacher on how to bypass obstacles such as student desks that are in the path.

Students are introduced to ScratchJr and discuss the connection between Simon Says rules and the programming blocks in the app. Teacher reviews student instructions and navigating the app. Kids are given coding time.

Instructions

• Get an iPad from the cart and open ScratchJr app. Start a new project.
• Look at all of the buttons on the screen. On the left are the characters/sprites, and tools to customize their colors, etc. In the middle there is the design board where your animation/story will take place. The bottom area is for your code block directions to move your character.
• Explore using the app. Make a sprite move across the design board. Test out all the different code blocks to see what they do.
• After students have tried the code blocks, they may customize their backgrounds and characters.
• In future lessons, students will be asked to animate a short story or number story using ScratchJr.

Rubric

Tool Overview: Blocks Guide

Credit: ScratchJr App, © 2014 Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tufts University

Below are the types of programming blocks available in ScratchJr. Using these blocks, students can move sprites (characters) across the design board in any way they wish. Students can create short stories with character thought/speech bubbles. They can also program the sprite to move according to (x, y) coordinates or along drawn paths.

Scratch Jr Club

Fictitious Proposed Robotics Event

Materials and Cost

ScratchJr App - free | Cart of 25 iPads - school provided

Video Script

What?

ScratchJr Club is a (fictitious) proposed before-school club for a K-5 Elementary School. Students will learn drag and drop style coding as a primary focus, and there will be time made for sharing and demonstrations of other programs that members are learning/using.

Who?

This club is open to any 4th or 5th grade student who has the desire to learn about robotics and coding. To start, this club will be limited to 25 students since that is how many iPads are in the available cart.

Where?

ScratchJr Club will take place in the Bowman Elementary School library. This location is open before school and has a teaching station with computer, the iPad screen sharing application Reflector 2, and a projector. This location is also preferable because the librarian works closely with technology integration staff, and the librarian already uses ScratchJr with her curriculum.

When?

The club will take place once a week on Wednesdays from 8:00 - 8:30, just before the school day begins.

Why?

Coding is a great topic for students to learn because it encourages kids to:

• Make mistakes and learn from them.
• Use logic and problem solve.
• Be persistent.
• Develop sequencing concepts and break down problems into smaller pieces.
• Be creative!
• Gain interest and prepare for a growing job industry in coding and computer science.

Club Flyer for Students

Scratch Cat logo and screenshots from ScratchJr App, © 2014 Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tufts University