This lesson combines ELA story elements and coding on a student-friendly BrainPOP Jr. Platform. Students can take a book they have read and use the BrainPOP Jr. platform for a variety of story map to demonstrate their comprehension of the material chosen.

This is a list of basic vocabulary with definitions and/or examples that will be used in elementary classrooms K-5 when teaching the concepts of algorithms and programming. 

Events in computer science are the triggers for making action happen, like selecting the play button on any screen. Events in Scratch are represented by the yellow codes including: when flag clicked, when sprite clicked, when key pressed and broadcast. Broadcasting is the most advanced event in Scratch and helps with interactions between sprites like pacing their conversations or changing levels.

Introduction to Storyboards from CS First

Step by step video tutorial for creating storyboards in Scratch. Includes a starter project in Scratch

We all know that students can retain more knowledge when they have something concrete for it to stick to, why not actually build something that they can build their knowledge upon? Using the MakeDo kits and the stencils that come in this lesson. Let students take some cardboard that is just waiting to be recycled and upcycle it into the Rome Colosseum!!

In this activity, your students will learn about algorithms and use robots to practice their map skills as they explore the geographic features found in each continent!  Working in small groups students will program Root robots to “travel” to each continent.  Once there, they will be introduced to the major rivers and mountain ranges using photographs!  In other stations, students will put together a world map floor puzzle and work on their Chromebook to correctly sort landforms into their locations. 

Students will be able to explore the different ecosystems by constructing their very own ecosystem!  Using the Makedo kit, the students will be able to use cardboard that is laying around to create their very own design.  Dive into ecosystems and allow your students access to expand their knowledge using creativity!

Students will be picking an animal to create using 3doodlers. The students will be researching their animal and its habitat then create a diorama to model the animal's habitat.

Students will be introduced to computer science words in conjunction with similar standards already taught in English SOLs.  They will see how actions in a plot are similar to events in a code and how cause and effect is similar to events that trigger actions.  Prewriting will take place as they create a plan and codes for an Ozobot maze.

This lesson sequence offers students and teachers a way to explore gender and cultural identity through analyzing children’s literature and coding with Scratch, specifically exploring the importance of names to our identities. Through read-aloud activities and self-differentiated Scratch projects, students learn about the importance of names in reference to both gender and culture, and have a chance to explore and express ideas about their own names, brainstorm creating school environments supportive of diversity, and reflect on their own bravery and resilience. This sequence is broken into seven lessons, though your students may need additional class time to work on their projects.This lesson sequence is part of CodeVA's committment to the U.S. Department of Education "YOU Belong in STEM" initiative.