Code a City!

A favourite small world play activity that the children enjoy is our 'Code a City' challenge. This math invitation requires just a few materials - a city template, blocks, dice, and mini vehicles. The 'Skyscrapers' book is a perfect nonfiction resource to supplement the learning.

Children select a template. They can use one or multiple dice depending on their ability. Roll and add the pips on the dice together. 

Write the corresponding number in a space on the template.

Build a tower with that many blocks.

When your city is complete add mini vehicles for some small world play!

Thinking in Algorithms: Why kids need to code in kindergarten

Kids already have too much screen time.

Isn't coding just another buzz word in education right now?

I don't have time to learn something new.

My kids play too many video games.

I don't believe in using technology in the kindergarten classroom.

This weekend I had the great pleasure of attending the 2017 ETFO Innovate Conference in rainy Niagara Falls. Each year ETFO AQ instructors meet for two days of rich collaboration, inspiration and networking. We are online instructors and as a result, embrace technology in our personal and professional practices. I will state upfront that I write this post as a biased educator and mother; teaching children for lives in an unknown future, I believe that we have an obligation to consider what 21st century competencies are and how we can immerse our children in robust and authentic educational experiences that infuse their lives with motivation and passion.

I have been speaking a lot lately about the importance of coding in the kindergarten classroom. This past year I had a vivacious group of children who ventured on a journey with me to explore how we could use coding in our math and storytelling activities. Over the last 8 months these children have become proficient using unplugged coding manipulatives (e.g., grids, props, directional cards) in order to engage in complex math games and retell/innovate favourite texts. This has sparked much interest in how we can use coding to enrich one’s existing math and literacy program by outsiders to our program.

My love of math and coding was heightened this weekend after listening to the inspirational Brian Aspinall (@mraspinall) speak about his experiences using coding and technology in the classroom. He challenged us to consider how we might use “technology as a language of learning” to motivate children.

“Coding is the new literacy helping students communicate their ideas to others.” 

He pressed upon the importance of encouraging our children to communicate using complex ways in a digital age and to “think in algorithms” in all aspects of their day.

Brian instilled a sense of urgency in me. I believe that coding is an important foundational skill that all children have a right to learn. If we introduce unplugged coding games in kindergarten then children will learn to speak and use that language fluently in their daily lives. Just as emergent spaces encourage children to personalize their learning through multifaceted sensory experiences, technology gives children one more of the ‘hundreds of languages’ through which to explore, experiment and communicate their ideas to others.

Although however essential coding might be, in my travels I have found that there is still some reluctance for infusing our early childhood spaces with technology. Confusing coding as passive, entertainment-style gaming, many worry that it will be a harmful distraction in the kindergarten classroom. That fear, coupled with an inspiring few days spent with tech-minded educators, inspired this blog post explaining what I feel are the many reasons why children in kindergarten need to learn to code.

Why code in kindergarten?

Coding is everywhere. Most appliances and everyday household items require code in order to work - your fridge, car, and even washing machine use code. When children learn coding in school they acquire a sense of how the world around them functions. In inquiry-based spaces educators hope that children will look deeply at their surroundings through a lens of curiosity. Coding helps them explore something more deeply and consider how it works, and how it might be modified to work in a different way.

Coding is easy. An educator does not need to know computer programming in order to use coding activities. Starting slowly and exploring together with the children will model curiosity and a willingness to take risks while helping teacher-learners build community and knowledge in a safe and supportive space.

Coding is cost-effective. In a time of reduced budgets and tech-constraints, unplugged coding in kindergarten requires no computers in order to be successful. All one needs is a grid, arrow cards, and small props (e.g., blocks, animal figures). These materials can be easily made or found around the classroom and are transportable to other areas of the school (e.g., hallway, outdoors).

Coding activities naturally incorporate 21st century skills like collaboration, creativity, teamwork, critical thinking and problem solving. Children who code learn to speak a new language. They quickly realize that their directions need to be clear and precise in order to have fun and be successful in the coding play. Children learn to strategize as coding play becomes more complex and obstacles and challenges are added to their games. Algorithms that don’t work out build resiliency and persistence as children try new sequences and use mistakes as learning opportunities.

Coding integrates learning opportunities from multiple domains of development. In our world of dense curriculum and overwhelming assessment demands, it's essential that educators weave together expectations from different subjects and strands. Not only does this make the classroom a richer place to be, integrating subjects often engages children and make learning deeper and more authentic. Coding has the potential to use expectations from math, science, literacy, the arts, and physical education depending on the context.

Coding is a social activity that builds communication and relationships. Each person in the activity has a special role to play and these roles must work together in order to be successful. The directions given by the programmer must be clear and succinct and followed precisely by all players involved. Children work together to create more complex coding paths and play from one day can be continued into the next. Coding strengthens children's oral language as they describe movement while giving and receiving directions.

Coding provides opportunities for children to engage in meaningful, problem-based math that is highly engaging and of relevance to their lives. These activities integrate spatial awareness, reasoning and number sense into a highly motivating opportunity for applying math in a realistic situation that can then be transferred to a coding application (e.g., Scratch Jr., Scratch) when children are ready. The math is often complex and layered.

Coding is empowering. Learning how to program a game or animation is a very entertaining and enjoyable activity for children. Today’s kindergarten classrooms are maker spaces filled with opportunities for children to engage in the problem-solving process by manipulating loose parts in order to create. Coding is no different but in place of tangible objects that can be tinkered with, children who code are digital makers.

Coding is versatile and can be easily adapted to activities in the gym and outside learning spaces, captivating kinesthetic learners and adding another dimension to physical activities. It is an easy to adapt activity that is fun to play outside or on a very large grid. Children can code one another to move around a space or use the change in scenery to inspire a new programming narrative.

Coding can be extended with technology such as easy to use apps, websites, and robots for those who want to delve more deeply into the concepts (or for those subsequent teachers who have these children in grade 1 and beyond). Many of these are available as free apps or websites and can be suggested to families who want activities that promote home-school connections.

Coding is a global phenomenon and connects your students to their community and beyond! Educators can create their own personal learning networks by connecting with others on Twitter (#coding, #code, #program, #kindercoding). Classes can participate in the Hour of Code or learn new skills by visiting www.code.org. Children can tweet what they are doing to others. There is worldwide support and encouragement for educators who are embracing new and exciting ways of learning including using coding as a language of communication with young children!

Ready to get started? Learn how here: Creating Coding Stories and Games TYC Volume 10 (3)

Let's connect! If you code with kids, tweet me @McLennan1977 and tag it #kindercoding. Let's create an amazing network of kindercoders out there and support each other on this journey!

"When you learn to read and write, it opens up opportunities for you to learn so many other things. When you learn to read, you can then read to learn. It's the same thing with coding. If you learn to code, you can code to learn." 

Mitch Resnick

The Gingerbread Man Coding Retell

This week we've been reading a favourite winter time story! The children love the adventures the Gingerbread Man has as he runs away from the different characters in the story. They are always so sad at the end when he is eaten by the fox!

 

 

Today I challenged them to retell the story and help the Gingerbread Man outsmart the bakers, cow, goat, cat and fox by using a coding game. This activity helped the children to strengthen their retell as they recalled the story and sequenced the events of the story, and encouraged them to practise their coding skills, specifically oral language related to directionality and number.

 

We used a small stuffed Gingerbread Man, photos of the different characters from the text, our coding board (sensory table lid with tape), and directional coding cards. 

 

First the children placed the different characters on the coding board in order that they are introduced in the text.

After determining the starting and ending location for the Gingerbread Man, the children gave each other oral directions to help move the character around the obstacles in order to avoid them. It was a great way to practice counting, directions, and giving and receiving directions while recalling the events of the story!

 

Success!

In order to make the next attempt more difficult, we added additional obstacles from the story including a barn, pond, haystacks, and a forest. The Gingerbread Man would need to maneuver around these obstacles as well as avoiding the many characters that wanted to eat him!

 

The children loved this challenge and worked together to successfully guide the Gingerbread Man! They had some interesting ways of moving him around the grid and were eager to create very challenging obstacles for their friends to work around!

 

Tomorrow we are going to design and build our own Gingerbread Man traps to help us catch that sneaky guy!

Storytelling Coding

The children continue to express an interest in coding so in order to capitalize on this, I asked them to think about some fun obstacles that they might like to encounter if they could have an adventurous walk to school.

They thought it would be fun to walk through a forest, jump over a lake, move through a city, and go around hot lava! I printed realistic over head pictures after doing a google search and we placed them under our clear plexiglass coding board so they could be easily seen.

The children decided where home was and indicated this with a little wooden house. We used an overhead picture of a school and decided this was the end point. The children decided where the obstacles would be and these were placed underneath the clear coding grid.

One child was the player and another was the programmer. The player was moved around the board based on coding directions from the programmer. The programmer was able to help the player move with the commands 'go up', 'go down', 'go left', 'go right' and 'jump'. We decided quickly that other commands like 'swim' might be fun to try as well!

It was fun to observe the children program the child around the obstacles.

They weren't interested in a clear path to school and instead led each other on whimsical journeys around the board, jumping over water and coming close to the hot lava, even when it wasn't anywhere near the school!

An extension we'd like to try next is to use a favourite read aloud and encourage the children to create the setting and characters for the text. Once they do they can use the coding board to retell the story by mapping out the character's journey through pictures depicting the setting!

Outdoor Coding

It's been so beautiful around here! We have been fortunate to have a warm end of Autumn and this has meant lots of learning potential outdoors. The children's interest in coding continues so we used the opportunity to turn our cement pad into a large grid using tape. Chalk lines would work just as well!

The children love stuffed animals so for this activity we used one that is really popular with them! We agreed on the starting grid...

...and using a dry erase board the children took turns coding one another. One child was the programmer and used the board as well as giving oral directions to help the player move from 'start' to 'finish' along the grid.

Because we had agreed upon the commands and symbols that represented each and were using them consistently in our coding activities, the children were very familiar and comfortable using them in new coding situations (e.g., "go up", "go down", "jump", "go left", "go right").

Many children wanted to experience both roles - that of programmer and player. Because the children were giving each other directions this activity really strengthened their oral language skills. They had to effectively give commands that would lead the player in the desired path and the player needed to carefully listen to the directions in order to be successful. This activity promoted team work and collaboration.

Coding Scavenger Hunt

Engaging children in coding activities has been a priority for us this week. The children are very interested in mapping, grids, and giving each other directions so we want to capitalize on these expressed interests and weave in as much math and spatial reasoning as possible. 

 

A simple game that the children enjoyed was looking for treasure.  We created an array of post it notes on a large piece of chart paper.

 

 

 

Hidden underneath some of the post-its were silly emoji face stickers.

During circle we modeled how to give each other directions for moving on the grid using the coding commands we had been practicing - go up, go down, go left, go right, and jump.  We agreed that the starting point would be at the top, centre of the grid.

 

The programmer (Mrs. McLennan in the following picture) used the coding symbols and also orally gave the coding directions and the player had to follow the commands until the programmer stopped.

At that point the player lifted the note to see whether or not a 'treasure' (what the children termed the faces) was discovered beneath. If there was one, the programmer and player switched and someone else had a turn. If not, then directions continued to be given until one was eventually discovered.

 

The children became quite proficient at giving each other directions. We are working towards helping them understand that the directions need to go in over, line by line, and that when we write code we need to ensure they are in order.

This is also a great game for strengthening a child's listening skills as they have to pay careful attention to the directions and follow them precisely in order to be successful. Coding strengthens communication and cooperation. Children have to be patient with one another throughout the process too!

 

Halloween Inspired Coding

The children have been very interested in maps lately; they create them at our writing table and use them in their dramatic play, refer to printed maps during outside time as they run and ride around on the tricycles, and talk about hiding treasure in our classroom and creating maps to help others find it. They are curious about places in our school and the hallways we need to take to get there.

As I reflected upon their genuine interest in location and maps, I thought it was the perfect time to introduce them to coding. Why coding?

1. Coding is basic language in the digital age. Computer programming is a language and is going to be an essential skill for many of our children to know as they grow. Our world is digital - providing children with activities that integrate communication, thinking and problem solving will be valuable for their future success. So many people are technology shy, and helping our children to be technologically literate is vital. The earlier one learns and practices the basics of this type of language, the easier it will be and the more positively it will affect their developing brains. 

2.  Coding is math. It involves spatial reasoning and logic. Helping children to think about direction, location and movement will strengthen their math skills. Children need to count the number of spaces being moved and indicate in which direction they are headed. Coding integrates a number of math skills together in one experience.

3.  Coding encourages problem solving. When activities like coding provide a challenge for the user, or there are multiple ways of solving the same problem, an emphasis can be placed on the process of learning and the child can consider multiple paths of arriving at a solution and choose the best or most efficient strategy. Planning ahead and being critical about the path of the activity is key for success.

4. Coding strengthens communication. When a child codes, she or he needs to indicate directions to another person (or the computer). These directions need to be as succinct as possible. When two children are playing coding games the child receiving the directions needs to be an active listener in order to move the coding pieces in the correct way. Clear communication is essential for success.

Want to learn how to better support your child's coding at home? Read this great article from CBC called Why Kids Should Learn to Code (And How to Get Them Started)

For today's coding activity I decided to use a spooky Halloween scenario to get the children to buy into the experience right from the start.

I created a simple grid using masking tape and our clear sensory bin lid. I wanted to engage the children in an experience that would help them understand the basics of coding. For this game we had four basic commands - "go right", "go left", "go up" and "go down". 

We had two pictures - one of a house (where the character would start) and one of candy (which is where the character needed to end). The children pretended that this was a trick-o-treater heading out on a scary Halloween night where many obstacles like bats, spiders, and other spooky creatures might be blocking the path. The ultimate goal was to move a character from the house to the candy as efficiently as possible without running into a spooky obstacle. 

The children used sticky notes with arrows drawn on them to indicate the codes. I encouraged them to verbalize their thinking and count the number of steps in their code. (e.g., "Move left 3 times, move up three times, move left one time, move up two times, move right one time").

This activity generated a great amount of interest, with many spectators watching the action or offering suggestions for more efficient ways to get to the candy faster.

As the children became more comfortable they created more complex paths to the candy by strategically placing the obstacles in the way. They were also very attuned to the grid and noticed when too many obstacles were placed on it and wouldn't allow a clear path.

In order to offer children a different perspective, I also had paper grids prepared with the same experience (house, candy, spooky obstacles) and invited the children to plan out the code directly on the paper.

Blank hundreds charts were also available for those children who wanted to draw their own Halloween obstacles and then program the code.

Stay tuned as we will continue with our spooky Halloween coding tomorrow and use more ideas that can be easily implemented into many scenarios to encourage children to use the basics of programming. For those who would like to print the coding pages used in this experience, please click on the following links.

Simple Halloween Coding Grid

Difficult Halloween Coding Grid

Printable Halloween Coding Pieces

Blank Hundreds Grid