Hour of Code in Kindergarten

I've been popping in and out of classes during my flex time to introduce and assist with Hour of Code. It's been affirming to watch the same experiences happen from kindergarten through grade five - students are collaborating to solve puzzles, but even better they are exercising their critical thinking skills, math skills, and logic skills. There's so much more embedded into learning coding, but these are rewarding to watch. 

The sound of students excited after solving a coding challenge is fabulous. I was in a fourth grade class yesterday when both the teacher and I emitted just this sound after solving one of the Frozen snowflake puzzles on the Hour of Code site. I had to pull it up on the screen and talk through it with the class. I hope our inadvertent modeling helped inspire them to persist during their own challenges.    

Here's a look into a kindergarten class from this week.

This is what Hour of Code looks and sounds like...

I participated in Hour of Code in two classrooms this week, one fifth grade and one kindergarten. The universality of the experience is astounding, despite the six year difference.

Moving and Shaking with Hour of Code

An Hour of Code with fifth graders looks and sounds much different than it did with the kindergarten students. The productive din and full body re-enactments of the movements the students wanted the objects on the screen to make were proof enough of the value of this activity, as well as examples of the students building and practicing spacial relations, math, and critical thinking.

It's HOUR OF CODE: Kindergarten Style

Have a look and listen at a kindergarten classroom engaged in an Hour of Code:

Hour of Code with 3rd Graders

What does an hour of code look like?

My library was filled with a productive buzz yesterday afternoon as three classes of third graders learned how to code.  We used these resources that I centrally-located on my Webpage.

The students were building on their coding capabilities by using logic, honing their spatial relations skills, and relying on math to solve the coding puzzles.  I cannot wait to learn code with the other students. #whydidiwaitsolong?