Shady Side Academy Junior School students celebrated Computer Science Education Week from Dec. 9-15, 2019, by joining tens of millions of students worldwide in participating in the Hour of Code, an introduction to computer science designed to demystify code and show that anybody can learn the basics.

Students in grades K-5 had fun doing coding tutorials and games with computer teacher Karen Sandora. The theme for this year was Computer Science for Good (#CSforGood), and some of the activities related to that topic.

Kindergartners paired with PE teachers for a Coding Unplugged activity focused on directions (forward, back, left and right). Students acted as programmers, participants and debuggers as an introduction to a BeeBot programmable robot exploration, which is part of the kindergarten computer curriculum. Thinking skills and problem-solving are important as children program and debug the sequence of instructions to be successful.

First graders used the app Scratch Jr. to complete a Kindness Challenge, where they had to create a scene that demonstrated kindness in some way.

Second graders crested and navigated mazes in Kodable's Beach Clean-Up activity. Persistence and lending a hand to each other helped the students complete their tasks. This activity fit in with an earlier computer class focused on Sustainable Development Goals, as students participated in a global exchange Goals Project focusing on this topic. They also had fun with the Snoopy Snow Brawl activity by codeSpark.

Third graders used the programming language Scratch to create games that keep score using loops, conditionals and variables. Students will share and play each others' games when complete.

Fourth graders used AI for Oceans by Code.org (intro to artificial intelligence) and learned that the more data you provide, the better the machine learns. Following that, they had a choice of several additional coding activities from Code.org. They especially loved the Dance Party activity and had lots of fun!

Fifth graders used the coding platform Tynker, working on activities focused on Sustainable Development Goals.

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