The Hour of Code

 Imagine in the year 2020, that all students would be doing school work in their homes on their computers. Would you have believed that statement when you were five? I know I wouldn't have. Of course, being 39, I wouldn't have even known what a computer was at five years old. I don't think I learned about computers (think Oregon Trail on a Commodore 64) until I was at least 11. I think I immediately fell in love with computers, though. I'm not the only one. We order food with computers, we talk to friends (face to face in real time), we even take classes with them (such as this one). One of the hottest career choices a person can make is to learn (and implement) what goes into making the programs that we are using to order food and talk to our teachers. Welcome to the wonderful world of Coding!! It would be a big mistake to not at least touch base, in your classroom, with what coding is and how it is used.

In this video, we learn what code, or computer speak is, and then after the video, you and your students can make a bracelet with code. Let's watch:

After we see an overview of what code is, we can now venture over to a site called The Hour of Code, where your students can play games while learning coding. It will be so fun, that they will not know they are learning how to code programs. I know I didn't. My favorite on this site is the Minecraft game, and it is sure to be a hit as most students have at least casually heard of Minecraft. Do not think that the fun stops there, though. Students can also make up their own games, go on a space adventure, and learn how to program for meditation.

Here is the site: 

https://hourofcode.com/us/learn