Hour of Code: Offline Coding

For many, hour/day/week/month of code is an unrealistic expectation because they don’t have the devices needed in order to participate. Well, coding can be taught without technology. At Miami Device Jenny Ashby (@jjash) pointed out that sequencing, timelines, and even knitting is coding. You can find coding all around the world!

As an introduction to coding, I am doing a week of offline coding activities before we play games and work on code.org. Here are the activities we are using Kindergarten – Fifth grades.  If you want to print these activities go to my google drive here.

After the intros we will play! Here is the link to my website with activities per grade level https://sites.google.com/a/ehillel.org/mrs-p-media/3-coding

5th Grade code activity

Materials: 10 cups per group, final picture per group, symbols per group, pencils per group, 3 index cards/paper per group, timer, grid for tables, definition sheet for each group

Procedures:

1. give color group assignments to students in their classrooms, find tables based on color

2. stand in groups to hear directions

3. Introduce vocabulary words: algorithm, coding, debugging, function, parameter

4. Directions: Today we are participating in the national week of computer science. Students in our school in grades 5-12 are all doing an activity called hour of code. For fifth grade we are playing a game with programming, that does not use computers, yet uses the language and actions of a programmer. The goal of this game is to recreate a picture exactly as it is shown in the time given. Each group will write coded algorithms for a robot to use to recreate a picture. Each group has the following materials: 10 cups, a picture, a grid, a symbols sheet, a pencil, a paper, and a definition sheet. Programmers will write code using the symbols to have a robot create a cup sculpture. There will be 6 sessions of work and plan. Programmers will plan for 7 minutes, robots will build for 5, programmers will debug and write for 3 minutes, robots will build for 2 minutes, then a programmer will join the robot for 2 final minutes to WRITE code and finish the sculpture. Programmers are not allowed to touch the robot, the cups, the grid, or the work area during the task. Programmers are not allowed to talk to the robot at any time. During build time, there must be silence in the room. Robots are not allowed to see the picture of the final product at any time. If cups fall over, the robot is shut down, meaning they can not continue. A monitor will restack all cups and the robot will be restarted. You have all seen the demonstration video, remember the skills you saw and put them into practice. 10 minutes

5. Groups chose a robot, send to holding area

6. programmers create algorithms 10 minute plan time

7. robots enter, programmers step to edge of room, NO talking, robots are given paper with code and must create based on code 7 minute build

8. at end of 7 minutes robots leave, programmers return and view what robot made, programmers create a debugging algorithm NO TOUCHING – 7 minutes

9. programmers go to holding area, robots enter 7 minute rebuild begins

10. At end of 3 minutes robots are joined by 1 programmer who can give 4 additional algorithms in hopes of completing picture- no talking, use codes only- 5 minutes

11. robots and programmers will all move to edge of room

12. creations judged based on initial picture

 

4th Grade Code Activity

From http://bycommonconsent.com/2014/10/19/activity-day-girls-craft-idea-binary-code-necklace/

The ASCII Code

The ASCII code for capital letters is shown below. Unlike base-10 numbers, which can have the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, binary (base-2) numbers can only have the digits 0 and 1 (we usually call the binary digits bits). On this cheat-sheet card, the white squares represent 1 and the black squares represent 0.

Using this card, you can see that the word “CAT” would be spelled 01000011 (C) 01000001 (A) 01010100 (T). ASCII is also able to encode lower-case letters, spaces, and some punctuation, so you can refer students who are interested in those to a complete ASCII table.

Writing your name

The craft activity involves letting the students make a stylish necklace for themselves, where their names are spelled out in binary using black and white beads. To prepare for beading, the lesson plan includes printable worksheets where kids can color in squares to spell out their names. There are two versions of the worksheet: one with very large boxes for smaller kids, and one with smaller boxes for older kids (and longer messages). Here is what the younger version looks like (each row is one letter, because ASCII encodes each letter with 8 bits):

 

3rd grade Code activity

https://studio.code.org/unplugged/unplug3.pdf

Graph paper coding

OVERVIEW: By programming one another to draw pictures, students will begin to understand what programming is really about. The class will begin by students instructing each other to color squares in on graph paper in an effort to reproduce an existing picture. If there’s time, the lesson can conclude with images that the students create themselves.

OBJECTIVE: Students will — • Understand the difficulty of translating real problems into programs • Learn that ideas may feel clear to them, and still be misinterpreted by a computer • Realize the need for formal programming structures like loops and functions

MATERIALS: • Sample Drawings/Algorithms Kit • Programming Instructions Card • Large grid graph paper • Markers, pens, or pencils (two or three colors) Main Goal: Help students understand how “coding” works.

VOCABULARY: Algorithm—A series of instructions on how to accomplish a task Coding—Transforming actions into a symbolic language Debugging—Finding and fixing problems in code Function—A piece of code that can be called over and over Parameters—Extra bits of information that you can pass into a function to customize it

Robots operate off of “instructions,” specific sets of things that they have been preprogrammed to do. In order to accomplish a task, a robot needs to have a series of instructions (sometimes called an algorithm) that it can run. To get more familiar with the concept of an algorithm, it is helpful to have something to compare it to. For this exercise, we will introduce a programming language made of lines and arrows.

Proceed to examples, code their initials.

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2nd grade code activity

Write the letters of your first or last name in the first column.

Create a code using colors for the letters of your name.

If you have two of the same letters, the colors are the same.

N-red

A-blue

N-red

C-green

Y-yellow

 

 

Locate the color beads needed for the colors you assigned to the letters.

Tie a knot at one end of the string.

Add the code to the string in the correct order.

Tie a knot at the other end.

Tape your code string to this paper with the code written out.

 

1st grade Code Activity

Follow the leader programming. The leader will create a code with the activity code cards. Classmates will attempt to follow the code and do what the programmer has input.

 

^ = jump one time

> = move right one step

< = move left one step

# = turn 180 degrees

S = sit down

U = stand up

C = clap one time

Z = say hello

 

K code activity

 

Introduction to Coding for Kindergarten

    Color the 1 red and 0 blue.

    Color the 1 green and the 0 yellow.

 

      Color the 1 red, 0 yellow, 2 green