Coding in Kinder at Murphy Creek

I had the pleasure of observing Marla Berkheim’s kindergarten class at Murphy Creek P-8 last week. I was amazed by the activities in this class. Mrs. Berkheim decided to include a STEM component this year. She researched to determine what her students would need for Coding and Engineering. Next, she used Donor’s Choose to help fund materials needed for Coding and Engineering lessons.

Last week the students started learning about Coding. Mrs. Berkheim created posters to help explain coding concepts to the students. The posters included real-life connections, definition and explanation of coding, terminology used in coding, and images of the Robot Mouse and controls.

After the Mrs. Berkheim and the class reviewed the posters and the rules of coding, the students paired up and explored using either the Robot Mouse or  Think and Learn Code-a-pillar.

Reflecting on CS Ed Week and the Hour of Code (for credit!)

Two girls engaged in Scalable Game Design and mobile computing at Mrachek Middle during Computer Science Education Week. Photo by Joe Dillon 

For teachers who engaged students in any kind of coding activity during the week of December 8-14, your reflections on what went well, and what you would do differently are important for you to consider and for the Ed Tech department to know. By sharing your thinking you'll help us be smarter as a system about how we introduce computational thinking skills and strategies to students in order to provide more equitable education in APS. With equity in mind, it is also important that we think together about the equity issues that drive Computer Science Education week and the Hour of Code.