After many months in the planning, our first #SummerOfCode took place at the Curzon Cinema in Clevedon last week. My early self-doubt quickly evaporated as we filled every one of the 100 free places, and the whole thing far exceeded my expectations.
Category: Coding
Summer of Code ’15
I’m delighted to be running a week of free coding workshops for primary and secondary-age children in North Somerset this summer.
The week will kick off with an introduction to making interactive stories using ScratchJr. This is a perfect introduction to computational thinking for little ones. Check out some of the stories and games the children have made at after-school coding club.
Continue reading “Summer of Code ’15”Coding JavaScript Apps
In January, I introduced a course on making Apps with JavaScript at my local primary school. I chose Bitsbox, an interactive programming environment which allows children to create Apps that run on mobiles and tablets.
Bitsbox launched a Kickstarter campaign, which I was more than happy to back.
Bitsbox is aimed at primary school children, but can be used by anyone with some knowledge of JavaScript. Continue reading “Coding JavaScript Apps”
A lesson in HTML
We had our last HTML lesson of the term this week.
I think the children are ready for a break; they were a little more hyper than usual, but still, we got down to work and the children got to finish their web pages.
HTML for kids
Last week I started a course on HTML for Year 5 and Year 6 school children. The children were as enthusiastic as ever, so expectations were high. We had a tricky start learning about tags – especially remembering to close them! I used Mozilla Webmaker Tools for this, and although I think it worked well, this week I shall be adding colour to the mix with some CSS to make it a bit more exciting.
Blockly – visual programming editor
I met up with John Fones of Clevedon School last week and while discussing the coming up CAS SW (Bristol) Hub meeting, Blockly came up in the conversation. Blockly is a visual programming editor for educators, parents and children. The editor is like Scratch which allows to snap blocks together in a logical order. The project is still under development but there a some sample applications to play with. I had a go with at the maze, which I found great for teaching conditionals.