This week we talked about coding and received several resources we could use to teach our students about coding. We learned that coding is not just a bunch of random letters, numbers, and symbols. It involves putting pieces together to get a certain result or outcome, or to have the program perform a certain task. Earlier in the class, we discussed a little bit about CommonSense.org. I did some exploring on the website and found it very interesting. There is a lot of information and resource on it, including videos, books/articles, activities, interactives, lesson ideas, and more. These planning ideas are also split up my grade ranges and subject area so it is easier to find something for the grade level and topic you are looking for.

Later in class, we went into breakout rooms to explore different coding websites for kids. I went to the group for Scratch and found that there are so many activities on the website. There are also different sections for teachers and parents so they are both able to help the students. This site allows the children to play around with different coding programs and change the coding in the project to see how it changes the outcome. When we started looking at the website, I was a little bit overwhelmed with the number of options I had to explore and look at. I chose one but I was having some difficulty figuring it out. I would be interested in having my students use coding, or at least have the option to code if they want to do so. So, I would like to explore some more resources and find the ones that I like best and become more comfortable with using them.

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