Unit Plan: I Can Code!
Introduction to Coding
Applied Design, Skills & Technology / Grade 1-2
Big Ideas
Skills can be developed through play.
Technologies are tools that extend human capabilities.
Concepts:
- Systems
- Cause/effect
Essential Questions
Students will keep considering…
- How can I express myself to achieve a goal?
Evaluative Criteria
N/A
Monitoring Progress
Formative Assessment
- Code.org progression through levels
- Teacher monitoring: partner work, group work, class work (successfully competing tasks, using appropriate vocab, etc.)
Summative Assessment
- See performance task
Resources
Websites
Other
- Paul Clarke and Justine Frazee – District Helping Teahcers for Technology
Reflection
How will teachers reflect on and evaluate the completed project?
What aspects of the unit went well?
What did students struggle with?
What did you struggle with?
What would you add/revise the next time you taught this unit?
Were there any unintended outcomes?
Were students engaged?
Downloads
Stage 3 – Learning Plan
EXECUTE THE LEARNING PLAN
LEARNING EVENTS:
- These learning events/activities are suggested activities only.
- In some cases the plans are not fully completed lesson plans.
- The teacher may choose some lessons/activities to span over several lessons.
- Teachers may add, revise and adapt these lessons based on the needs of their students, their personal preferences for resources, and the use of a variety of instructional techniques.
Learning events are enriched for students when teachers consider the “WHERE TO” acronym and guiding organizer by Wiggins and McTighe.
The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:
- How can I express myself to achieve a goal?
Unit Hook
The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:
- How can I express myself to achieve a goal?
Unit Hook
Coding unplugged activity where students practice responding to simple directions “turn left, turn right, move forward”. Consider using the squares of a tiled floor. (More info at Code.org)
Line students up in the gym, in the classroom, or outside and have them all face the same direction (towards you works best). Give students simple instructions to “turn to the left”, “turn to the right”, “move forward”. Repeat until students are comfortable with right, left, etc.
Intro to Code.org
The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:
- How can I express myself to achieve a goal?
Intro to Code.org
- Teach students how to log into a computer, use the mouse, use the keyboard and load pages on Safari.
- Have students go to code.org and (optional) create a user account.
- Work students through course 1 – intro to programming (3-5 classes, depending on if students work at home, student ability, familiarity with coding, etc.)
- Course 1 is available here: https://studio.code.org/s/course1
Pencil-paper Coding
The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:
- How can I express myself to achieve a goal?
Pencil-paper Coding
- Create basic designs on 4×4 grids (straight line, X, etc.)
- Explicitly review coding language, as seen on code.org (move forward, move left, move right, etc.)
- As a class, have students give one person directions in front of the class (on a projector, smartboard, etc.) to recreate one basic design on a blank grid.
- Give students grids of 4×4 blank boxes.
- In pairs, students give instructions to a partner to recreate a design they have (students can create the designs ahead of time, or create them themselves).
- Students use instructions “move forward, move left, move right, colour it in”
- More info: https://padlet.com/clarke/ADST (document “graph paper coding)
Walking & Coding
The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:
- How can I express myself to achieve a goal?
Walking & Coding
- Line students up in the gym, in the classroom, or outside and have them all face the same direction (towards you works best). Give students simple instructions to “turn to the left”, “turn to the right”, “move forward”. Repeat until students are comfortable with right, left, etc.
- Chalk or tape grides on the ground (4×4 or 5×5) about 1 foot squared for each square.
- Give students grids with grids that have certain squares coloured in.
- As in paper coding, students give each other directions to move around the square “move left, move right, move forward” and “put a piece of paper down” (use coloured paper that matches the colours on the grids you distribute to students.
- Use 3-4 students per grid (1 student giving instructions, 1 student per colour of paper) and have them change roles.
Make a Message (Performance Task)
The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:
- How can I express myself to achieve a goal?
Make a Message (Performance Task)
- Give students blank grids (4×4 or 5×5) and have them create an image or short message (a sun, a flower, etc.) they want to recreate in person. Using only 1-3 colours will work best.
- Set up grids outside, in the classroom, on the floor.
- Students use the same skills as in previous activities to give each other direction to move around grid and “colour in” squares to reproduce their image.
Possible Extensions
The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:
- What does it mean to be an educated consumer?
Possible Extensions
- Do performance task at Earth Day, so students create earth-related images around the school ground.
- Use google earth or maps to have students create routes around their neighbourhood on a printed map (“turn right, go straight”, etc.) – e.g. school to home, home to grandma’s house.
- Link to Google Earth Unit on My Community and Landforms – see other Grade 2 union on hub!
- Have students move on (at home or in school) in code.org lesson sequence.
- Have students use Turtle Academy to create their names, or other images.
- SO many more coding unplugged activities. Check out the padlet (above) or Google for more ideas!
The following resources are made available through the British Columbia Ministry of Education. For more information, please visit BC’s New Curriculum.
Big Ideas
The Big Ideas consist of generalizations and principles and the key concepts important in an area of learning. The Big Ideas represent what students will understand at the completion of the curriculum for their grade. They are intended to endure beyond a single grade and contribute to future understanding.
Core Competencies
Communications Competency
The set of abilities that students use to impart and exchange information, experiences and ideas, to explore the world around them, and to understand and effectively engage in the use of digital media
Thinking Competency
The knowledge, skills and processes we associate with intellectual development
Social Competency
The set of abilities that relate to students’ identity in the world, both as individuals and as members of their community and society
Curricular Competencies & Content
Curricular Competencies are the skills, strategies, and processes that students develop over time. They reflect the “Do” in the Know-Do-Understand model of curriculum. The Curricular Competencies are built on the thinking, communicating, and personal and social competencies relevant to disciplines that make up an area of learning.
Additional Resources
First People's Principles of Learning
To read more about First People’s Principles of Learning, please click here.
For classroom resources, please visit the First Nations Education Steering Committee.
