This morning I had my come-uppence. Having watched my borrowed 3-4 year olds sail through the first and second ‘programming’ lessons with enthusiasm and take the ‘if..then’ and ‘not’ symbols in their stride, I tried to introduce a third symbol – the upside down V for ‘and’. They looked at me as if I had Full Article…
Programming turtles
You have to pay the standard £2.99 for this one but it’s really good. Great interface and interesting coding puzzles to solve which can be tackled by most 6-7 year olds. It’s a bit of a throwback to the 60’s and 70’s when, as a very new teacher, I remember loving the LOGO programmed turtle Full Article…
Programs for Programming
Most children, by the age of 7, will already have an interest in coding, which we can foster. Many of them will like playing games and will ask questions such as “How can I make him go faster / jump higher / turn around?”. Given the chance, they like designing avatars or changing the colours Full Article…
Menna’s Second Programme: Learning about ‘Not’
Rather than repeat the background information, if you have hit on this post for the first time, we suggest that you look at the introductory lesson first, which will explain where we are coming from. This activity introduces the idea of ‘not’ – as in the syntax “If this, then NOT this.” We introduced Full Article…
My First Programme – by Gweno, age 3!
These activities were undertaken with 3-5 year olds and they took them in their stride! “Key Stage 1 Pupils should be taught to: understand what algorithms are, how they are implemented as programs on digital devices, and that programs execute by following a sequence of instructions” Even the word ‘algorithm’ can send many primary Full Article…
Positives, negatives and equivalences
(Our 8 year old tester coped well with this and enjoyed the ‘puzzle’) Make sure than children understand basic “If this then this” type statements. Talk about cause and effect. Play around with the positives and negatives and with ‘opposites’. For those people teaching literacy, this is a good time to explore ‘double negatives’. Full Article…