Learning to Code With Scratchjr. - Part 1

This course helps younger students learn ScratchJr, a block-based programming language from as early as 5 years.  ScratchJr is a free programming language that is available as an app, that can be run on iPads, Android tablets, Amazon tablets, and Chromebooks. Students will be able to connect programmed blocks together to create an actual animated scene. The course starts with the first lesson which familiarizes the basic concepts and features of the app and progresses toward modifying the characters and making them move. Towards the end of this course, students can experiment with ScratchJr and can create fun games. No prior coding experience is necessary. 

I highly recommend parents to get a copy of the book, "The Official ScratchJr Book: Help Your Kids Learn to Code", by Marina Umaschi Bers and Mitchel Resnick. Though this class follows the course of the book step-by-step, the activities that I will be teaching will be similar to the ones given in the book (not the same). I have tweaked the projects from this book a little bit. We will progress each class by doing smaller projects as we learn through concepts. Modules 11 and 12 have larger projects, which is designing simple games, with all the learned skills so far. The book is not mandatory though.

This class also recommends the use of any tablets/iPads/Chromebooks since the app will not run on laptops/desktops (we don't have a web-based version of ScratchJr released yet). Students will have to have the app installed in their devices prior to the first class to help facilitate learning faster. Please visit https://www.scratchjr.org/ to download the app.