weekly

or for 2 classes

Scratch-Off E-Cards With Secret Messages [Digital Art + Code]

Completed by 4 learners

Ages 10-14

Live Group Course

Make e-cards with secret messages for Valentine's Day, Halloween, or any celebration, and send them to friends or family. They'll scratch off the messages on their computers and get a surprise! Explore design and code in p5.js JavaScript.

Terry D [Code & Art, JavaScript, M.Ed]

Average rating:

5.0

Number of reviews:

(48 reviews)

Live video meetings

1x per week, 2 weeks

2-4 learners per class

55 min

About Learning Overview Teacher Reviews

What's included

2 live meetings

1 hrs 50 mins in-class hours

Mastery Evaluation

Assessment is done informally during class. Written feedback is provided after class each week via a learner note.

Assessment

No formal assessment, but informal feedback is provided to learners and parents as the class unfolds.

Class Experience

US Grade 5 - 8

Beginner Level

In this 2-week exploratory class, learners explore creative coding by creating scratch-off greeting cards that they can send to friends and family. They'll learn a programming language called p5.js JavaScript, simple enough for beginners but powerful enough to create beautiful and lively projects.

Through tinkering, discussing, and investigating examples, learners gain a solid grasp of coding as well as a deep appreciation of the endless, magical possibilities that come from writing your own "generative" code – code that enables animations and games to change themselves each time they play. Learners work in small steps, tinkering with teacher-provided code and considering just one idea at a time.  New concepts and commands are added in small steps, with plenty of concrete examples and time for invention and collaboration. Class sizes are small so that I can work with individual students, finding each student's strengths and proposing questions or challenges appropriate for them. 

Please refer to the class syllabus for a detailed breakdown of each lesson. Late enrollment is not allowed in this class because skills build. If interested, or if the proposed schedule isn't convenient, please send a message.

Join us to launch your journey into JavaScript coding!

Learning Goals

Students learn JavaScript commands that display shapes, colors and text; how to position shapes by using coordinates; how to hide shapes; and how to make a magic "brush" that reveals the hidden shapes.

Syllabus

2 Lessons

over 2 Weeks

Lesson 1:

Shapes and Colors

 Learners log into and write simple JavaScript commands on our collaborative coding screen. They draw a heart or build a simple design by drawing circles, squares, or triangles. They learn to position the shapes by using a coordinate grid and how to fill the shapes with colors they choose.

55 mins online live lesson

Lesson 2:

Scratch Off!

 Learners temporarily hide their designs by making them all the shapes the same color as the background. Then they create a magic "brush" that reveals their designs when they move the on-screen pointer across the screen!

55 mins online live lesson

Other Details

Learning Needs

To support a variety of learning styles, this class provides consistent structure with multiple communication strategies (written, verbal, and visual) as well as flexibility in content, pacing, learner participation and teaching approaches.

Parental Guidance

Students will create a login and join a coding group at Open Processing, where their class will write code and see the animations. Student logins at Open Processing include many safety features. For example, no personal information is collected, student profiles and projects are visible only to the teacher and classmates, and students are not allowed to comment or annotate projects outside their class. For a full description of these protections, see "Restricted Student Accounts" at https://intercom.help/openprocessing/en/articles/5228489-student-account-types. This free code editor, funded by the Processing Foundation, works on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chromebook computers but isn't appropriate for iPads or phones. To join the Open Processing coding group, please follow instructions posted in the welcome message at Outschool Classroom that you'll see after enrolling in the class. Thanks!

Pre-Requisites

No prerequisites.

External Resources

In addition to the Outschool classroom, this class uses:

Open Processing

Meet the teacher

Terry D [Code & Art, JavaScript, M.Ed]

Joined August, 2022

5.0

48reviews

Profile

Teacher expertise and credentials

15 years of experience teaching JavaScript, Python, Scratch, web development, robotics, and artbotics to students from 8 - 15 years old in private, public, and after-school settings. Two masters degrees in education – from Harvard Graduate School of Education with a focus on technology and from Lesley University in mathematics education. And, most of all, great love, patience, and respect for the many different ways that students learn.