OVERVIEW

Activity Overview:

Students explore Scratch and recognize how the categories and blocks within the categories help students create projects in Scratch.

Meta description

• Subject Area: Computer Science
• Grade Level : 3-5
• Computer Science Domains:
  • Algorithms and Programming
• Computer Science Principles:
  • Fostering an Inclusive Computing Culture, Collaborating Around Computing, Creating Computational Artifacts, Communicating About Computing
• Materials:
  • Website
• Considerations: +

Lesson Plan

Overview

Students explore Scratch and recognize how the categories and blocks within the categories help students create projects in Scratch.

ASSESSMENT PRE/POST-TEST

Essential Learning Target(s): I can demonstrate an understanding of events to trigger actions and initialize programs and loops to repeat sequences of steps. I can begin to create an open-ended project in Scratch that is an interactive digital representation for a variety of tasks. I can recognize the categories and blocks in Scratch and how this helps me work on projects.

OBJECTIVES

Essential Learning Target(s): I can demonstrate an understanding of events to trigger actions and initialize programs and loops to repeat sequences of steps. I can begin to create an open-ended project in Scratch that is an interactive digital representation for a variety of tasks. I can recognize the categories and blocks in Scratch and how this helps me work on projects.

CATCH/HOOK

Discuss colors in Scratch and what have they learned about them.

ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS

Lesson Procedures:

1.    Discuss how we have been working with blocks in Scratch.
   

2.    Ask small table groups: how does color coding help find blocks?
   

3.    Ask students to list the Scratch categories and the colors.
   

4.    Give them 5-10 minutes to explore the different categories and blocks in Scratch.
   

5.    Review the Scratch categories and blocks in each one.
   

6.    Hand out black and white blocks from Scratch- each student gets one block. They have 5 minutes to find the other blocks from the same category.
   

7.    Discuss how easy/hard that was and why.
   

8.    Repeat but with colored blocks and categories in Scratch.
   

9.    Repeat discussion but elaborate if this was easier or not and why.
   

10.    Allow 10 minutes for them to research the categories and blocks in Scratch.
    

11.    Close windows and ipads. Students take sorting Scratch assessment.
    

Supplements

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REVIEW

Discuss take-aways before the assessment.

STANDARDS