Reminder! Hour of Code (and CSEdWeek) is December 9 – 15, 2019. Don’t forget to join in!

Coding, coding, coding

Coding is a very popular theme in education today! There are multiple coding sites on the internet, some free and some not, that can help teachers and students across all grade levels how to code. With all the different kinds of coding (such as block-based and text-based) — and the many tools to help teach it — teachers new to coding can become overwhelmed when attempting to build a curriculum for their students. Google is looking to make this easier for teachers by offering a free coding curriculum: CS First.

What is CS First?

CS First is a free computer science curriculum designed for students ages 9-14 of all interests and experience levels. Easy-to-use lesson plans, tutorials, activities, and resources make this a great option for teachers looking to start their coding experience with their students. CS First also encourages educators with the fact that “anyone can teach CS First.”

CS First offers hands-on activities along with instructional videos to make the learning process easy and natural for both the teacher and the students. The ability to create classes for assigning and checking work is a great feature as well. Let’s explore a few CS First activities.

Here are some great activities to explore for CSEdWeek and #HourofCode

CS First offers a variety of options in their curriculum. Some projects are simple, hour-long activities that are subject specific. These one-hour activities are a great place to start your Hour of Code — or, they’re a great place to start at any time! For instance, the Animate a Name activity teaches students code while they bring a name to life through animation.

CS First also has longer projects. These are multi-day lessons with eight activities around themes such as storytelling or music and sound. We’re into storytelling at Teq, so CS First’s 8-activity lesson Storytelling is a favorite of ours. It combines coding with storytelling concepts like dialogue, setting, and characterization.

Whether you’re looking for a specific Hour of Code activity, or just looking for a way to introduce coding in your classroom, CS First is a great tool to start with.

Get more helpful resources around Computer Science, and a wealth of other topics, with our online professional development platform OTIS for educators!