Codologie Current Events
September 2018
Gearing Up for a Great Year in Codologie!
Hello everyone and welcome to a new year! For those of you receiving Codologie Current Events for the first time, I send these every month so you know what our 6th graders are doing in Codologie. I hope you get a chance to check it out!
As an aside, I'm trying out the free newsletter resource, Smore. So far, it's super simple to use!
What is Codologie?
The amazing media team at DES helped to create this awesome video last year. Watch to see what Codologie is all about. There is also a Spanish version available for parents.
https://youtu.be/uMtIZZ8lt1I
Celebrate the New School Year With Some Raspberry Pi
Our students are just beginning their journey learning to code in a real-world, text-based programming language called Python. They are using tiny computers called Raspberry Pi so they can interact with physical components like LEDs, buttons, motors, and sensors. On top of all that, they are learning TEAMWORK! Notice, in the picture below, that one teammate is coding while the other sets up the physical circuit.
Watching Students' Faces Light Up
LEDs brighten up our students' day - literally! Our focus this month has been learning how to set up LED circuits and program them to blink.
SMP 5: Use appropriate tools strategically
SMP 6: Attend to precision
Having So Much Fun That You Don't Even Realize You're Doing Math
Some of our classes had a chance to use the Turtle drawing tools in Python. They had to manually tell the "turtle" how many steps to walk forward and how many degrees to turn. To make regular polygons, that meant doing some math to figure out the angles. Students were so excited, they ended up scribbling down their math on the covers of their journals!
SMP 1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
SMP 8: Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning
Next Month
We are about to introduce buttons. Students will learn how to program a button to turn on an LED, or start up a whole pattern of multiple LEDs. Once they have that down, they will create a project for their fall showcase, which will align with Benchmark Unit 3.
Heather will visit Codologie classes to support mentors and teachers. She will also stock the classrooms with craft supplies, prepare rubrics and other materials, and continue to improve curriculum.
This newsletter was created by Heather Boling
Heather is the Bytes & Bots Digital Learning Coach for Anaheim Elementary School District. She manages Codologie at 4 schools (Ponderosa, Ross, Stoddard, & Jefferson), as well as Buildologie at Ross Elementary.
Email: hboling@anaheimelementary.org
Website: https://sites.google.com/anaheimelementary.org/codologiestudent/home
Location: 313 South Melrose Street, Anaheim, CA, USA
Phone: (714) 517-7532 4191
Twitter: @hcboling