Fun Problem Solving activities
Community Review for Code.org
My Take
Code.org is super responsive! They listen to teachers and their feedback and do their best to fix/change/add/delete our suggestions. Take advantage of the suggestions portion of the curriculum as they really do read each and every comment. I think this is a wonderful and fun way for our students to not only be introduced to coding, but computer science and what computer science really is. This curriculum teaches students that failure is ok and that persistence is necessary with problem solving.
How I Use It
Code.org has many options for curriculum. They have their original 20 hours of course work. They also have the newer Course 1, 2, and 3 curriculum. I have used portions of both sets of curriculum with all my K - 8 students. Last year I really took advantage of the Course 1-3 curriculum. My K-2 students worked through parts of Course 1. My 3-5 students worked through parts of Course 1 and 2 and my 6-8 students worked through parts of all 3. I scaffold-ed certain lessons into each grade level so that this year they will not be receiving the same lessons, but all new content. My students loved almost every part of the program and were always excited to see what was next. They have already begun asking me when we are going to start it this year.