Coding with Kids

I know I'm just the latest in a very long line of educators jumping on the coding bandwagon, but I'm hooked. Coding -- computer programming -- is being called a "New Literacy" for our kids to learn. It's also really fun.

This week, our First Lego League teams dived into building and programming their robots -- a little behind, I know, but we're rookies. Kids who have had no exposure to programming (and coaches who have had very little), are now expected to create robot that can make its way through a multitude of obstacles and perform a task. Overwhelming? Perhaps a bit (especially for the grownups). But the kids looked up some how-to videos, opened up the program, and dove right in.

Looking ahead, I'm realizing that my younger students really need experience with programming, so when they join FLL in a few years, they will be ready to go (also, it's good for that whole career/future/rest-of-their-life thing).

The upcoming Hour of Code is a great opportunity to kick off some coding projects, which I'll write about here as we do them. For more information -- and a plethora of amazing resources, check out Terri Eichholz's "Engage their Minds" blog or Cristina Popescu's "Think Appy Thoughts."