I attended a professional development workshop over 10 years ago and this apple demonstration has always stuck with me.  The presenter used an apple to represent the earth and then cut one-quarter out.  She explained three-quarters (75%) of our earth is water.  This of course means one-quarter is land.  She went on to cut that quarter slice of apple in half explaining that half of the land on earth is inhabitable.  What types of places and location on earth are inhabitable?  One final step was to take that 1/2 of 1/4 (What fraction is that?) and peel off the skin.  The skin represented the land that was used for farming leaving the rest to represent where all the world’s people live.

This apple demonstration could be used with any grade level to discuss/research a variety of topics.  The 1st graders and I used it as a way to talk about water.  I made them a water droplet notebook where they took notes on lakes, rivers, seas, and oceans.  We talked about the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, the Great Lakes, the Mississippi and Missouri River, and even learned how to spell Lake Kabetogama.  Have you been to a lake/river/ocean lately?  Leave us a comment.  We’d love to hear about it!

Before our time was over, we talked about the freezing and boiling point of water.  We looked at Omaha’s temperatures for the week and talked about whether water would freeze based on the temperatures listed.  We filled 4 balloons with water and even added a little food coloring.  The students made a hypothesis on what would happen to the water balloons if we placed them outside.  What do you think will happen?  The balloons are currently outside in a secret hiding place.  Check back in a couple days to see what we discovered!

This weekend I went to Kansas City with my 10 and 6-year-old to attend a  Coder Dojo.  It was really neat to see kids of all ages actively engaged in programming!  Needless to say, I’ve been on a programming kick all day!

First graders started out using Daisy the Dinosaur on the iPad and learned how to use simple commands like move, jump, and spin to make Daisy the Dino complete various challenges.  This app is free in the iTunes store and can be downloaded here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/daisy-the-dinosaur/id490514278?mt=8

Hopscotch is another free app.  You can download it here:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hopscotch-coding-for-kids/id617098629?mt=8  Here’s a quick video clip:  1stGradeProgramming

The 4th and 6th grade students learned some basic if/then programming using spreadsheets.  See if you can understand what this means:

=IF(B2=72,”Awesome”,”Try Again”)Translation: If what you type in cell B2 is 78, then print “Awesome!”  Otherwise, print “Try Again.”  The students had fun making up problems and then testing their programming skills using a spreadsheet.

Next, a 5th grader led a group of students in programming polygons using Java Script.  He used Khan Academy and did a nice job explaining each step and having the students write notes in their notebook.  These students will take turns teaching each other throughout the coming weeks.

In the Did You Know 3.0 video, it talks about preparing students for a future filled with jobs that do not currently exist, using technologies that haven’t been invented, in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.  In his TEDx Talk, Mitch Resnick talks about young people today having lots of experience and lots of familiarity with interacting with new technologies, but a lot less so of creating new technologies and expressing themselves with new technologies.  I believe teaching kids to code is just one way to provide students with authentic and engaging problems while teaching them to communicate, problem solve, and persevere.

What are your thoughts about teaching kids to code?  Leave us a comment!