Hour of Code is happening in just about a month! What are you doing? I'm at a new school this year so I'm starting from scratch (no pun intended) on many levels. So, I've decided to segregate the week into two parts:

Regular Hour of Code Activities
Hackathon

Both will run simultaneously, but are aimed at slightly different audiences. Since computer science is not a huge part of our curriculum, my goals are slightly different.

Unlike traditional hackathons, I plan on students only developing the entrepreneurial thinking skills and solution prototypes. I won't have time with them prior to teach all of the background knowledge necessary for them to code. However, this is a chance to get students interested in computer science who have a natural inclination towards solving problems and developing solution frameworks. That is the goal of this hackathon.

As far as the regular Hour of Code activities go, I plan on students choosing from Level 1-3 activities each day. At the end of each day, they will post their work to a group Padlet board. At the end of the week, students will be eligible for prizes based upon their participation. This is designed for students already interested in computer science who need that extra boost to learn additional material AND for our newbies who need exposure.

If you are curious about what we are doing, you can check out our site: tinyurl.com/spartanhacks for more details. If you have other ideas, please send them my way!

In the meantime, here is a list of coding activities I have accumulated over the past few years (see below as well). You can also check out Fennovation.org for more materials!

Learn to Problem Solve with Code

Resources by Christy Fennewald

Applications, Games & Products

Learning & Teaching (How Tos and more)

Outreach

Articles