Get Ready to Scratch—It’s Computer Science Education Week! Win a Workbook

How are your coding skills? To be honest, computer science is a mystery to me. So when I read that anybody ages 3 and up can learn about coding, I was somewhere between embarrassed (for my lack of skills) to intrigued. (Ages 3 and up? I might stand a chance!) The best part? There are loads of freebies and chances to win great prizes for teachers and students!

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Post a comment to this blog by 11:59 pm EST on December 20, 2015, to tell me which of the freebies and contests below are your favorites. From the comments, I’ll randomly select one lucky teacher to win a workbook on coding. Coding in Scratch: Games Workbook (DK) is a perfect introductory practice book to build coding skills. For ages 3 through 9, it’s packed with activities and challenges that lets them create fun and easy computer games using the free programming code, Scratch.  (Update: congratulations to Darlene, who is the winner of our prize.)

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Have you signed up for the Hour of Code? This is a free one-hour introduction to computer science that’s designed to demystify coding and show that anybody can learn the basics. The goal is for tens of millions of students to try coding this week. There are prizes too: $10,000 in technology for one public school in every state, video chats with guest speakers, a “Making of Star Wars” experience in San Francisco, programmable robots, and more. Get details here.

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Got an itch to incorporate coding across your curriculum? Ucodemy’s Itch brings all the features of Scratch to the classroom. Integrated video lessons guide students with no programming background through core concepts to a level where they can design and create projects. Check out a sample lesson plan, try a free Itch course, or sign up for free webinars for teachers here. (If you hurry, you may still be able to take advantage of a free trial!)

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Here’s more proof that coding isn’t just for older learners. With this new free app, PBS KIDS ScratchJr, kids ages 5–8 can create their own interactive stories and games featuring favorite characters like Wild Kratts, Nature Cat, and WordGirl. While kids create stories with their characters, they explore the basics of coding. Click here to check it out.

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Ready to crack the code,

Karen

PS: You’ll always find freebies and contests at LearningMagazine.com. Check them out!


12 thoughts on “Get Ready to Scratch—It’s Computer Science Education Week! Win a Workbook

  1. This is my favorite week of the year!! Hour of Code!! I love exposing my students to coding. Of course they can code all year long but this is the first week I introduce it formally.

  2. I checked out the pbs site. I really need to win this one as I am bad with computer science too. A book for 3 and up would help me. LOL and that is no joke.

  3. Both of my daughters have learned how to code with Scratch. They are fortunate to have an after school program dedicated to programming with this wonderful code. This week they are going to try an hour long class with Java programming. PBS is a wonderful resource!

  4. Ok Karen I remember learning coding back in the 1980s – not a fun thing for me- but one look at Hour of coding I think I might give it a try again with my students. Coding looks like fun.

    • I just had a flashback of learning to write a little looping script to get the computer screen to flash on and off. I think that was junior high. I’d forgotten all about that!

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