What is CS Ed Week?

“Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) is an annual program dedicated to inspiring K-12 students to take interest in computer science.

Originally conceived by the Computing in the Core coalition, Code.org® organizes CSEdWeek as a grassroots campaign supported by 350 partners and 100,000 educators worldwide.

CSEdWeek is held in recognition of the birthday of computing pioneer Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906).”

What is the Hour of Code?

Hour of Code, a global movement to expose more children to coding, takes place each year during Computer Science Education Week.

Computer Science is Changing Everything:

Some activities for teachers and their students as well as parents and their children:

Code.org’s Hour of Code activities sortable by age range

*NEW* to Hour of Code this year: The Grinch: Saving Christmas with Code

Hour of Code with Moana

Loved the Hour?  Want more?  Extend your learning with “Beyond an Hour of Code”

Programming for Pre-Readers with Scratch, Jr.

My all-time FAVE: Scratch! Check out Scratch’s Getting Started Page

  • With Scratch, you can create your own interactive games, stories, animations — and share them with your friends. Get started by animating your name, creating a holiday card, or making a pong game.

Try an Hour of Code with Google

Early education computer science learning resources from PBS Learning Media

Check out Tynker’s Hour of Code activities

Hopscotch: Make Games, Learn to Code

Apps from CodeSpark, including Snoopy’s Snow Brawl

Minecraft Hour of Code tutorials

 

Physical Computing:

With Dot and Dash Robots 

With Micro:Bit

With LEGO MindStorms

With KIBO, for 4-7 years olds

Kano Computing

Sphero

Ozobot

Finch Robot and Hummingbird

Screen-free coding with Botley, the coding robot

Tickle is a GREAT app that works with many robots and physical programming devices such as: dot and dash, Sphero, Ollie, rolling spider, LEGO WeDo, Micro:bit, and the Apple Watch.

 

For Teachers:

The Beginner’s Guide to the Hour of Code from Kasey Bell of ShakeUpLearning

Hour of Code Teacher Resources from Code.org

Below are some online activities from Code.org:

Code your own dance, featuring Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and more!
This year we collaborated with Amazon Future Engineer* on a very special tutorial, Hour of Code: Dance Party! We’ll get classrooms moving as millions of students code and dance to 30 hits from top artists. Even adults can enjoy this uniquely creative activity – whether you’re an experienced coder or a newbie, check it out.

 

FOR PARENTS:

LOCAL CSEdWeek events:

In recognition of Computer Science Education Week, the Boston Museum of Science will be hosting Computer Science Education Weekend NEXT weekend, December 8th and 9th from 10am-4pm.
You might also want to check out the MIT Museum’s Weekend Idea Hubs held from 12-4pm.
Lastly, the Artisan’s Asylum in Somerville has some great workshops you and/or your daughter might be interested in.
Below are some more local December events I found on BostonTechMom.com:

December (various dates): Microsoft Store at Prudential Center and Burlington Mall are hosting free Hour of Code Minecraft workshops for kids ages 8+. Explore aquatic worlds and uncover hidden treasure with the new Minecraft Voyage Aquatic tutorial.

December 1: RSVP now for deSTEMber Extravaganza presented by Girlstart at the Boys & Girls Club in Waltham. This holiday and winter-themed science event is for the whole family. FREE and everyone welcome!

December 1: Attend Science on Saturday at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington. Learn about 3D Printing and visit 11 stations to discover how 3D parts are designed and made. (Ages 5-17) Free + registration is required.

December 1-2: Attend MAHacks, New England’s bi-annual hackathon for high school students on Dec 1-2 in Boston. This is a FREE event and no experience is required.

December 2: Attend a Chanukah-themed STEAM Fair at JCDS, Boston’s Jewish Community Day School in Watertown. This is a FREE event. Please RSVP in advance.

December 5: If you’re considering a career in tech, don’t miss Ask a Coder. This an opportunity to meet three professional developers and software engineers at the Watertown Free Public Library.

December 6: Empow Studios is holding a Java Snowball Fight workshop from 7pm-8:30pm in Lexington. Learn syntax of the Java programming language while celebrating Hour of Code. (Grades 2-8) Cost: $25

December 7: Free Friday night admission to The Discovery Museum in Acton.

December 8: Attend Science & Us, an event where high school students will get the opportunity to create their own science communication project. This is a free event being held at MIT.

December 8-9: The Museum of Science is celebrating Computer Science Week with their own roster of fun and educational hands-on activities for visitors of all ages during the weekend. Free with Exhibit Halls admission.

December 8-9: Artisan’s Asylum is hosting their 7th Annual Winter Market & Open House in Somerville. There will be many interactive activities for all ages including electronics and robotics activities, a scavenger hunt for kids, MassDestruction Robot Battles and more!

December 15: The LigerBots will be hosting a maker fair for families during the FIRST LEGO League competition at Newton North High School. This is a free event and features hands-on activities for kids in the fields of science, technology, engineering, art, and math.

December 26-28: Empow Studios is holding Winter Break NanoCamps where kids learn to design, build and codefrom 9am-4pm in Lexington & Newton. (Grades 2-8) Cost: $95/day

 

About Code.org

“Code.org is a non-profit dedicated to expanding computer science education. The Code.org vision is that computer science should be part of the core curriculum in every school, alongside other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses, such as biology, physics, chemistry and algebra.”