Hundreds of San Ramon Valley Unified Students Join Hour of Code

In today’s economy, computing jobs outnumber students graduating into the field by 3-to-1. Computer science is foundational for every industry, and is especially valued in the Bay Area. Yet 90% of schools nationwide don’t teach it. The San Ramon Valley Unified School District wants to ensure its students are on the forefront of creating technology of the future – not just consuming it.

During Computer Science Education Week from December 8-14, hundreds of kindergarten through 12th grade students in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District are joining in one of the largest learning events in history: The Hour of Code. Last year, 15 million students worldwide tried computer science in one week. This year, SRVUSD will join The Hour of Code in its goal of reaching 100 million students!

Event Highlights Include:

SRVUSD’s Walt Disney Elementary School in San Ramon will focus on helping students in grades 1- 5 learn that code literacy is essential not only for future software engineers but for many other occupations. They will use game based programming challenges that help develop important 21stcentury skills like problem solving, planning, and geometric and mathematical thinking.

Lower grades will be using Blockly, a visual programming language that drags and drop blocks to write code. The upper grades will be using CodeMonkey, an online tool where students learn how to code in a real programming language. Students will learn programming concepts such as commands and arguments, objects, loops, variables, arrays, functions and conditions.

At Los Cerros Middle School in Danville, students will be participating in an Hour of Code throughout the week. On Friday, December 12 from 10am-1pm parents will be invited to an open house co-hosted by local tech company Procera Networks. At the open house, students and their parents will be able to meet one-on-one with Procera CEO James Brear as well as software engineers from the company to talk about the benefits of coding and how it has transformed their careers and lives. Mr. Brear personally attended Los Cerros Middle School as a kid growing up in the Bay Area.

These are just a few of the many programs going on throughout the District. For more information about Hour of Code visit http://hourofcode.com/us.

Information submitted by San Ramon Valley Unified School District

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