Students Know the "Code" for Learning Computer Programming!

The students at Saint James the Apostle School in Springfield enjoyed the Hour of Code and Computer Science Education Week so much in 2014 that it was decided to expand the Hour of Code program this year to make December “Computer Science Month.” The Hour of Code is an initiative aimed at reaching every student in every corner of the globe to provide them with the opportunity to participate in at least one hour of computer science programming. St. James students in every grade, Pre-K through eighth, participated in both online lessons as well as unplugged lessons to improve their understanding of how programming actually works. The lessons showed students the real life applications of words like debugging, binary, algorithm, loop, repeat functions and conditionals. Students used individual accounts on websites like Code.org (and others) to keep track of the number of lessons they completed both in school and at home during the month. Every student earned an Hour of Code certificate, and the students in 5th through 8th grade earned prizes for the top five coders in each grade. Pictured from left to right are the overall top coders: Sophia Ilagan, Roselyn Ortiz, Adam Cordeiro and Calvin Garcia. Computer Science is no longer just a job of the future; the future is here, and the students at Saint James loved learning how to read and write code!

Saint James the Apostle School has been serving the parishioners of Saint James the Apostle Church in Springfield and surrounding communities since 1953. Saint James the Apostle School offers students from PreK-3 through grade eight a Roman Catholic faith-based education which acknowledges each child’s individual ability to achieve their fullest potential academically, socially, and spiritually.