BMUFSD: Kindergartners Have Their First Coding Lesson

from the Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District:

Briarcliff’s littlest bears are learning the building blocks of coding, as they prepare for the school-wide Hour of Code event later this month.

Having an in-house STEAM teacher to teach them the basics certainly helps.

Recently, kindergarten students in Bonnie Seligson’s class visited the STEAM room and began with a lesson with Bee-bots programmable robots, to provide them with hands-on coding experience.

Next, Ms. Lahlouh showed the students how to create a sequence on a program called Code Monkey. She gave step-by-step instructions for creating a basic code.

After the instructions, students began creating their own sequence codes with the app on their iPads.

“It is okay if you can’t get it right on the first try, or the fifth try,” Ms. Lahlouh said. “We have to be thinking the entire time and counting those spaces. It is okay to try again or ask for help.”

Ms. Lahlouh has been doing several coding sessions with students in grades K-2 in preparation for Hour of Code.

“Code Monkey is relatively new to our school, and we are having all K-2 students use that program,” she said. “Last year we had limited access to both Tynker and Code Monkey. This year we have subscriptions to both programs, so it is really exciting.”

Emma completed the first level and was ready to continue to the next level.

“It was easy and fun,” she said.

“I let students continue to as many levels as they can handle if they want an extra challenge,” Ms. Lahlouh said.

STEAM education at the elementary level is in keeping with Briarcliff Manor’s commitment to produce graduates who are critical thinkers and problem solvers and to provide opportunities for students to discover their interests.

This press release was produced by the Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.