Library Media Tech Talk

This year I have invited my wife Cindy Evans, a library media specialist at Park Magnet School / Hot Springs Intermediate School, to share some of her best library practices at the K-6th grade levels. Her first installment will describe the recent coding activity in separate sessions for grades K-2, 3-4, and 5-6. An Hour of Code Awakens the Library in Grades K-6 My first experimentation with coding was at a local educational technology training.  The training began with a discussion of the importance of coding in school computer science programs because of the projected need for skilled professionals in this career field. There was a representative from code.org to share resources to use for coding instruction in the classroom.  The training participants received an instructor handbook called Code Studio Lesson Plans for Courses One, Two, and Three.  These courses were developed mainly for elementary students, but they are in the process of creating courses for secon...

May The Code Be With You In The Library We were so excited to try the "Hour of Code" sponsored by Code.org! I learned about this event through many conversations with educators on Twitter. We had also learned about Code.org at a local education cooperative program. We decided to host the event in the library during lunch from December 7-11. During the previous week, we had student and teacher guests from Hanamaki, Japan (Hot Springs' sister city). We decided to give a preview of our "Hour of Code" programming by inviting our friends from Japan to attend. How We Conducted the Preview To The Hour of Code Session The preview event worked very well! One of our students explained how to use the Code.org puzzle sessions. We decided to start with the Star Wars themed activities since Star Wars Episode VII was about to arrive in theaters. Both our students and the visitors were very interested in the coding puzzles! A few of their adult chaperones even participa...