Fröhe Weihnachten

The Beezy Teacher would like to wish you and your families a very happy holiday!  As you celebrate the holiday season with friends and family, please send a thought and a prayer to all of our military men and women who cannot be with their families during the holidays.  Don’t forget to rest and relax in preparation for a new and eventful year. See you in 2017!  A wish for Peace and Goodwill to all!

Coding for Kids

Our students use technology on a daily basis. Understanding this technology is essential for 21st century learning. So what is coding? Coding is another word for programming which consists of writing the directions for what you want a computer to do.

What?? We want to teach young kids how to program a computer? Yes! The first steps for coding is understanding the sequence of directions needed to complete a task. Sounds overwhelming, right? It is not, it is totally fun for kids! Teaching coding is as easy as giving children a maze where they have to move an object.  Children use critical thinking skills to figure out the sequence of moves and turns an object has to make to get to the end or complete a task. It is as simple as that. As children become more proficient, the sequence of directions gets more challenging and complex. There are lots of coding activities available online (and hopefully you have access to computers in your school) to help your children begin their way to becoming computer programmers.

How Do we begin?

You can start by introducing young children to some game board games such as the following:

Robot Turtles by ThinkFun teaches programming fundamentals to kids starting with age 4.

3 Coding activities created by my K kids using Scratch Jr.: 

The Four Seasons

Bird Learns to Fly 

I Want to Be a Pilot Like My Dad

Coding Books: 

My Favorite Coding Apps: 

Pinterest Board:

Coding Product: (coming soon)

Fun with the Fifties

What better way to celebrate 50 days of school than by celebrating the 50’s. There have been so many changes during our 50 days of school that we decided to look at the many changes that have occurred since the 50’s. It has definitely been a Blast from the Past! 

The majority, if not all, of our students were unfamiliar with many of the items we brought in to share. Do you remember the rotary telephones or typewriters? Our students were amazed by the record player and referred to the vinyl records as CD’s. And the jukebox was an iBox. They really enjoyed looking and working with some of these blasts from the pasts.

The best part though, was the Sock Hop! We slicked back our hair or put it in ponytails. We wore our jeans rolled up and poodle skirts. We tried to blow bubbles (some of us actually did) with bubble gum and we danced to music from the 50’s. We definitely had fun with the fifties!

Activities:

Creative Snacks:

PinterestBoard:

Product Coming Soon: