November 29, 2020

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Featured EDTECH Resources Reviewed by TeachersFirst

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Resources for The Hour of Code

The Hour of Code takes place each year during Computer Science Education Week (December 7–13, 2020). Find coding resources to use with your students during remote, blended, and traditional lessons. 

Grades K-10

Code

Start by clicking either Teach or Learn in the top menu bar. Select challenges by grade level or find individual challenges with titles like "Dance Party," "Minecraft," "Flappy Code", and more. Find everything a student needs to get started with coding!

Grades K-12

TeachersFirst's Coding in the Classroom

Turn the intimidating content of computer programming and coding into an exciting learning adventure for all grade levels with the helpful sites in this curated collection! Find your ideal tool for the Hour of Code.

Grades 2-6

Disney Hour of Code Digital Toolkit - Moana: Wayfinding with Code

Participate in Hour of Code activities using Disney's Moana as an engaging introduction to computer science and coding. This site includes videos, a printable toolkit, and a hands-on coding adventure.

Grades 2-12

Minecraft Hour of Code Tutorials

Use code to make your own Minecraft game or learn the basics of computer coding by moving characters through a Minecraft world in these Hour of Code activities. Use these activities to teach and reinforce coding skills through the familiar Minecraft game.

Grades K-8

Learning with Santa Tracker

Motivate young coders with Santa! Scroll towards the middle of this page and find two ready-to-go coding activities ("Code Lab" and "Code Boogie"). Both include detailed instructions. The site also provides lesson plans correlated with standards.

Create Code

All of the resources shared in this section are TeachersFirst Edge tools, which are centered around the act of creating. Find resources for all ages to help students begin to create their own code. 

Grades 4-12

Blockly

Try this open source library of drag-and-drop blocks to use for generating computer codes. Use each block to stack and create your own coding projects. Use the drop-down box to view and copy the code in JavaScript, Python, and other coding formats.

Grades 4-12

Dash

Use Dash to practice HTML, CSS, and JavaScript by building a website, blog theme, CSS robot, or your own mad libs game. Choose your project, then follow prompts in each accompanying slide show to add coding, receive feedback, and view progress.

Grades 5-9

Google CS First

Designed for students in grades 4-8, this site teaches coding. All training and materials are free for anyone in the U.S. Materials offer lessons based on themes such as storytelling, sports, social media, friends, and fashion and design.

Grades K-12

Pencil Code Gym

This cool tool allows students to code their own art, music, and interactive fiction! Click the pencil in the upper left corner to see several resources, including materials for teachers, a teachers' manual, printable activities, and several others.

Grades K-12

Tynker

Tynker is a must-see when teaching students the basics of coding. Free educator registration provides three free coding courses, interactive games, blog posts and articles, an art studio, lessons and activities related to the Hour of Code, and more.

This Week at TeachersFirst®

This week at TeachersFirst is all about helping prepare you for a memorable and educational week of coding! From our Thursday night Twitter chat, to a related blog, to our weekly poll, you will find even more inspiration as you plan your Hour of Code activities. 


  Twitter Chat - Hour of Code: Are You Ready? image

Thursday at 8 PM ET

Twitter Chat - Hour of Code: Are You Ready?

Join us on Thursday for our bi-monthly Twitter chat, "Hour of Code: Are You Ready?" Discuss the benefits of integrating coding into instruction and explore strategies for coding across various curricular areas. Use #OK2Ask and #TeachersFirst to join in.

Share tips for participating in the Hour of Code »


  Let’s Talk About: Ada Lovelace image

Infusing Technology Blog

Let’s Talk About: Ada Lovelace

Read all about Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer, and her connection to coding. This timely blog post provides ideas for activities during the Hour of Code and a good introduction and description of computational thinking.

View this blog post »


  Weekly Poll image

The Hour of Code

Weekly Poll

This week our weekly poll asks: "Will your class participate in the Hour of Code?" View other educators' replies once you click to submit your own answer.

Share your plans with our community »

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About TeachersFirst
TeachersFirst is a collection of curated, classroom-ready content and ideas — including teacher-authored reviews of thousands of web resources. Built-in guidance from seasoned professionals makes effective classroom technology use trouble-free. TeachersFirst is made available free to K12 teachers by The Source for Learning, Inc., a nonprofit that has been providing educational resources for more than 40 years.