Hour of Code Comes to CISD

​ Computers are everywhere, but fewer schools teach computer science than 10 years ago. Good news is, we’re on our way to change this. If you've heard about the Hour of Code before, you might know it made history. More than 100 million students have tried an Hour of Code.
With the Hour of Code, computer science has been on homepages of Google, MSN, Yahoo! and Disney. Over 100 partners joined together to support this movement. Last year, every Apple Store in the world hosted an Hour of Code and even President Obama wrote his first line of code as part of the campaign.
This year, let's make it even bigger. We’re asking every elementary, intermediate, and middle school campus in Crowley to join in for the Hour of Code 2015. We would love to see your campus get involved with an Hour of Code event during Computer Science Education Week, December 7-13. Here’s what you can do.

1. Plan: Talk to teachers about the Hour of Code. A free coding app will be loaded Absolute Apps on the K-6 iPads.  On computers you can use the programs Angry Birds, Tynker, Scratch, Lightbot .
2. Promote: Make announcements on campus, send emails home to parents, post blurbs in school newsletters, and show students videos about coding and computer science.
3. Prepare: Think about how to distribute the devices. Two students can work together on the same iPad.  Any class with a set of 12 iPads will have enough devices for 24 students.  Two classes can share a set of 12; one class using the devices in the morning the other in the afternoon. Teachers can work with their teams to best distribute the devices for use.
4. Code: Set aside a time for students to code with these apps. For example, everyone’s math lesson on Wednesday could be to code with a partner on an iPad.
5. Celebrate student success. Print certificates or stickers for students. Talk about what you have learned and how they can extend the learning.

We are excited that Crowley ISD is going to be part of this international program. We would like to help you facilitate in any way possible. Please let us know how we can help.
 
Jan Hodge, District Library Media Specialist, Elementary
Carol Hafer, District Library Media Specialist, Secondary
Michelle Bothel, District Elementary Instructional Technologist
Lynne Ryan, Computer Science Teacher, NCHS