• Coding in the Teddy Bear Coding & Tech Lab 

    We believe that coding is the new language of the 21st Century. We want to expand and enhance our children’s technical skills and their STEM skills so we created our Teddy Bear Tech Lab. Advanced learning students that are four year olds spend 40 minutes every day in the lab, using devices and interactive programs in a collaborative space. While in the lab, students get to work with programs that provide a basic foundation of coding and how to program mechanical objects to move in a variety of ways. Students use programs like Scratch Jr. and The Foos, to input block code for directional commands to move digital avatars on screen. Students are also given the task to build code using commands from the game Simon Says.  They play the game of Simon Says and are asked to jump, spin, and grow. As they follow specific instructions, they began to understand that coding is a series of specific instructions that have to be followed. The three year olds spend time with the Codapillar to learn basic commands.

    After physically completing the game, students are challenged to use the Scratch Jr iOS App to build code using the three physical actions they had previously done while playing the game of Simon Says. 

    The teacher utilizes the Apple TV to demonstrate how to use the Scratch Jr App and how to create the actions needed for the coding. Each student is allowed to choose an avatar and make code to command his or her avatar to jump, spin, and grow. After making the codes, the students had to explain the process of creating a code while demonstrating their projects. 

    Coding with Sphero Robots  

    Students also learned to build obstacle mazes that increases with complexity for their classmates who learned how to maneuver and code a Sphero robot.

    Two small groups of students worked collaboratively to design a blueprint for how they would build their maze.  They measured the Duplo construction blocks with their steps to get an estimation of how many steps or how long each section would actually be within their maze.  Then constructed mazes based on their blue prints with the Duplo construction blocks, giant Legos, and multi-colored PVC pipes.