Endangered Animal Encounter in Scratch
About this Class
Over the course of five days, students will learn computer programming fundamentals using the Scratch platform developed by MIT's Lifelong Kindergarten. They will work in teams to research and create an interactive project about an imaginary meeting between local and international endangered species. Programming fundamentals such as looping, variables, conditional statements and the movement of sprites on the Cartesian plane, will be covered. We will be using the newest version of MIT’s Scratch program, Scratch 2.0, which includes cloud variables and camera detection. Class projects can be found at the following links: Fall 2013 Projects
About Scratch
Scratch is a programming language and an online community where children can program and share interactive media such as stories, games, and animation with people from all over the world. As children create with Scratch, they learn to think creatively, work collaboratively, and reason systematically. Scratch is designed and maintained by the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab.
- Instructions for creating an online Scratch account (Please help your child do this and have them come to class with their username and password. You can also email these to me if you like.
- Download instruction sheet (.pdf - How to create a Scratch acct. & download the standalone Scratch application at home)
- Scratch website
- For Parents
About the Instructor
Alfia Wallace has been the Technology Specialist at Dixie School since 2002. At the district level she teaches G.A.T.E. classes in technology and language to students in grades 4-8. She runs the Scratch Club at Dixie School on Thursdays at lunch, teaches after school Scratch programming classes in the district via San Rafael Rec. and runs a science seminar for high school students at Terra Linda High School. Her website is plumsite.com. Professional: 