The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project

If You Give a Mouse a Code

A Coding Activity for Literacy Night

If You Give a Mouse a Code

A Coding Activity for Literacy Night

A 1st-3rd Grade STEM Lesson

M. Vanderveen

10/15/2023

Notes for Teachers

Computer coding has been recognized as a fundamental element of literacy, “helping students to develop expression and communication skills”.

Coding as Literacy in Preschool: A Case Study

For this reason, I proposed we add in a computer programming center at our next Literacy Night! A great way for us STEM teachers to participate in a way that utilizes our strengths and benefits our students!

List of Materials

• Book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
• 7 large sheets of chart paper or coding mats. Printed in a grid.
• 7 Robot Mouse (e.g., Bee-Bot or similar programmable robots)
• Copies Unplugged Code blocks with directions (end Slides).
• Computers for transitioning to coding time on Code.org or similar site.

Standards

Computer Science:

• K.AP.PD.1 With teacher assistance, develop plans that describe a program’s sequence of events, goals, and expected outcomes.
• 1.AP.PD.3 With teacher assistance, debug (identify and fix) errors in an algorithm or program that includes sequences and simple loops.
• 2.AP.C.1 Develop programs with sequences and simple loops, to express ideas or address a problem.

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Math:

• 2.G.2: Partition a rectangle into rows and columns of same-size squares and count to find the total number of them.

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ELA:

• 2.RL.3: Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

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• 3.RL.3: Describe characters in a story and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

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Educational Technology:

• 4. Innovative Designer - Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.

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Objective(s):

Today students will review and demonstrate understanding of the concept of cause and effect through the book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”.

Apply basic programming and problem-solving skills using a Mouse Robot.

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Agenda (lesson time)

This activity is meant to be demonstrated and then performed by students in a quick manner, as it is a session of the school Literacy Night.

Have the book (I had a volunteer reader dressed as a mouse) for students unfamiliar with the story.

The floor charts were pre-made and ready for students to begin once they had an introductory lesson on coding the robots.

Students then program their robot to reach each connection in the story.

Additionally, I set up a main computer with Code.org on it for registering students for their own account.

Additional computers were set up for older students to then start on Code.org.

This lesson and activity had a flexible timeline due to the structure of the event, therefore students could spend more time as needed or less as desired.

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Intro/Driving Question/Opening

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"How can we use programming and Mouse Robots to simulate cause-and-effect scenarios inspired by 'If You Give a Mouse a Cookie' and navigate our way through challenges?"

Hands-on Activity Instructions

• Students work in small groups, partners or family groups as preferred.
• Students discuss the book, what they remember and the cause-effect connections throughout. Within the classroom, I would have had them chart a cause and effect thinking map with all the events in the story.
• Teacher then poses the driving question for their consideration.
• Provide instruction on the directional programming commands using the arrow and command coding blocks.
• Allow time for students to attempt, analyze, and correct their programming. This process is necessary for the programming procedure.
• Retries begin at START each time.
• When completed, students may take home the Unplugged Activity for more fun at home!

Assessment

Students should be able to refine their programming to enable them to go from one cause/effect to another throughout the summary of the story.

Observe how the student analyzes their progress and how the direction of the commands are directly affected by the direction of the robot. This first person viewpoint is a complex thinking process and may take multiple attempts to finally master.

Differentiation

Younger students may wish to begin by programming the Mouse to each stop individually.

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Next level would be to program the Mouse to travel to multiple stops.

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Highest level is to program the entire summary with one program, beginning at the Start and finishing at the End.

Remediation

Extension/Enrichment

Highest level is to program the entire summary with one program, beginning at the Start and finishing at the End.

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Students may then wish to use Scratch to program higher level robots such as Edison.

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Extend this lesson towards coding on Code.org.

Fun with Paper Coding!

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You can learn the basics of coding by creating our very own paper algorithm! Coding is like giving instructions.

You will need:

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Unplugged coding blocks

Several sheets of paper

Color crayons or markers

Scissors

Your imagination!

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Step 1: Coders use instructions to tell computers what to do. Today,

instead of computers, we'll use paper!

Step 2: Creating Your Paper Character

Draw a simple character or object on a sheet of paper.

This character will be your "coding buddy." It could be a person, an animal, a robot, anything you like!

Step 3: Try out the basic coding commands: Up, Down, Left, Right.

Lay out the Unplugged Coding Cards.

Up arrow (↑) for moving the character up

Down arrow (↓) for moving the character down

Left arrow (←) for moving the character left

Right arrow (→) for moving the character right

Step 4: Creating an Algorithm

Using the arrows, create a sequence of steps to move your character to a specific point on the paper.

For example: Up, Up, Right, Right, Down, Left

Step 5: Run Your Code

Lay out the code blocks in the correct order to move your character.

Test the code by following the instructions step by step to see if your character reaches the destination.

Adjust the code if needed just like computer coders do.

Step 6: Experiment. Create new challenges for your coding buddy!

Try to create different algorithms to make your character move in different shapes or reach new destinations.

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Challenge Yourself: Create a simple maze on paper and write the code to navigate through it. This will require more complex sequences of commands and foster problem-solving skills.

Remember: Coding is about giving precise instructions. Keep practicing and have fun with your paper coding adventure!

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First

Start

Next

Then