I work in a coding emersion school. We are part of the Code To the Future program. All students at my school are expected to code, everyday. While that sounds awesome on paper, I have had difficulty implementing it in my classroom.
There are a lot of awesome apps and online resources that help make coding accessible to all learners. I won’t be talking about those resources here, but I do recommend checking out Brook Brown’s blog for all things stem and coding. This blog will focus on how I code in my moderate to severe disabilities classroom.
I have found “un-plugged coding” to be the best way to implement coding in my room. Un-plugged coding does not use the internet or technology. Many of my students struggle to use a computer mouse or click and drag on an iPad, making technology difficult. Unplugged coding has been the answer for us! See below for the 5 resources we use to code!
If you work in a preschool setting, or your students are just getting started out, I highly recommend trying this coding caterpillar. It is easy for students to snap together and make different codes. The music and lights that play while the caterpillar completes the code help captivate attention and has quickly made this a favorite activity in my classroom.
This was the first coding activity I made for my class. These gross motor coding sticks help my students learn some of the basic commands often used in coding. The students would build a code on their stick, then pass it to an adult or a peer like a communication exchange strip. The other individual would read the code then physically act it out. My students thought it was so funny when they could make their teacher move across the classroom using their stick.
Brook’s Un-Plugged coding bundle was the first coding related purchase I made on TpT. Not only was the code simple enough for my students to color, cut and assemble, but it also made a beautiful display outside our classroom. I loved showing my school how my students go involved with coding.
The Thematic Coding Activities are my new coding product. They align to Thematic Packs and give a little more guidance for students. Students will use the coding mat and the pieces to replicate one of the seven codes included in each pack. There are three levels of sheets for students to use to write the code. This multi-leveled product helped my students learn several aspects of coding. Check out all of the sets available here and grab a free set here.
The last way we code in my classroom is using Brook’s Hop Scotch Coding. I had Betsy Devos visit my classroom in the Fall of 2017 and we used this product to show off our skills. I wish I could share the smiles on my student’s faces when doing this activity-they loved getting up and moving. I even wrote a whole blog post about this product-read about it here!
I hope this blog gave you some easy to implement ideas to get coding started with students who need technology free options. Enjoy!