Code Club - 2018

Welcome back to Year Two of Code Club @stfrancischch. We are excited to get up and running again. This week we will cover creating accounts, sharing expectations and guidelines, and begin coding. 

We are registered as a Code Club with Code Club Aotearoa and will be coding our way through their amazing learning modules. The Module our Years 5-8 Students will be starting with is Scratch Module 1. 

If students have never used Scratch before they will start by creating their own Rockband. Our Years 1-2 students will also be using Scratch, but on the iPad App Scratch Jnr, and the first thing they will be creating is an animation of a car, driving across the city. 

We have several keen teachers who have volunteered their time to run these clubs, a big thank you to them, as we wouldn't be able to cater to such large groups if they weren't so keen. 

Our Code Clubs will run on Monday After School and Friday lunch times. If you are a parent of a child who would like to join one of our Code Clubs this year please complete the following Google Form. 

https://goo.gl/forms/ztosZOoWkIcr4DmH3

Connor's Star Wars Game (2 Player)

Connor, one of our Year 5 and 6 coders has created a 2 player Star Wars battle game, share your keyboard with a friend.. or foe and see who has the skills to be the champion.

Alex's Boat Race

Check out Alex's Boat Race he has added lots of cool little challenges since creating his original Code Club Boat Race Project. Can you make it through the course and get to the beach safely?

Adam's Target Game

Adam has made a target shooting game. Adam has been coding in our Friday Code Club since the beginning of 2017. He loves making and adapting new games. Have a go at his new game and you could set a new high score, write your score in the comments below, good luck!

Code Club T-Shirts

As I am sure you would have heard from your children we are in the process of getting Code Club T-Shirts made. The final design below is a combined design from a number of students who sent through their ideas. 

Students have had the opportunity to try on some sample T-Shirts and should have an idea of what size they would like to purchase. For anyone who has not please feel free to call in to the Kaupeka teachers' space and see Whitney Hansen. She will be able to share the samples with you up until Friday 3 November.

The cost of T-Shirts will be $20. This can either be paid to the school bank account - St Francis of Assisi Catholic School 03-1700-0262188-00, with a reference of Code T and the student’s name, or paid in to the office in a named envelope with the same reference.

T-Shirt payment must be made before they are ordered, on Friday 10 November.

Once purchased these tops can be worn during Code Club and other school coding events. Please note children must be a member of Code Club @stfrancischch in order to purchase T-Shirts.

If your child is not in Code Club and would like to join, or you have any questions regarding the above information please email whitney.hansen@stfrancischch.school.nz

If you would like to purchase a T-Shirt please complete the following Google Form - https://goo.gl/forms/qgnN1FEMBtx9eyUN2

No Code Club Tuesday 24 October

On Tuesday 24 October, there will be no after school Code Club, as all our volunteers are busy with a staff meeting and are unable to run the session. 

Moonhack

Today St Francis of Assisi is hoping to join kids around the world in setting a new World Record, by taking part in Moonhack.

What is Moonhack?

Moonhack is the World Record set by kids coding, and the idea came from the team at Code Club Australia. Last year 10,207 Australian kids participated in this free event. This year we're going global! From Sydney to Seoul, Dhaka to Durham, kids all over the world will get the chance to collaborate and code today, Tuesday August 15th.

Every student @stfrancischch will take part in one of the following projects:

Scratch Jnr

Scratch

Python

They will then share their projects and be counted as part of the World Record attempt.

Haven't coded before? It's easy why not try one of the projects above?

No After School Code Club or Friday Code Clubs - Tuesday 4 July, Thursday 6 July or Friday 7 July

On Tuesday 4 July, there will be no after school Code Club, as all our volunteers are busy with parent teacher interviews and are unable to run the session. 

Thursday and Friday lunch time code clubs are also cancelled this week. 

Jaspar's Animation

Check out Jaspar's Midnight Wolf Animation. Jaspar is one of our youngest coders at Code Club but that certainly doesn't stop him from keeping up, in fact he has coded some of the most creative things we have seen in Code Club so far this year.

Niamh's Brain Game

This is multiplication game, which you can use to get better at your times tables. I created this at a session in my Friday Code Club.  This is one of my favourite things I've coded, because it was different to anything I'd made before and a bit more of a challenge. - Niamh (Year 8)

To check out other coding I've done head to my blog at http://niamhsfoa.blogspot.co.nz/

Nicolaas' Paranormal Hunter Game

Check out Nicolaas' finished Paranormal Ghost Hunter Game. Help the character in the game to kill all the ghosts in the graveyard, the more ghosts you kill the more points you get, but you need to be quick because you only have 20 seconds. If you're sure how to play click on the blue instructions link. Good luck, screenshot your score if you manage to get 15 or more ghosts. 

Hannah's Hippo Invaders

Hannah has been coding her way through Module 2 and has created her very own Hippo Invaders. It has been a constant challenge to keep the top score within our lunch time club on Fridays.

Hamish's Shark Animation

In Think, Make, Solve time, up in the Kaupeka Hub, students have been learning how to code using Scratch. Hamish has used his new learning to create a short animation about sharks. We hope you enjoy watching it as much as we did. 

No After School Code Club - Tuesday 30 May

On Tuesday 30 May, there will be no after school Code Club. All our volunteers are at a professional development course, so we will not be able to run the session. Students in this group are invited to join one of our Friday or Thursday lunchtime sessions.

Christopher's Ghostbusters

Christopher shared his Ghostbusters game with us today at Code Club, naturally we had a bit of a competition to see who could get the highest score. Mrs Cummings and Miss Hansen thought they had it in the bag with a score of 8 until Miss Kearsley on a second attempt cracked 9. Think you can beat 9? Have a go and screenshot your score to show us. You get points by clicking on the things that appear, but hurry you only have 10 seconds.

Corban and Sam use Scratch for Religious Education

Over the last couple of weeks Corban and Sam have been using Scratch to re-create scripture. This animation below is their re-creation of "The Good Samaritan". The skills we are learning in coding can be transferred across all areas of the curriculum. Our students have been able to take what they have learnt in Code Club and use it in Religious Education, what other ways can you see coding being used in learning? 

Hannah's Dodgeball Game

This is a game that I coded, called Dodgeball. In the game you have press the space bar to jump and use the left and right arrow keys to move left and right. Your mission is to get to the top without letting any balls hit you on the way down. If they get you you will be sent back to the start. I don't know if I have made it too hard or not, and would like some feedback on it. Let me know what you think in the comments. - Hannah

#whywecode

We love this video so thought we would share #whywecode

Code Club Term Two

We are one term down and excited to be starting Term Two and our second term of coding next week. This term our Friday lunchtime groups will be split in to three groups, as our numbers are so large, Kākano - Scratch Jnr on iPads, Paiaka - Scratch Jnr on iPads and Tumu/Kaupeka Scratch Module One/Two. Our Tuesday after school group will also spilt in to three groups, Paiaka - Scratch Jnr on iPads, Tumu/Kaupeka - Scratch Module One and Tumu/Kaupeka - Scratch Module Two.

It's not too late to join! If you are or your child is a student at St Francis of Assisi School and would like to join please email whitney.hansen@stfrancischch.school.nz. 

We are so lucky @stfrancischch that we are able to offer Code Club to so many students. The reason we are able to do this is because we have so many teachers willing to give up lunchtimes and after school to help run the  clubs.

This is a great sketchnote from Sylvia Duckworth and Brian Aspinall on why we offer students the opportunity to code #thisiswhywecode.

http://brianaspinall.com/10-reasons-to-teach-coding-sketchnote-by-sylviaduckworth/

We Loooooovvvvveeee Coding

We are now in Week 4 of Code Club and we are absolutely loving it. We have over 120 students coding @stfrancischch, and they are coding all sorts of different projects from animations to video games. Mrs Earl, our principal is one of our most addicted coders, and Mrs Simanu is not far behind her. If you get the chance to ask her about her animation on "The Attack of the Plum" do, it's  definitely worth a look.

In these pictures are members of our Tuesday Code Club using Scratch Jnr to code on the iPads. This group are working towards getting their own Scratch account and will then Code on Chromebooks with our Year 5-8 students. 

  

Throughout the year we will share some of our games and animations with you, so check back in again soon.