Elementary Computer Science classrooms are active places that encourage exploration, creativity, collaboration, communication, persistence, and problem solving. We use the Code Studio K-5 curriculum from Code.org as the foundation of our students’ experiences, and supplement that with a variety of other resources. We want to spark students’ curiosity about what can be created with various technology tools.

Elementary students use languages like Blockly and Scratch that use a drag and drop interface so they student can focus on the logical structure more than the exact syntax required by text-based languages. This is the same approach used by introductory university computer sciences classes like Harvard CS50. Students learn how to write programs that involve loops, variables, functions, events, etc. Students are transitioned to text-based programming environments as they gain more experience in upper grades. They apply this skill to create projects, stories, games, apps, program robots, and more.