After School Coding Clubs

[Mary LaChance]

Is anyone else leading an after school coding club?  We started one this year at my sons' school and I've love to hear experiences others have had.  I just finished our last "class" yesterday.  It was quite amazing how much the kids learned in such a short period of time.

We had 2 sessions (one after school and one before school) that ran for about 7 weeks.  We're now putting together a packet (including lesson plans, tips/tricks, intro letter to parents, flyers, certificates to give the kids at the end, etc).  We're hoping to expand to other elementary schools in our district and the area.

I'd love to hear experiences that others have had.

[LULU MARY DAVIES]

I would like to set up an afterschool coding club in our afterschool program. How does this work? Lulu

[Alan Yorinks]

I will be starting a club in the fall, and since this is my first time, I can't share any direct experiences with you about facilitation, but this workshop has been a wonderful place to learn both from the exercises and sharing with the community, and a great place to test out ideas. 

To be able to start the club you will need the support of the school (obviously), so use any networking contacts you have - administrative staff, the PTA, teachers, the students or community leaders. I am working as a volunteer to start the club, since my district, like so many others, has a very limited budget. They have an adequate number of computers, so I have everything I need to begin, without adding any additional costs to them. 

I had offered to put together a full written plan, but the administration had just asked that I put together a one-page plan to present to the board for approval. You might start by doing something like this so that you can get your thoughts together to help you make your pitch for the club.

I am working on a more formal plan over the summer and would be happy to share this with you as it comes together if you like.

The only words of advice I can give at this point is to stay flexible. In the 2.5 weeks since the workshop began, I have modified a lot of my thinking about content and presentation for the club, all as a result of the great suggestions I am getting from those who have been down this road before.

Alan

 

[CL Beisel]

I am teaching a class afterschool this Fall. I would love to see a copy of your packet if you are willing to share:)

Cheryl

[Vera-Germaine Adams]

I'm planning on starting an after school Scratch club as well. My project for this online course will be developing my plans to teach Scratch. I'd like to model it along the lines of the learning experience that we had here: introductory lessons of Scratch features, sharing/collaborative work and then independent projects. I would love to share management ideas, lesson plans, etc. with anyone else. 

[Alan Yorinks]

I just added a column to the BIrds of a Feather spread sheet to allow folks to provide any links they would like. 

Feel free to look at my notebook:  http://tinyurl.com/qhm7gdr

Although I don't have any work product as of yet, would love to share and get ideas with others.

[Paul Lakeman]

We have done 4 out of 5 after school classes at a local primary school. What has amazed me is that the kids always get to the class way before it is due to start and the hardest part is getting them to go home! I'm having a job keeping pace with some of the kids. We have already been asked if we can do some summer schools and will be running after school classes at another five (and counting) in the Autumn. What I like about Scratch is there is so much quality material available for both teaching and learning. The kids really take to Scratch quickly and all demonstrate a genuine desire to learn.
 We are also using, Raspberrypi's, MakeyMakey boards and our next classes will showcase Robotics, 3D Printing, istopMotion, aerial photography (using quadcopters) and soft circuits (e-textiles).

[Mary LaChance]

Here's the packet we came up with.  It's not totally proofed yet, but I thought you wouldn't mind.  Here's what's included:

• PowerPoint: This is the meat of the packet.  It includes things to think about before setting up the club, lesson plans, etc.
• Coding Club Flyer:  This is a flyer you can send out to tell people about Coding Club.  We used Sign-up Genius to track who was in the class (there's more written about this in the PowerPoint that I will upload later this week).
• Coding Club Roster: We created a spreadsheet to capture more information about the children in the class.  We also used this list in a mail merge to create the certificates.
• Welcome Letter to Parents: We emailed this to the parents before the first class and also gave the children a printed copy on the first day of class.  It gives the high level information about Scratch.
• Scratch Certification Template: We gave each child a laminated certificate at the end of the class.  As mentioned above, the certificate is set up so that you can do a mail merge with the Coding Club Roster Excel.
• What's Next: Since our class was at the end of the school year, we wanted to give the children ideas of what they could do over the summer to continue learning about coding.  We used this Word document during the last class to show videos of each of the options.

Also in the packet, I reference activity cards.  Instead of uploading them, here are the links (they are big files, so I didn't want to upload):

• MIT's cards (these are the ones we used): http://info.scratch.mit.edu/Support/Scratch_Cards
• Use the Pen card (set up just like the MIT card): http://scratched.media.mit.edu/resources/using-pen-tool-scratch-card
• Amitai Gat's cards: http://scratched.media.mit.edu/resources/scratch-cards-alla

I hope this is helpful to others!

[uttam banerjee]

Thanks ..very well done 

[emancdf]

Amazing work. Congratulations!!