There are two exciting digital learning events happening at both of our elementary schools (boys school and girls school) this December and January. The first will be our participation in the Hour of Code 2013, which will happen during the week of December 9-15th 2013. Then on January 24, 2014, we will be conducting our first Digital Citizenship Day.
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HOUR OF CODE
WHAT IS IT?
This year, Code.org is launching the Hour of Code as part of the Computer
Science Education Week (CSEdWeek), a celebration geared to encourage interest in the field of computer programming and show that anyone can learn how to code. They plan to have 10 million students participate from all over the world.
The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to programming activity that every student can do. Code.org, Khan Academy, Google, M.I.T.’s Media Lab, Microsoft Research, Code Academy, Tynker and more will be providing a variety of hour-long tutorials. for our students to learn and explore the basics of computer programming. These self-guided lessons:
-Requires no previous experience on behalf of the student or the teacher.
-Can be completed in one hour or less.
Read quotes from world leaders and innovators here
WHAT WILL YOU NEED?
Most of the tutorials will work in any web browser on our desktops, laptops and iPads. Your friendly Educational Innovation Coordinators (EICs) will help determine which tutorials work best for your class and devices.
WHEN WILL IT HAPPEN?
The Hour of Code will take place from December 9-15th. We ask that you coordinate with your EICs to find ONE-HOUR during that week to participate in this exciting world wide project. The EICs will be sending a form to schedule times for your class participation.
WHY ARE WE DOING IT?
This exploration of coding segues nicely with our theme of Discover and Aspire. We highly encourage our students and teachers to discover the possibilities of coding and develop their computational thinking. We hope to spark our students’ passions to aspire in creating something great for themselves and for the community.
DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP DAY
Since piloting Common Sense Media’s Digital Citizenship program six years ago, we have experienced great success in empowering our students to think critically, behave safely, and participate responsibly in our digital world. This January 24, 2014, we will be conducting our Digital Citizenship Day, where all of our students from Convent Elementary and Stuart Hall for Boys, will jointly explore and understand what it means to be good digital citizens. Our teachers will be planning grade appropriate lessons that are outlined in Common Sense Media’s K-8 Digital Literacy & Citizenship Curriculum. We plan to continue these important life skills and lessons throughout the year, and will be communicating this to the community.
We encourage you to explore the valuable digital information and advice from Common Sense Media here.