LESSON PLAN

CODING + LANGUAGE ARTS

AGES:
K-5
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT:
15-30 students per facilitator, no prior skill necessary.

ELA Common Core State Standards applied:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.K-5.1

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English

grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.K-5.
2

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English

capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Materials, Resources and Preparation

Review the
Hour of Code Educator Guide
and
Best Practices from Successful Educators
to plan your Hour of Code event.
Register your Hour of Code
event to receive a thank you gift and f
un posters
.
If youre running an online tutorial, be sure to test it first before asking your students to
complete it. Check your technology and decide if you need to troubleshoot anything in
advance.
Print certificates
to hand out at the end.

Getting Started (2-5 mins)

FIRST: Introduce the activity (2-5 minutes)
Kick off your Hour of Code by inspiring students and discussing how computer science
impacts every part of our lives and is revolutionizing the study of biology.
Show

The Hour of Code is Here

.
Its okay if both you and your students are brand new to computer science. Here are some
ideas to introduce your Hour of Code activity to connect with the subject matter:
Explain ways technology and language arts impacts our lives, with examples both
boys and girls will care about.
Google translate helping people from different countries speaking different
languages understand each other

 Artificial intelligence and natural language processing - like Siri

Today, your students will get to learn a computer language and explore how it is similar to
and different from English!
See tips for getting girls interested in computer science
here
.

NEXT: Direct students to the activity (1 minute)

Write the tutorial link on a whiteboard: b
itsbox.com/hoc
Tell students to visit the URL and start the activity by:
Click the Build Apps Now link in the center of the screen. This will launch a short
guided tutorial that will show the students the basics of using Bitsbox.
Once you've completed the tutorial, click the star-shaped New App
button. Enter the first app number from the work sheet and click "Go".
Tip:
For younger students, load the Build Apps Now page ahead of time or save
it as a bookmark.
Pass out Bitsbox app handouts (last page of this guide) and direct students to start with the
first app.

Activity (20-40 mins)

NEXT: Ask students to complete the tutorial, alone or in groups
Direct students to type in exactly what they see on the handouts.
This will create an app they
can then experiment with. Circulate around the room ensuring students are typing into the
Bitsbox code window.
When your students have a working Name Game app ask questions or have them discuss with
a partner / neighbor:
What patterns do you see your code?
Can you write your own name?
As you circulate the room, help students answer this question:
Can you write your name vertically instead of horizontally? (Hint: try switching the
order of the numbers in each line - for example, 100, 200 becomes 200, 100)
Direct them to look at the code that they wrote and ask:
How does the code look different from English sentences in books?
What do you notice about capitalization?
What do you notice about punctuation like periods, commas, and quotes?

 Do you recognize any symbols from math class?

For students ready for a new challenge:
Show them how to start a new app by:
1. Pressing the Home Icon at the bottom of the virtual tablet
2. (optional) Have them set up an account if they want to save their progress and show
their parents their work later! An email address is required to do this.
3. Press the star-shaped New App button, enter the app number (XXXX) and click "Go".
Direct students to type in exactly what they see in the 2nd app's code (Secret Letter),
circulate around the room ensuring students are typing into the correct window
When your students have a working app, have them look at the code they wrote create secret
messages for each other! Ask:
Are there any symbols you havent seen before?

When your students come across difficulties

Make sure to check for common errors. Remember, every character matters.
Incorrect capitalization
Missing syntax like { or (
Missing or mismatched quotation marks. (e.g. stamp(cow') or stamp('cow"))
Misspellings
Its okay to respond:
I dont know. Lets figure this out together.
Let's try something and see what happens."
Learning to program is like learning a new language; you wont be fluent right
away.
What to do if a student finishes early?
Have them continue to the last app.
Students can see all tutorials and try another Hour of Code activity at
code.org/learn
Or, ask students who finish early to help classmates who are having trouble with the
activity.

Wrap-Up (5-10 mins)

FOUR: Debrief & Close
Discuss as a class why programming is called a language; How is the programming language
similar and different from English? Some ideas:
Dont need caps to start each line or for names of things
There are no paragraphs but each line is like a sentence

 Quotations can tell the computer what to write or see but they also identifies words
that refer to text or objects, not direct instructions
Help students brainstorm why computers might need a different kind of language than
people. Some ideas to encourage your students to explore:
Computers are very literal - you need to say exactly what you mean for them to
understand
Computers think in math terms more easily than in English - why the code looks like a
mix of english and math
Celebrate and
pass out certificates
and stickers.
Let participants know they can continue to learn at
code.org/learn/beyond
.
Share photos and videos of your Hour of Code event on social media. Use #HourOfCode and
@codeorg so we can highlight your success, too!

Beyond one hour

If you kids enjoyed Bitsbox, they can find more materials at b
itsbox.com/hoc.
There are many ways to go Beyond an Hour of Code:
Explore other curricula
from our partners
.
Teach the
Code Studio Computer Science Fundamentals
courses. Code.org offers f
ree
professional development
for these courses, o
nline
or
in-person
.
Invite a computer science expert to your class.
Sign up for a virtual classroom.

Bitsbox App Handout

Name Game
App Number: 1773
1. fill('paper2')
2. stamp('a paint',100,200)
3. stamp('l paint',200,200)
4. stamp('i paint',300,200)

Secret Letter
App Number: 5300
1. fill('desk')
2. letter = stamp('letter2',550)
3. text('Want dessert?',250,400)
4. text('I do!!!',250,450)
5. cover = stamp('envelope2',700)
6.
7. function reveal() {
8. cover.size(1,500)
9. letter.dance()
10.}
11.
12.cover.tap = reveal

Mad Libs
App Number: 5689
1. function ask() {
2. word = this.name
3. reply = prompt('I need a ' + word + '!')
4. text(reply,this.x,this.y,65,'blue')
5. this.hide()
6. }
7.
8. stamp('feeling',200,892).tap = ask
9. stamp('noun',100,258) .tap = ask
10.stamp('place',325,350) .tap = ask
11.stamp('name',100,530) .tap = ask

12.stamp('animal',100,710) .tap = ask

13.stamp('verb',380,800) .tap = ask
14.
15.function show() {
16. fill('madlib')
17. this.hide()
18.}
19.
20.stamp('show',670,970).tap = show