We're back at camp after Fourth of July celebrations! This year marks our 10th year at Marymount University in Arlington, and our very first year at Pine Crest Elementary School in Silver Spring!
Click the link below to take you to more information about your camp.
Arlington - Marymount
Mid-Week Update
On Tuesday, our micro: bit campers drafted up their Concept Maps, coming up with themes that interest them. A lot of the girls came up with super creative ideas, like a concept map on Harry Potter!
Scratch Co-ed campers were engaged with their introduction to Scratch. They began navigating the correct structure to Scratch codes and even caught an instructor error! They helped their instructor create a code allowing the visualization of a polar bear in the arctic. Soon they will begin to make their own visualizations!
Python campers began mobilizing their turtles through code. We worked on problem-solving, using debugging techniques like asking three peers before instructors, which allows for peer review and conversations with new people.
Reminder: Fun Friday Presentations & Pizza
We will be having pizza for lunch on Friday, so if your child would like to have pizza, please send them with $5 by the end of Thursday (if you haven't already) and we will add them to the pizza order list.
We will also be having our camp-wide project presentations for each camp starting at 2PM. We invite all families to come by to see our young coders’ projects from each of our camps. Whether you can or can’t make it, or need to show up later than 2PM, your child will have their project saved on their online account and on our public Google Drive, which will be accessible at home. More information will be sent in our recap email after Camp has concluded (email will be sent the following week).
Storytelling in Scratch (Scratch 1)
Earlier this week, our Scratch camps started creating stories, developing plots, characters, and settings. Over the next few days, they will use Scratch to render their own code and make their original stories come to life!
Question to ask your Storytelling in Scratch camper: Who are your main characters (sprites) are and where is your adventure heading?
Create an Artificial Intelligence Application
In our Artificial Intelligence camp, your children are applying their coding knowledge in Scratch to build an AI app using machine learning. Throughout the week, campers are learning how to interact with AI tools and how AI impacts our lives.
Question to ask your AI camper: What kind of application are you creating?
Getting Started in Python - Python 1: Turtle Art
Campers who have been through Scratch programs previously are getting started in Python in our Python 1 camp. They are learning the basics of Python such as variables, functions, and libraries. Campers are creating digital art using a code library called Turtle. So far, they have been using the "pen" function to draw their own lines, shapes, and looping drawing animations. A free development environment you can use to code in Python at home is Trinket.
Question to ask your Getting Started in Python (Python 1) camper: What kind of art are they creating?
(Click on photos to enlarge and save to your computer.)
Silver Spring
Mid-Week Update
Reminder: Pizza Party Friday!
Children who don't want pizza should bring their lunch, and everyone should still bring their snacks. We will also be having a "Show and Tell" for students to present to their classmates and families. If you are available to join, the Scratch room will present first at 2:30PM, and at 2:45PM we will all go see what the Python and micro:bit rooms have made.
Code Your Own Adventure (Scratch 2)
In our Code Your Own Adventure camp, your children are creating their own interactive choose-your-own-adventure stories in Scratch by coding flow charts, user inputs, and conditionals to move their original story along. Along the way the player makes choices in the story that takes our adventurer in different directions.
Question to ask your budding computer scientist: Who are your main characters (sprites), and where is their adventure heading?
Program an Artificial Intelligence App in Scratch
In our Artificial Intelligence camp, your children are applying their coding knowledge in Scratch to build an AI app using machine learning. Throughout the week, campers are learning how to interact with AI tools and how AI impacts our lives.
Question to ask your budding AI engineer: What kinds of questions are you asking your Chatbots?
👉 Scratch is available for free at https://scratch.mit.edu/
You can create an account and save all your children’s projects online and share them with the rest of your family and friends.
(Click on photos to enlarge and save to your computer.)
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