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
End-of-Week Update
On Friday, our Scratch campers finished their own visualizations! There were amazing projects done by students. From Mario Kart, to Wicked, Sea monsters, and Labubus, the kids were able to use code to represent their creativity!
There were also many great projects from Python students. One of our students noted that "Python can seem really hard, and you may think you're going to fail, but you just keep trying! You'll get something really good, if you just keep trying!"
Friday was Gallery Walk! Kids enjoyed showing their creation to their parents. Parents were able to see what their kids have been working on the past week and got to see the other classes offered at Boolean Girl. Students also enjoyed a dance break during lunch on Friday! They really enjoyed dancing the Cotton Eye Joe.
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.
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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