Once Upon a Code

Prerequisites

• Learners should have had previous opportunities to read and retell their favourite fairy tales (through writing opportunities, and oral/drama experiences)
• Learners and educators should be familiar with the Scratch Jr coding program. A great pre-project resource from ScratchJr is ‘Can I Make a Spooky Forest?’

Technology

• Device with ScratchJr installed

Before the lesson...

• Create your own graphic organizer for learners or print one of the following:
  • Graphic organizer for writing a summary (by Educating Everyone 4 Life)
  • Kelly Avery Mrs. Avery’s Island
• Have learners create their own storyboard to retell their fairy tale (this graphic organizer will help guide their ScratchJr project)
• Teaching tip: Under settings, another language can be selected.

Note: Depending on device availability, have learners work independently or in pairs to retell their favourite fairy tale using a graphic organizer.

1. Review learners’ completed graphic organizer to be sure it includes all relevant parts.

2. Review ScratchJr story checklist and assessment rubric with learners (or develop your own as a class). Emphasize the coding concept of ‘sequence’. Tell learners they are using a sequence to create their own program.

3. Hand out the checklist/assignment and have learners check-off tasks as they complete them.

4. Upon project completion, have learners email their completed projects to their educator, and provide opportunities to share. Discuss aspects of the project they enjoyed, disliked, coding concepts they discovered, etc.

See Checklist/Assessment.

Additional rubrics that could be used or modified:

• Irubric: ScratchJr Story Rubric
• ScratchEd

Differentiation

Provide learners who need additional support with a fairy tale story outline.

Coding and English

• Early finishers can add dialogue to have their characters talk (See ‘ScratchJr. Can I Make My Characters Talk?’)
• Learners can remix another fairy tale by changing the characters, setting, or altering some of the events of the story.
• Learners could also use their fairy tale characters to make a game (See this activity for some inspiration)

English

• Learners can share their story creations with other classmates or younger students.
• Use this as an opportunity to explain/recall elements of a story (beginning, middle, end and the moral of stories).

Math & Data

• Learners could analyze their code and make a bar graph showing which coding blocks they used the most. Discussion: Which coding blocks were used the most? Why do you think that?

  The educator could guide this lesson and create a Google Sheet & graph after learners have collected their data. Here is a template that can be used. Make a copy and add the number of blocks used. Then insert a bar graph.

English & Technology & Society (History of Technology)

• Learners could research underrepresented people in the tech sector and create a bio story about them.

Rubrics for ScratchJr Story Assessment
Irubric: ScratchJr Story Rubric
https://www.rcampus.com/rubricshowc.cfm?sp=yes&code=YX28A99&
https://www.rcampus.com/rubricshowc.cfm?sp=true&code=AX7A8W9

ScratchEd Rubric
http://scratched.gse.harvard.edu/resources/rubric-assessing-scratch-projects-draft-0

ScratchJr Animated Genres Curriculum Module 3 Project 3: Game
https://www.scratchjr.org/curricula/animatedgenres/game.pdf

ScratchJr: Can I Make a Spooky Forest?
http://scratchjr.org/teach/activities/spooky-forest

ScratchJr: Can I Make My Characters Talk?
http://scratchjr.org/teach/activities/conversation

Summarizing Graphic Organizer Educating Everyone 4 Life
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Writing-A-Summary-Free-Graphic-Organizer-2708597

Kelly Avery Mrs. Avery’s Island
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/FreeDownload/Summarizing-Graphic-Organizer-2469629

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