Dec 8 2016
Scratch Snowflakes
This post was prompted by @clcsimon’s
Festive Computing & Coding Activities and @MissPhilbin’s How to make Snowflakes with Code.
However, we have just completed two lessons with Year 7s drawing polygons and (Barefoot Computing’s) crystal flowers. I therefore wanted a scratch version of snowflakes – and also code that did a 6 pointed snowflake too.
The basics of @MissPhilbin’s python example is the following:
- make 3 ‘sticks’ of distance 30 at 45 degree angles
- make 3 twigs going back 30 each time
- repeat branch 7 times at 45 degrees (I will need 5 times and 60 degrees for a 6 sided snowflake).
These are the steps using scratch:
1. Choose Rudolph as your sprite:
You can find him in the fantasy animals section of the sprite library. You need to select him, make him smaller, then move the rotation cross so its still in his middle… More
Dec 20 2016
Sandwich Robot, Etchasketch, Scratch Polygons and Snowflakes
Here I outline how we have used a variety of resources to increase our Year 7 students’ understanding of sequencing and use of loops – as well as having fun and engaging with their learning.
Having reviewed our baseline test at the beginning of Year 7, our Year 7s showed better than expected eSafety, better Scratch understanding, but poorer computing programming and sequencing skills. I looked at several resources online and have used Phil Bagge’s Jam Sandwich making Robot, Stephen Howell’s Scratch Shape Drawing Activity for CoderDojo; Simon Haughton’s Etch-a-Sketch; and Barefoot Computing’s Crystal Flowers (pdf download) to create the following resources:
“Scratch Shapes” scheme of learning – jam sandwich making robot and Scratch Polygons and nested loops More
By Chris Sharples • #CompSci, #CompSci_Resources, #CompSci_Teaching, KS3_Computing, Paired Programming, Scratch •