Students will continue exploring how to use coding blocks to create shapes. Students will discover patterns that will help them work more efficiently.

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Show students the “Moving Sprites”project, but do not “See Inside”:

Click on the green flag and watch each sprite carefully.

Then, ask students:

What do you notice?

What do you wonder?

Which blocks are being used to produce both effects and movements?

Bring students’ attention to both the way that sprites are moving (smoothly, choppily, etc.) as well as what is happening to each sprite as they move. Have students scroll through the different categories of coding blocks in Scratch to see which blocks may produce similar effects, focusing especially on Motion and Looks blocks.

Estimation: Prompt

Ask the following question:

What Motion and Looks blocks do you think are being used?

We can now ask students to make predictions (not a guess) as we want them to be as strategic as they can possibly be. This will force them to use reasoning to try and come up with reasonable choices.

While Students Are Estimating…

Allow students to look through the coding blocks available to them (on the left hand side of Scratch) and write down which blocks might be useful. If you do this as a whole class, as students share their estimates, consider writing down the reasonable ones, so they have options to start with.  Allow students to look through the coding blocks available to them (on the left hand side of Scratch) and write down which blocks might be useful. If you do this as a whole class, as students share their estimates, consider writing down the reasonable ones, so they have options to start with.  

If you have time and the students are interested, you can have students attempt to recreate the project on their own, either individually, or in Programming Pairs. Monitor student progress by circulating around the room and observing student problem solving. Remind students to use Repeat loops when appropriate. Have students “Share” their project to the class Studio so that everyone can see each other’s projects. From the Studio, select and sequence some of the student solutions, show them to the class, and ask a student from the selected groups to share with the class.

Click “See Inside” and show students the actual code that was used to create this project. Celebrate correct predictions and discuss any surprises. If time permits, allow students to recreate the code in each sprite and then add any creative changes they would like to make.

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Login/Join to access the entire Teacher Guide, downloadable slide decks and printable handouts for this lesson and all problem based units.

Login/Join to access the entire Teacher Guide, downloadable slide decks and printable handouts for this lesson and all problem based units.

Login/Join to access the entire Teacher Guide, downloadable slide decks and printable handouts for this lesson and all problem based units.

Login/Join to access the entire Teacher Guide, downloadable slide decks and printable handouts for this lesson and all problem based units.

Login/Join to access the entire Teacher Guide, downloadable slide decks and printable handouts for this lesson and all problem based units.

Open the “Draw Different Shapes” project and “See Inside” to show one way of completing this project:

Project Reveal:

Go over the coding script in Scratch, or show the following image with students which shows the full coding script that students would ideally have created.

Discuss how they determined which angles to use and how many times to repeat. Ask if there are any connections between the angles used and the 360 degrees of a circle (360 divided by the number of sides in the shape to determine how many degrees to turn each time).

Provide students an opportunity to reflect on their learning by offering these consolidation prompts to be completed independently.

Consolidation Prompt #1:

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Consolidation Prompt #2:

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We suggest collecting this reflection as an additional opportunity to engage in the formative assessment process to inform next steps for individual students as well as how the whole class will proceed.

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