Something New for Mother's Day Gifts: Make an App!

Share this code with your students and then have them make changes to make it their mom's favorite things. Go to Bitsbox.com/go 

If you'd like to share the app in a card, share this Google Slides file with your students. Have them add the screenshot and QR code from the app. Print it out, fold, and write a nice message inside.

Mother's Day Card Template - Go to File: Make a Copy to use the file.

If you need to make accounts for the class to save their apps, go to https://bitsbox.com/tools/

Note: Bitsbox is a subscription service. There are quite a few options that students can do for free. I do subscribe to this but I don't get any compensation for posting. I just like it :) 

Bitsbox Presentation Follow Up #ISTE17

On June 26th, I was thrilled to present at the STEM Playground at ISTE17 in San Antonio. It was the 3rd time I had attended ISTE, having been to San Diego in 2012 and Philly in 2015. I had submitted a proposal to share about how I use coding in content areas with my 2nd and 3rd grade classes. One of the programs I use is Bitsbox. It's a subscription based text coding program that my kids love!
For this presentation, I focused on the free resources available to educators. I shared my slide deck in a previous post. In it, I discuss how coding with Bitsbox supports close reading, attention to detail, and can connect to many of the subject content standards in ELA, math, science, art, music and more!

One of the exciting things that happened, was that Bitsbox was at the Start Up booth at ISTE. I was thrilled to meet the people who created this amazing resource. I was able to meet Anastasia, Sadie, and one of the founders, Aidan Chopra. Anastasia, Aidan, and I sat down to discuss the future of Bitsbox and education. They really wanted to know how Bitsbox could support students. We discussed what teachers need, how to share what the code does, how to connect to content standards, and how to package resources to make it easier for us. It's important to them to help those of us teachers who don't have any background in coding so we can give this opportunity to our kids.


I'm thrilled to be able to connect with such a responsive company. The week after ISTE, Anastasia was able to do a Google Hangout with our summer camp program and share how they come up with ideas for apps, how she started coding (hint: she learned using Bitsbox) and answer LOTS of kids questions. This is the second hangout they've done for my kids and it's been so inspiring!

Since our meeting, the folks at Bitsbox have shared a new format for the Classroom Boxes. These are sets of programming cards with support for teachers so we know the coding concepts each box is focused on. Like Box 1 below is all about using coordinates. Definitely put these on your wish list for Back to School! (This is not an affiliate link - I don't get anything from Bitsbox for sharing. I just like the company.)

#ISTE17

I'm off to my 3rd ISTE conference, this time in San Antonio, TX. On Monday, I'll share how I use coding within the content areas in class. Presentation notes here:

• Monday, June 26, 8:00–11:30 am CDT (Central Daylight Time)
• Building/Room: Park View Lobby

Coding Math Facts Practice

Do your students like to play games? How about make their own games? But you need them to practice math facts. What if they could code their own math game to play?

Bitsbox has an Educator page with free lessons, including math practice. I took the Billy Goats Gruff addition facts code and then changed it to my own rainforest theme. Your students can take the code and create their own theme too!

Rainforest Multiplication Code

Have students go to https://bitsbox.com/hoc2016.html and start there.

Coding for Kids with Bitsbox

We've been using Code.org resources and blockly type coding since the first Hour of Code. Recently, we started looking into text based programs. Our tech class tried Code Academy's tutorial on Javascript. It's great but then we found Bitsbox! (Bitsbox is a subscription service, but there are many free options starting at https://bitsbox.com/hoc2015.html)

Kids type real Javascript in Bitsbox to create apps from the book, then they change it to make it their own. I love that accurate keyboarding, spelling, and punctuation are reinforced to make the apps work. It's a huge motivation for kids to check their work. If it's not right, the app won't work.
Here's fun simple app bitsbox.com/run.html?b18v3

It also has free lesson plans for teachers to use in most content areas. There is a teacher page with great info. https://bitsbox.com/teachers/

Here's an app they can write to practice their math facts bitsbox.com/run.html?xxdr6

Here is the lesson plan from their website  https://bitsbox.com/pdf/hoc2015/BitsboxLessonPlan2015_Math3-5.pdf

Another thing that I've found is that the company is very responsive. They reply to tweets and emails, help with questions about the apps, and go above and beyond in many ways.

One cool thing was when we were doing a Saturday Codeathon. I wanted a short, fun keynote for the kids and contacted Christie at Bitsbox to see if someone there would do a virtual hangout with us. Next thing I knew their CEO, Scott Lininger, said he'd love to do it. (My lame attempt to record the hangout with my phone https://youtu.be/a7OqJwJ-1g ) They also sent us a box full of fun give away items for the kids in attendance. Super fun! Thanks Bitsbox. We are hooked!

If you do decide to try it out, we would appreciate it if you would use our link. We get credit toward  our next subscription for our class and you get one free Bitsbox.  https://bitsbox.cratejoy.com/refer/Lauri-NQGTWKES