How is it that two weeks (and a half) of school have flashed by already??
I’m only slowly settling down into the routine of the new year and the times we spent during the holidays have started to feels like a distant memory. But the one thing that is still going strong and has carried over into the new year with the kids has been Scratch!
I like to use the long holidays to let the children try out something that we don’t do on our regular schedule, and this time, it was coding. Noey had done some coding in school as part of his after-exam activities and really enjoyed it. Not that I was expecting anything else from this boy who, like most boys his age, is in love with all things tech! So when the opportunity came up for us to spend a week with SG Code Campus on their holiday programme, Noey jumped at the chance.
Mei, not so much. She was in fact a little dismayed at the choice of activity. “Coding is for Gorgor, not for me,” she complained. But that was the last thing I wanted her to think. Coding is not just for boys, yo. Her comment made me all the more certain that she was going to try this out because I wanted her to know that girls can and would love coding too.
One thing I liked about SG Code Campus is that they have a very clear roadmap for their classes, with something for everyone, from absolute beginners to advanced coders. From ages 7 to 12, their Fundamentals and Basics courses are pegged to age with entry points at every 2 years, allowing beginners with no experience to start learning to code at a level and at a pace at which they are comfortable. For ages 13 to 18, the Principles courses encompasses a wider age range but takes an 8-step approach which systematically allows coders to build on what they learn through each course, and allows them to use that in real-world applications.
For their holiday programme, Noey joined Basics 1 for 9-10 year olds while Mei started off with Fundamentals 1 for 7-8 year-olds.
In each of their classes, the children were taught using a 3-pronged approach: (1) they were taught the coding concepts; (2) they learnt to express these concepts and ideas in a particular coding language; and (3) they learnt practical applications that would allow them to create what they wanted. It did mean that each of them had a set of notes that they were writing in a fair bit over the course of the week. (Hah, Noey thought he’d be playing on the computer the whole day long!) But I really liked that the children were taught the concepts and not just told what to do on the computer, because that allowed them to fully understand what they were doing. I knew that they understood too, because for a while, I kept hearing them explain things that happened in our daily life as Loops, Variables, Conditionals and Events!
Having kids starting off at different points, I saw the wisdom of grouping them separately, with projects that challenged them while providing them the fundamentals to grasp block-based coding.
The children in Fundamentals 1 holiday programme (Mei’s class) started off tinkering with Dash the robot. Besides being really cute and fun to play with, Dash also gave the kids instant feedback with its reactions, allowing the kids to see how their instructions were translated into real-life action. Mei really enjoyed playing with Dash and kept talking about him after class.
She was also introduced to Scratch and created some easy projects, one of which was a simple game where the students each created picture with a hidden secret word that their classmates had to guess.
Noey’s class of 9-10 year olds in Basics 1 holiday programme covered more ground over the course of the week as compared to Mei’s class. They were taught more coding concepts and used that knowledge to build their own “Flappy Bird” game on Scratch. For Noey, building his own computer game was a dream come true! They work on the game over the course of the week, putting into practice the concepts that they had learnt. He was so proud of it and couldn’t wait to show it to me. There were a lot of individual touches that he had put into his game that he was excited about, like the creepy tone that sounded when you hit a barrier and died. I loved how it made the game uniquely his!
The best thing about all this is that the children have not stopped working on their projects after their week long holiday programme ended. After the programme, their SG Code Campus instructors took time to e-mail me their feedback on the each of them with comments on their learning and how they could go on to do more on their own and in further courses. I was also e-mailed copies of their in-class projects, which could be uploaded on to the online version of Scratch. How awesome that it is free and all you need is to create a user ID! Since then they have both been working on their old projects as well as some new ones.
“Can I have some Scratch time please, Mummy!” they would ask. Maybe it’s a good way to get some tech time, but as long as they are exploring and creating, I’m happy to let them do it!
Mei has in fact spent quite some time painstakingly doing up this interactive Chinese New Year card that I’m supposed to send to her coding instructor. She was lamenting that there weren’t Chinese characters in the programme that she could use, but undeterred, she had drawn what she wanted. Including the words on the banners and the little pig. Really, I was so impressed. Not just by her ability, but her passion for the project and the painstaking effort that she put in to create all the elements that she wanted. This is what I want as a parent — to equip my kids with the tools for them to be able to create for themselves, and have fun doing it too. Better yet when they do it together! Sometimes Mei would get stuck on something and Noey would help her along. For these squabbling siblings, that’s really awesome.
Of course, now Mei doesn’t think that coding is just for Gorgor. And that’s exactly what I wanted her to learn.
Below I included a (low-tech) video of how it’s supposed to work. I’ll get her to share it on the Scratch platform so you can try it out too!
If you or your kids would like to give coding a go, I have some good news for you because SG Code Campus will be holding an Open House at their new Bukit Timah Campus on Saturday, 26 January 2019! For all parents and children aged between 7 to 18 years, some of the activities you can expect at the Open House include:
- Meeting the founders of SG Code Campus, who will share with you their vision and philosophy
- Learning more about SG Code Campus’ structured roadmap which is designed to take kids and youths all the way from absolute beginner to advanced coder
- Speaking with the team of passionate instructors, who would be happy to answer any questions you have about coding
- Being treated to a showcase of actual projects created by SG Code Campus students and hear about their achievements in various areas
Sign up for any holiday camp or weekly course at the Open House and new enrolments will be entitled to an $80 discount or more! (Existing customers will also get a $50 discount for every sign up on that day!)
Due to space contraints, attendance is for registered attendees only. To register, fill in the form here: Open House Registration (Don’t forget to say that you heard it here at Life is in the Small Things!)
SG Code Campus Open House Details
Date: 26 January 2019
Venue: Bukit Timah Campus, 559 Bukit Timah Road, #02-01A King’s Arcade Singapore 269695
Session 1: 3pm to 4.30pm Session 2: 4.30pm to 6pm
If you are unable to head down to the Open House, I do have a SPECIAL DISCOUNT CODE for readers! Get $50 off any one course with the promo code “IHEARDITFROMVERA”. Woohoo! Expires 31 March 2019, so quick sign up if you are interested! My kids have been asking me for regular lessons, and their enthusiasm has me seriously considering. Plus I know that with SG Code Campus, they would be in good hands. Now to look at that schedule…
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