Session 3: Activity 1 Explore
Overview
The first activity of the club is structured in a way that allows club members to: Establish a
classroom culture, understand the scope of the club, and begin to explore the Scratch
programming interface. After the mentor introduces the expectations of the club, members
have a chance to explore Scratch and to program their first story.
Volunteer Focus:
● Create a welcoming and inclusive environment for all members.
● Build a positive relationship with members (talk with all members).
● Ensure that members have a positive first experience with Scratch.
Pre-Preparation Day three days before the session:
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Type the questions of the survey and print as many as needed
Each mentor will need to practice his/her script
Buy the snacks, for the students, count the number of snacks per student
Order number of pizzas a day before the session
Have pencils ready for each student
Create a sign-in sheet and print it out
Preparation Period (TBD): Set Up
1. Have food, snacks, and drinks ready to distribute. Depending on food, may need someone waiting
for delivery out at the parking lot to pick up during rough traffic.
2. Mentors will ensure every computer is powered on.
3. Mentors will ensure every computer is on the CS-First log-in screen.
4. Turn off all monitors.
5. Have the projector and presentation ready.
Materials:
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Computer Lab is provided by the school.
Projector is provided by the school.
Dry/Erase board is provided by school.
Headphones for scratch (one per student) Check Scratch to see if program makes sounds
Pencils (community pencils, provided by our organization, will be handed at the beginning and
returned at the end of each session.)
Passport (Students personalized ID that contains their login information. Will be handed at the
beginning and returned at the end of each session.)
Sign-in Sheet
Food/Snacks/Drinks for each student
Napkins/Paper plates
Agenda:
4:00pm - 4:03pm: Welcome to Ignite CS
Name of volunteer:____Rubi, Janette, Ignacio_______________
1. Greet members at the door as they arrive.
“Hello and welcome to IgniteCS! “
2. Members will sign in before picking up their snacks and drinks.
“Please, go ahead and sign in. After that, make a line and come pick up
snacks.”
3. Assign seating to ensure members are sitting together and closest to the presenter.
“Hi [name]. You’re going to need to sit near others to work on this project.
Would you mind moving to a seat where you’ll be able to interact with other
club members?”
4:03pm - 4:12pm: Snack Time, Volunteer Introduction,
Passports, and Agenda
Name of
volunteer:_____________ALEJANDRO_______________________
Ensure all trash is thrown away before using computers.
1. Host introduces himself or herself
“Welcome to CS IgniteCS! I am [Name] and I am the host for this IgniteCS
Project. I am a student at the University of Texas Pan American where I study
[major] and am a member of ACM-W which stands for Association of
Computing Machinery Committee on Women. I'll be leading today's activity,
and your two IgniteCS Gurus, who will introduce themselves now, will lead it
for the rest of the activities.”
2. Volunteers introduce themselves
“Hello everyone! My name is [name], and I'm going to be one of your Mentors
for this club. I am also a student at UTPA where I study [major] and am also
part of ACM-W. I am really excited to be working with all of you and learning
about computer science!”
3. Host describes the agenda and gives time for a snack
“Take a look at the agenda to see what you'll be doing during this activity. We
already welcomed you and introduced ourselves. Next, we'll go over your
passports. Then, you'll learn how to use Scratch. After signing in, you'll take a
short survey, then you'll start programming in Scratch. Finally, you'll have a
chance to reflect on what you learned during this activity. Are there any
questions about what you'll be doing during this activity? [Pause for
questions]”
4. Ensure that all club members have a Ignite CS Passport
“When you entered, you should have grabbed a IgniteCS passport. If you
don't have one, please raise your hand and I'll bring one to you. [wait]”
5. Ask club members to not write in the passport until after the introduction
“While I go over what's inside this passport, follow along with your own
passport. Please do not write anything inside until I ask you to do so.”
6. Ask club members to write their names on their passport
“Finally, these passports can also serve as name tents [hold the passport up
to show proper name orientation]. Please write your name largely on the
passport now.”
4:12pm - 4:17pm: Volunteer presentation 1
Name of volunteer:_____________OSCAR____________________
During presentations, mentors will be evenly distributed at the front and back of the
room and will refrain from any activity that will take the attention away from the
presenter.
1. First, mentors will show the students how to sign in into scratch
“(Presenter will now demonstrate, over the projector, on how to sign in
with a Scratch account) We will begin at the Scratch homepage. Click
on the icon that says ‘Sign in’. Then you will have to provide your
username and your password which will be _____________.
2. Then, mentors will show the students how to create a new project in Scratch (web browser).
“Hello, welcome to IgniteCS storytelling. Over the next eight days of
this club you get to create some exciting interesting stories using
computer science. Today you’ll learn what computer science is, you’ll
find out what kind of stories you’ll make in this club and finally you’ll
make your own program.
IgniteCS storytelling is a computer science club. Computer science
uses computers to make amazing projects also called programs that
allow people to entertain, to solve problems, to do work, and to save
time. In this club you’ll learn many different ways computer science
relates to things you do and see every day. You might be surprised. In
this club, you’ll create stories with the projects you build. However,
people use computer science to build all kinds of projects and solve
many types of problems from sharing pictures across the world to
dispatching a fire engine in emergency.
Over the next eight club sessions you’ll be introduced to some of the
incredible creations people build and the problems people solve using
computer science. You’ll also learn how to use computer science to
create your own stories and programs. When this club ends, you’ll
have a collection of your own stories that you’ve made while learning
computer science
Take a look at some sample stories that you’ll have a chance to build
over the next eight club sessions.
-----------Before you start building you get a chance to explore Scratch,
the tool you use to create your stories.”
4:17pm - 4:32pm: Volunteer presentation 2
Name of
Volunteer:___________CAROLINA__________________________
1. The volunteer will give a presentation about scratch. He/she will tell the students
that scratch is a computer programming language.
"Hello, I'm _________ and you will learn:
● How programming languages allow computer scientists to give
computers instructions.
● What a sprite is.
● About the scripts menu.
● How to program in Scratch.
● How to use the "help" button.
Since ____ [Volunteer presenter 2] showed you how to make a new
project, please let us know if you haven't made one. "
Volunteers roam around, making sure there's a project created ready to use
"I will show you the basics of Scratch to make your own very first story
using Scratch the Cat as a character! Scratch is a computer
programming language. Programming languages allow Computer
Scientists to give computer instructions. Right now, you’re looking at
scratch’s project editor. In the project editor, there’s a “Sprites” on the
blank stage(?). Sprite is another word for character or object. In
Scratch you’ll program sprites to perform different actions. "
Take time talking and showing them on the screen at the same time.
Volunteers should walk around and see if students don't know what to do"The middle of the screen contains the instruction blocks you’ll use to
create programs and build projects on scratch. These blocks are
sorted by color coded categories like motion and looks. The motion
category contains blocks like move 10 steps which moves the sprite a
little bit in the direction it’s facing. "
"One of the best way to learn computer science is to explore and try
new things. If a block looks interesting while working on Scratch, click
to find out what it does.
To select a block to use in your program, click it and drag it to the
script area. So let's drag "Say hello! for 2 secs block. You can also
click change the white value area to change the text.
To add another instruction to your program ,select another block and
drag it until it snaps below the first instruction block.
The computer will read the instruction you snapped together from top
to bottom. When the computer science tells the computer to read and
carry out instructions, it’s called “running the code.”
To run a stack of blocks, just click on it. Cool, this sprite says” what’s
up” then changes its appearance. In scratch, that’s called changing
costume. As you explore, if you can’t figure out what a block does
even after you click on it, click the block help icon (or ask a volunteer)
then click on the block you have a question about. It will then define
the block for you it says what the block does and then gives you
example how to use it. This block appears to go around other blocks.
So this example, we’ll try that. Oh wow now it looks like this sprite is
dancing and singing what’s up.
Now it's your turn to explore. Your task is to program a Scratch Cat
story. Make sure to try out different blocks you and use block help tool
to get more information on the block. Click the scratch tab you opened
previously and explore.
Once you have a set of blocks you like, add a green flag click block
from the events menu to the top so that the blocks will run whenever
someone clicks a flag. This will make it easier for other people to use
your program.
If you notice club members haven't written their names on their passports, instruct
them to do so now.
2. During this time, it's important that the mentors circulate around the room and attempt to talk with
each member individually. This is a great opportunity to begin building relationships with members.
Talk with members about what they're working on, and support them if they have questions.
“Sample Language: Can you tell me about what you've built? This
looks cool; can you explain to me what it does? How are you doing?”
3. Look for club students who are designing (adding sprites, backdrops, etc.), and encourage them to
experiment with code.
“I see that you've spent a lot of designing this project. Do you have any
plans for how you want to code it? Why don't you try experimenting
with different blocks to see what you can make it do?”
4:50pm - 4:51pm: Share Projects in Scratch
Name of
volunteer:____________SAMANTHA_____________________
1. Ask the club to share their projects in Scratch. Walk around and encourage club members who
haven’t shared their projects. If they don’t wish to share it, that is ok.
“[Silent signal] your first step will be to share your project on Scratch.
Remember to name your project, and, if you’d like, write a description
that explains how to use it.
2. Ask the students to show their project to someone near them
“You’re going to spend the next two minutes showing your projects to
your neighbor or neighbors. Turn to someone near you, and show
them your project. You can explain what your project does and what, if
anything, you plan to add to it. When someone shows you their
project, be positive, and discuss the things you like about it.”
3. Walk around and encourage club members who haven’t shared their projects (the share button will
still be visible in the top-right corner of the screen) to do so. If club members don’t wish to share,
that’s okay.
“If you haven’t share your projects, Please do it at this time.”
4:51pm - 4:56pm: IgniteCS First Reflection
Name of
volunteer:_________KEVIN_________________________________
After the students share their projects, all volunteers will stand up in front of the class.
Then, one of them is going to do the following steps:
1. Get everyone attention
“Hand raised] Can I have everyone’s attention up here, please?”
2. Make the students reflect on what they learned during this activity
“Take out a piece of paper and write down what you learned from this
session.”
All volunteers will ensure that they are able to complete the reflection
During the next portion of the club, all volunteers will need to award participation badges or
prizes
3. Prompt the club members to finish the club reflection, then pass out the badges
“If you haven’t finish your reflection, please do so at this moment. Then
pass out your badges to the front”
4:56pm - 5:00pm: Club Discussion
Name of volunteer:_____Janette_____________________________
After the students pass their badges to the front, volunteer will ask students to say what
they learn. Volunteer will need to arrange few sits in front of the class so that students who
want to come to the front and talk about what they learn come and sit down.
1. Volunteer will ask students to talk about what they learn
“Finally, let’s discuss what you learned during this activity, who would
like to come to the front and give a brief summary of what you learned.
[Read "discussion questions" from below].”
2. The volunteer will say a description of what the students will be doing on the next session
“Next club is on [day of next club (e.g. Monday)], and you will build
[description of project].”
3. Tell the students to shut down computer and leave headphones at their seat
“At the end of each club session, you'll be asked to wrap your
headphones. To do this, hold the headphones flat and wrap the cord
around the ear pieces [demonstrate]. Everyone, please try this now.
[wait]. Once your headphones are wrapped, please place them at your
seat. Once I see that all of your headphones are wrapped, we will all
leave together. I look forward to working with you all again during the
next club!”
4. Good questions to ask: What was your favorite part of this activity?
What did you program your story to do?
What blocks did you use during this activity, and what did they do?