Google's CSFirst

E3 this session took on a new program through Google called CSFirst. The club runs 8 sessions and uses Google lesson plans and activities. This session I chose to focus of the Video Game Design module after seeing the excitement in students when we worked through he Hour of Code. I set up the club and ordered all the materials from Google at no cost. During our first meeting, students logged into CSFirst and created accounts. 

Students will have the opportunity to create 7 different games through this program using Scratch, an MIT based program designed to give students an opportunity to explore digital coding. Students are sharing their games with the Scratch community and are building games at home. 

Recently, the RUSD Innovation team came out to observe and video our E3 club. We are lucky enough to have our own CSFirst Youtube video! 

Bryant's CSFirst Club Video

Here are a few other pictures of our game designers in action!

Check back for links to our games and more pictures!

Digital Storybooks

This morning I introduced Mrs. Gonzales' 5th grade class to StoryBird, an online site that students can use to create their own books. StoryBird presents a variety of visuals for students to create from, allowing the storytelling process to work from picture to words. Students can create multiple chapter books, picture books, and one page poems. Books can be created independently or collaborated on in small groups. Here are a few pictures from this morning's lesson. 

Students can choose to create a picture storybook or a one page poem. 

Students were given the opportunity to find an image that fit their personality and their stories flowed from that point! 

Check back for a sample of recently created books by our 5th grade gurus!