As part of our media literacy curriculum, elementary students learn some fundamentals of coding. First and second graders begin to learn computer science basics through offline activities. Using the book Hello Ruby: Adventures in Coding as a guide, students learn about concepts in coding such as algorithms, loops, events, and conditionals. Older students experiment with block-based visual coding using MIT Media Lab’s coding language, Scratch. They also complete lessons from code.org’s Computer Science Fundamentals course.

Throughout this unit, students learn new skills and vocabulary, while they practice persistence and cooperation. Students in all grade levels also continue to visit our library regularly. First graders recently listened to several books by artist Lois Ehlert and admired her collages. Grades 2-6 students hear a chapter or two of a novel during each library visit. In addition, students browse the collection, seek out new books and authors, and spend time reading. Before Thanksgiving, all media literacy students listened to Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora and wrote thank you notes to Gillispie faculty and staff inspired by the story.

Heidi Long, Media Literacy Teacher