It’s only been a few weeks since we embarked on an adventure in 3rd grade to learn SCRATCH. But, just a few weeks in, and I am hooked. It isn’t the bright colors of the site. It isn’t about the cute little cat that appears in all the SCRATCH publications. It isn’t even about the great resources available free to help teachers out. Sure, ALL of that? It’s fantastic. It’s about the kids reaction to the programming tool. In every class, I heard over and over again…
“Can we do this again next time?”
“Can I log in to Scratch at home?”
“Are we doing Scratch today?” [hands folded, begging]
Um. Yes. That is when you know learning is right. When kids are engaged, not because it’s a rule, but because it’s fun. It’s interesting. It’s a challenge to figure out. It provides opportunities for thinking, collaboration, team work, and design. It offers the chance to design animations, art, games, music, stories, or anything students can dream up.
Getting Started Guide Never tried Scratch before? Start here.
Scratch Cards: I printed and laminated the cards, and put them on a ring. They are a wonderful starter tool for the kids and the teachers!
Scratch for Educators: Resources for Teachers
So are you convinced yet? Here are ten ways that SCRATCH can fit into any curriculum!
- Create an animation of a book they have read. A background, the ‘stage’, designed to represent the setting, and the ‘sprites’ are created characters interacting to represent the story.
- Design an artistic math pattern to spruce up that geometry unit.
- Take a photo of the school hallway and animate a drawing of a character in the hall. Write a creative story about the animation.
- Use photos from the National Archives and students can add themselves to historical scenes and animate.
- Create an interactive math game such as baseball or a number hunt.
- Develop a mouse control game, think Flappy Bird, and then design a score keeping system. Use the game to organize a classroom tournament and analyze data.
- Integrate music and math in an amazing beatbox setup! Check out this creation to be inspired.
- Create a version of an interactive game like “Oregon Trail.”
- Use the speech bubbles to create a conversation between two characters from a story.
- Demonstrate understanding of fractions by creating an interactive version of your knowledge.
The possibilities are endless! So are you ready for your students to beg you to keep working? Get scratchin’! You won’t regret it… the only thing you will regret is that you didn’t start sooner!
Scratch Overview from ScratchEd on Vimeo.