The Day of Code

For the past two weeks, we have been planning the Day of Code as an extensive iteration of the Hour of Code. Our entire seventh grade floor participated so about 350 kids were involved in coding and coding-related activities for much of the day. Running six 25-minute sessions, kids could choose from thirteen different offerings. Sessions ranged from Fun with a Sphero to Programming a Virtual Robot to Star Wars Coding to Minecraft. The choices were plenty and the kids could have a taste of anything that interested them. The day was set up to be a huge success.

After distributing schedules, the kids were off. My session was Tinkercad and 3D Printing. All year long, kids from other teams in seventh grade expressed interest in 3D printing. Many never had the chance to learn about the tools we use to 3D print. Today was their chance. Most of what I did was give a five minute introduction to Tinkercad and narrate the workflow of our particular 3D printer. It was easy to grasp. After my mini-lesson, kids were able to design on Tinkercad. They loved it. Some used templates, some designed freehand, and some used a combination of shapes that were provided in the program. When the period ended, many of the kids stayed on for another session so that they could design more. During each session, I had between 30-60 students crammed into my room. Many were in chairs but many were on tables, on the floor or anywhere they could find some open space. They came in large numbers and they came to learn.