Learning Primary Programming with Scratch (Home Learning Book Years 5-6)

By Phil Bagge

This book, written by Phil Bagge and published in conjunction with Hampshire Inspection and Advisory Service (HIAS), has been devised for children of KS2 (Year 5 and 6) age to learn programming outside of school.

It contains a series of programming projects that gradually introduce children to algorithm design, evaluation and generalisation. Children will learn how to use selection, procedures and variables through becoming creators of a wide variety of programming projects. Maths, literacy, humanities, gaming and music are all put to the test. Read the short introduction to find out more.

The Scratch programming language, widely recognised in schools, is freely accessible online or as a download and is the ideal place to begin programming.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Legend Press
• Release date: Oct 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9781915054197

Book preview

Illustration

Learning

Primary

Programming

with Scratch

Home Learning Book Years 5-6

Phil Bagge

Copyright © Phil Bagge 2022

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission.

Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, copied or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, now known or hereafter invented, save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988, or under terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the publisher.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

ISBN 978-1-91505-4-180

Contents

INTRODUCTION

About these book

Prior Knowledge needed

Resources Needed

Ages

Symbols

Helping children who are stuck

CHAPTER ONE

Revisiting the learning from Book

CHAPTER TWO

Introducing Condition-Starts-Action

Making Choices

CHAPTER THREE

Introducing condition-ends-loop

Playing Catch

CHAPTER FOUR

Introducing condition-switches-between-actions

Pico & Terra

CHAPTER FIVE

Introducing Conditions inside loops

Balloon Pop

CHAPTER SIX

Revising Count-controlled-loops using shape

Introducing basic procedures

Shape Procedures

CHAPTER SEVEN

Introducing Variables

Karaoke

CHAPTER EIGHT

Introducing Variables that Change

Oil Slick

HOME EDUCATORS ANSWERS AND HINTS

About these books

If you picked these books up off the shelf and are leafing through them you deserve to know what they are and how they work before you buy them.

The first half of this book is the young programmer’s workbook and the second half of this book is the home educators guide.

This book is not a textbook you just give to a child and let them get on with it on their own. There are plenty of these copy code type books out there, this is not one of them. This book needs an active child home educator partnership.

Prior Knowledge Needed

You will both need the understanding of programming gained through the earlier book aimed at 7-9 year olds.

Resources Needed

To use these books you will need either a laptop, PC, Mac or Chromebook. If the budget is tight I recommend a Chromebook and a free Google account to make it work.

The easiest way to use these resources is with internet access and a free Scratch account. In many chapters I will be sharing pre-made programs for you both to examine and learn from. If you wish to avoid internet access there is a link to download all the programs and the chapter 1 video and you can install offline Scratch.

Research

This book uses the latest research driven code comprehension methods. Your child needs to predict what code does, answer questions about it and modify existing code before creating new things. The home educator will be alerted to possible pitfalls and checks via the home educator section at the back of the book. I recommend you read that chapter and the answers before working with your child.

Away from the computer

Do not be surprised if we work offline to introduce new ideas through roleplay and offline exercises. These sections are really important. Do not let your child race through them. Check their understanding as they go. There is a special home educator symbol which denotes things to do together and in the home educator book there are hints to help your child if they get stuck. At the end of this chapter, there is an explanation of all the symbols used in the book and advice on how to help your child whilst encouraging independence and resilience.

Timing

A word on timing. Every child is different and so this book is not split into lessons. I recommend about an hour a week but you know your child best. Sometimes children will get excited about creating a project at those times a little more time to explore and create is useful. Most chapters follow a pattern of introducing a concept offline followed by code comprehension and then time to create online. When you see a new concept being introduced these are good longer break points.

Ages

These books are designed for children between the ages of 7-12. Older children will often have a greater advantage as they have greater reading and maths skills. Book one is designed for 7-9 year olds and this volume, Book 2 for 10-12 year olds, however, do not jump straight to this book set if your child is older. They need to cover the information in book 1 before moving on.

Concepts covered (do not worry if this means nothing as that is part of our journey)

•         Loops that are ended by conditions

•         Conditional selection

•         Conditions that start actions

•         Conditions that switch between actions

•         Conditions that are continually checked within indefinite loops

•         Nested loops

•         Variables that are used as placeholders

•         Variables that increase or decrease

•         Simple procedures

•         Adaptable procedures

Symbols

Helping Children who are stuck

The process is more important than the outcome. If your child is on task and puzzling something out give them time to do so. It is better to have 60% finished where that work is mainly the children’s own work than 100% finished where a home educator solved it for them.

It is very important to establish a positive attitude towards problem solving. Computing science is very useful in that it calls errors bugs and finding errors debugging. Although all bugs are caused by humans, the language is much more impersonal than mistakes which imply blame or fault. Using bug and debugging language is helpful. It is also important to let children know that mistakes/bugs are a normal part of computing, that they are to be expected, that professional programmers write code that have bugs all the time and that the home educator will not be cross or upset if their work has bugs/mistakes.

Promote the idea that it is not the