Computer Science is Everywhere
CS Updates, including CS Education Week 2023
Beaver Achiever (Grades 1-3)
Help the beaver to build a dam while you learn some programming techniques!
Here is the activity: https://www.codemonkey.com/hour-of-code/beaver-achiever/
Dance Party: AI Edition (Grades 3-5)
Use AI to program your own dance party!
Here is the activity link: https://studio.code.org/s/dance-ai-2023/lessons/1/levels/1
Compute It - Unique Activity for Grades 6-10
Click here to try it. Warning - you might have fun too!
Color by Numbers (Grades 3-5)
Learn how a computer "colors" the screen. Click here for the activity!
CAPE 2023 Report
Every 2-3 years, West Hartford plans to do a CAPE analysis. This involves a teacher survey (completed in Spring 2023) and it also involves looking at student data. CAPE is a framework for data analysis in computer science education that is grounded in equity. To learn more and see what has been completed so far in this report, click here. In the Spring Edition, you can expect a more detailed report!
Hall and Conard CS Ambassadors are hard at work!
CS Ambassadors acknowledge that not all students feel welcomed to CS and want to do what they can to fix this. They have taken several leadership roles.
Hall CS Ambassadors volunteered their time to join Smith School's STEM night in October 2023 where they helped make binary bracelets with Smith students and their families.
Both Hall and Conard ambassadors are in the middle of planning their first-ever CS Fair. Conard's fair will be this week (12/4-12/8). Hall's fair will be 12/11-12/15. In addition to CS-related activities and raffle prizes, students will learn about the many CS related clubs and courses they could consider taking or getting more involved with to learn computer science.
CS Ambassadors also created the following video and handout to explain CS class offerings. We also want to thank Mr. Craig Diamond for the help recording, editing, and creating this video.
CIT Focused on CS Integration & Praxis Prep
Did you know that there are two ways to get endorsed to teach CS? You can either take courses or pass the Praxis in CS. Starting this Wednesday, an eclectic team of teachers from all grade levels and backgrounds will be meeting to learn about CS Integration and some specific skills related to passing the Praxis in Computer Science.
West Hartford's Envision CS Team Update
We've just finished our SCRIPT Training here in West Hartford. We worked alongside Glastonbury and Farmington to create a vision statement and establish goals for this year and next year. In the Spring Edition, you can expect a more detailed report about this work!
Thank you to our team members:
- MS CTE Teacher Dawn Anstett
- Smith Principal Ashley Callan
- District Computer Science Curriculum Specialist Jackie Corricelli
- HS School Counselor Jessica Evans
- Elementary STEM Curriculum Specialist Mary Lestini
- Assistant Superintendent Anne McKernan
- HS CS Teacher Noah Mealy
Code YourSelf Competition
For girls in grades 3-12
Check out this link for more information!
CT's Lieutenant Governor's Coding Challenge
For students in grades 3-12
Click here to learn more!
Miscellaneous Coding Puzzles
Here is a neat site with lots of basic CS-related puzzles for students.
From the life cycle of a frog to color by number puzzles and more!