How to Teach Primary Programming Using Scratch

The Scratch: The ideal place to begin programming!

Key Stage 2 Programming Curriculum Guide .

Most primary teachers and pupils have little – if any – experience programming. This book, classroom-tested and perfected by the author through his website code-it.co.uk, aids teachers in providing Key Stage 2 pupils with an exciting and challenging computer science curriculum.

Code It can be used to supplement existing programming modules or as a complete KS2 computer science program of study. It contains a series of programming projects that gradually introduce pupils to algorithm design and evaluation, generalisation and decomposition. Pupils will learn how to use sequence, repetition, selection and variables through becoming creators of a wide variety of programming projects. Maths, literacy, humanities, gaming, music and control skills are all put to the test.

There are four pupil workbooks to provide structure, resources and home learning links. These are designed to work in conjunction with the teacher book. A growing bank of online videos are also available, designed to help teachers improve their own skills and take full advantage of the cross-curricular benefits of developing depth in programming.

The Scratch programming language, already widely recognised in schools, is freely accessible online or as a download at home. Scratch is the ideal place to begin programming as there is no other system that allows pupils to create such a wide variety of projects across primary and secondary education. It also enables pupils to extend their understanding independently through the Scratch online community – the new computing curriculum is truly transformational!