The Computer Science K-12 Express
Issue #5, December 1, 2017
Your weekly resource to discover what is happening in K-12 computer science around the district and the world. Feel free to use any of the ideas or resources in these newsletters as you prepare your computer science lessons that will be shared at the end of the Computer Science: Building a Foundation for Student-Choice course on February 7, 2018.
News You Can Use
During the second semester, the technology department will be offering two new courses that are a blend of collaborative planning sessions with an online book study. Sheila will be facilitating the No Fear Coding (K-5) sessions, while Curtis will be facilitating the Computational Thinking {and Coding} for Every Student (K-12) sessions. Each will be worth 1.5 district credits or 22.5 continuing education units. Please find more information and the links to register on our Weld RE-4 District website here. Please be watching your future email for the technology department's second semester professional development offerings flyer.
Connected Coding
Have you ever heard of a Breakout EDU game? All Breakout EDU games require critical and computational thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication. A Breakout EDU kit is a unique collection of resettable locks, boxes, and items that can be used to play hundreds of immersive learning games. The platform includes access to 16 subject packs that contain great games for the most popular topics. This week Breakout EDU introduced a Digital Games pack that supports the computer sciences. Check out the link below to see more!
This week in Computer Science
We found a current and interesting article on how Colorado colleges are overflowing with a huge wave of computer science students. Read more by clicking on the article below.
Shoutouts
We would like to give two shoutouts this week. First, a shoutout to Karen Aschliman, WHS english, who forwarded this link to Coding and Computer Science Breakout EDU challenges. The second shoutout goes to ToniRae Andres, SMS 8th grade history, for forwarding the link to the article on how Colorado colleges are dealing with the larger than usual enrollments in the computer sciences lately. Thanks to the both of you! If you have an interesting computer science article or activity to share, please send it to either Sheila (sheila.bowman@weldre4.org) or Curtis (curtis.andres@weldre4.org) and we will include it in upcoming Computer Science Express newsletters.