WonderDash
This week my students have begun our coding unit with WonderDash Robots and WeDo Legos. They absolutely love writing code with these programs. I am using these activities with 1st and 2nd graders. WonderDash WonderDash is a coding program that utilizes iPads and WonderDash robots. There are several coding programs available to use with the robots for every age group. In my gifted and talented classroom, we use Blockly, Path, Wonder, and Xylo. They do have a program Go, that simply allows you to drive the robot without coding. In my class, we tend to only use Blockly and I have the students create their own lines of codes. I love for my students to document their work on Seesaw, so we can share what we are learning with families and other GT groups. The students will take a screenshot of their finished line of code and they have the ability to record their robot in action.
WonderDash offers cards with challenges for the students to complete or create.
The cards have students complete 6 different types of coding challenges:
sequences, loops, events, conditionals, functions, and variables. These cards
offer exciting adventures that WonderDash will conquer and offer a bonus
challenge at the end of the adventure.
WeDo Lego
My personal kids absolutely love Legos and can get lost in their own world creating complex designs. Lego has entered the coding world for our earliest learners with WeDo coding. The program will run on laptops and iPads, allowing students to follow step by step to create several designs, much like the Lego design books, then they move the coding phase and will create lines of code and bring their Legos to life with real working motors and lights.
