How to Teach Coding to Grade 1 Students the Stress Free Way

In 2022, coding was added to the Ontario Science Curriculum. If you’re like me, you found the prospect daunting! I’d never taught coding before, and I’d definitely never learned to code. It was completely new. I did a lot of research on how to teach coding, and I played around with Scratch and Scratch Jr.

Now, I want to share how I’ve included coding in my science lessons and give some tips on where to start!

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What is Coding?

Coding is essentially taking ideas, directions, formatting, and so on – and putting it into a language that a computer understands. It sounds strange, but computers have their own unique language – code! By learning code, students can learn how to “talk” to computers.

How to Teach Coding to Students

Step 1: Start with Paper

Coding may be about how to talk to computers, but without a basic understanding of coding, its principles, and so on – it won’t be useful to use a computer. 

When you code, you have to tell the computer exactly what to do, and it will only perform the action it was specifically told to do. To teach coding, start by introducing this concept to students. Pair students together and give one student a photo. They will instruct their partner to draw the image without showing or telling them what the image is. Once they finish, have them compare the image to the drawing. What was different? How can they be more clear in their instructions next time? Helping students see that clear instruction is a significant part of coding is important. 

After your discussion, have the partners switch roles and give them a new photo to draw. These ones will likely be more precise than the first ones were.

Want more practice with clear instructions? Grab this freebie! In this activity, you’ll receive a lesson plan, posters and two images students can use to practice providing instructions.

Another way to practice is with the Bee Bot, Botley, or the Mouse. These are very simple coding robots that reinforce the concept of clear, specific instructions with coding.

Want ready-to-go paper resources to start coding? If you are new to teaching coding to grade 1 students, this resource is the best place to start. It includes nine lesson plans, bulletin board anchor charts, activities, worksheets, and more to kick off coding in your classroom.

Get the Grade 1 Coding Unit

Step 2: Introduce ScratchJr

Now that students understand the basic rules of coding, it’s time for more challenging practice! I like to use ScratchJr to teach coding because it’s easy to use and made specifically for students. Students will need access to iPads in order to use ScratchJr.

First, get students into the app. No logging-in needed (amazing, I know), and all projects are stored locally. First, show students how to change their background and select a character (or sprite). 

Then, go over the basic coding blocks and how to use them. I suggest introducing one or two coding blocks at a time, so it’s not overwhelming. Then, have students practice on ScratchJr. I made a quick chart here –

Step 3: Let them try on their own!

Now that you’ve taught students about coding, it’s time to let them try it on their own. Give them the space to play around with ScratchJr, so they can take on more challenging tasks. 

I like to challenge my students with a particular theme. For example, I might have them create an animation about their favourite season, or retell a story that we read in class. Then, they can present their animation to their table, a partner, or the whole class.

Want to check out the resources listed?

All the links above lead to TPT, but the resources are also available on our website. Here are the resources available here for purchase in CAD. Don’t forget you can also buy credits for an additional discount (up to $15 off).

Want to read more blogs about teaching science and how to teach coding? Get more science lessons and activity ideas here!