coding Archives - ALSC Blog

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Boost Your Summer READing! Summer READing programs are in full swing, but there’s no rest for the fearless folks of Youth Services! Here to keep those fires burning and your marshmallows roasting is a smorgasbord of HOT news, and cool free stuff. Dive in, enjoy and catch the wave! All Things Comics! Celebrate the Fourth by Watching Batman Punch NazisComics published during WWII sure are full of flag waving and fascist bashing. They’re far from perfect, but Batman punching Nazis is swell. New Ms. Marvel Author Samira Ahmed Discusses Her Plans for Kamala Khan — the first female South Asian writer to tackle the Muslim superhero comic book character Kamala Khan. In an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly, the author discussed her plans for the character. Ahmed says that Ms. Marvel “looms large in my familial culture.” In fact, in her group chat with her South Asian cousins, they often use the acronym…

Blogger Jonathan Dolce

Holy Cupcakes! Batman Turns 80

September 2, 2019September 1, 2019| Jonathan Dolce|2 Comments

80 Years of Conceptual Continuity Batman Day is coming up! Are you prepared? Monday, September 16th, 2019 marks the day it all began. The Batman character was born out of tragedy and flew into the psyche of comic book aficionados worldwide.

Blogger Maria Trivisonno

Families Coding Together

July 25, 2018October 12, 2018| Maria Trivisonno|Leave a comment

In October 2017, I had the opportunity to attend the National Center for Families Learning Annual Conference, which was held that year in Tucson, Arizona. Although libraries had a presence at the Conference (indeed—I met ALSC’s Angela Hubbard there and she encouraged me to write for the blog, hence this post!), other organizations that focus on family learning were present as well. I found the non-library sessions to be extremely interesting, and they helped me think outside of the box. One such session was with PBS Kids and originated from WQED, the PBS station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. WQED partners with school districts in their service area to bring PBS Kids’ Family Creative Learning programs to locals. The session I attended discussed a family coding program that used Scratch Jr.’s PBS Kids version (free to download) aimed at children ages 5-8 and their siblings/caregivers. You can read about PBS Kids…

Blogger Kathia Ibacache

STEM: Leadership Tips When you Get Coding Bots Out

April 22, 2018April 21, 2018| Kathia Ibacache|Leave a comment

STEM can overwhelm some librarians. However, do not despair. There are some organizational ideas and leadership tips worth trying if you are willing to give coding bots a try. After a year of an introductory STEM programs at the Simi Valley Public Library, it was time to spice this program up with a new element. Why not buy bots to teach kids computational thinking through basic coding? The idea became a proposal and with minor changes the proposal became a reality. We purchased two of the following four bots: Wonder Dash, Coji, Ozobot, and the Robot Mouse, to implement a year’s worth of monthly STEM programs focusing on coding. Wonder Dash and Azobot: are fine bots for kids 6+. Here children will be practicing coding at a basic and intermediate level if they dare to explore all the potential of these bots. Coji and the Robot Mouse: are convenient bots…

Programming Ideas

Coding Concepts for Preschoolers

May 28, 2015May 27, 2015| Early Childhood Programs and Services committee|Leave a comment

In my library, we’re a little obsessed with coding. We’ve been working on a project to introduce computational thinking and free coding resources to kids called Coder Time. For over a year, we’ve been searching for ways to teach our audience some complex ideas by experimenting with apps, activities, and lesson plans to create library programs (you can learn more about it here). While these programs were always for our older kids and tweens, we’ve been amazed at our youngest participants’ enthusiasm to jump right in. As we work with this age group, we keep finding overlap between coder concepts and early literacy skills. For example, play teaches symbolic thinking, a skill important for both reading and coding. Narrative skills help children understand story structure, but also strengthen computational thinking. I’ve recently started incorporating coding concepts into my preschool storytimes. After some trial and error and a mobbed flannel board,…