Any useful programming material/apps etc for Y5 dc?

[RedNoseRumble]

Doesn't appear that ds current school will be covering anything like this. I've had a read through the curriculum and nothing regarding programming, coding etc is covered.

I'd like to give ds the opportunity to try it.

Can you advice of anything out there which will be useful for a completely clueless parent?

All free websites.

www.khanacademy.org/computing

scratch.mit.edu/

code.org/

www.codecademy.com/

Khan teaches js, html, css, SQL step by step, my ds learned it since yr1.
Scratch and code org uses block type programming. Some school use these for introduction to programming.
Codeacademy is imo, for older kids. Bit more text reading involved than easy step by step talkthrough by Khan.

My ds also learned bit of python from a book.

Code.org is good.

Scratch is great for beginners, teaching an understanding of algorithms without having to be able to code.

Do you think your school might be interested in having a Raspberry Pi club? A friend of mine teaches one at his kids' primary school.

This one is very simple and can start straight away just following instruction to see how the code works.

www.crunchzilla.com/

Thanks all. I'll have a look at these sites.

I'm disappointed ds Primary isn't covering coding. Ds is in Y5 and there's nothing for this year. I know the pressure is on though regarding writing and maths.

Tribot, it's something I could bring up with the school. Issue would be, who runs the club.

Coding is something which is as important as maths and English isn't it, with the age our dc are being brought up in.

I think it's just going to be a case of me sitting with ds and taking a look at the recommended sites.

It's something he's really started to become interested about, through the games he plays. How is the game created etc

I don't think you need to worry too much. My ds' school does bit of coding since ks1, but it is very basic stuff. You can learn far more at home, since there are so many good resources.

I have no knowledge of coding, but it's easy enough, and kids get it quite easily if they are interested.
My ds learned the basics in about 3 months.

Irvine, it's good to know the dc can pick it up easily (if interested) Ds seems quite keen and when we have a less chaotic evening I'll sit down with him and see how it goes.

We have used the hopscotch app after it was recommended on mumsnet. My ds is year 4 but not very techy - he enjoyed using it. I keep looking at the khan package it keeps popping up on my facebook feed. I think I would enjoy more than DS though 😉

Booksellers, khan is totally free website, nothing to lose to sign up for it.
It's not just programming, maths, English Grammar, science, history etc, etc.
If your DCs are young, you make your own account and add child account inside it. It's completely safe site.
And I do enjoy so much myself learning as well as my ds.

I'd recommend logo rather than scratch for an absolute beginner. At least to learn what a loop does,then move on to scratch.

BTW if your child hates scratch don't worry I hate it too.

There is also small basic which is better for things like solving maths problems.

All three are free downloads too.

They have khan app as well.

As someone who has run a web design agency for over a decade, learning even the basics of HTML and css will put him in a great position

Schools are generally hopeless at teaching the basics of web design and instead throw more advanced topics at kids that go in one ear and out the other

Some good links here
webdesign.tutsplus.com/series/web-design-for-kids--cms-823

www.udemy.com/kids-coding-introduction-to-html-css-and-javascript/

www.go-berserk.com/indexMobile.php

sadnortherner, we only use free sites, but still, we can learn quite advanced stuff, including use of JQuery.
Does it worth paying to learn? What is the difference?

Doesn't really matter to be honest so long as any course is starting at the very basics ! , they were just some that we used when we did some school workshops.

We take on an apprentice every year at 16.. appreciate that's a long way off year 5 ! But we get so many applications we get from kids who say they've learnt web design at school and then it transpires they've had a series of lessons on jQuery or PHP without any real intro to HTML or CSS so none of it has made sense to them and the knowledge doesn't stick

Thanks, sadnortherner . In that case, what my ds is doing seems fine. They start from drawing basic rect in js, and writing text with html and using css to decorate it.

Sorry it was the Kano computer I was thinking of but will check out the Khan website

Thank you all so much for the additional info. Can't wait to check the links out with ds.

Sadnortherner, it's interesting reading your opinion on this. It's the future isn't it, well actually it's the here and now but with regards to education I would have thought it's something which should be part of the curriculum, as important as maths and English.

I'll report back when we've managed to find a free evening. Ds had Cubs tonight so not back until late. I'm hoping his eagerness to learn continues once we look into this in more detail.

If you look at this , it may motivate him what he can do with programming in the near future.

www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming/browse