Conte Summer Coders Go ​“Camping”

A digital thunderstorm rumbled into a Conte West School classroom of rising third graders who were in the middle of a computer-code-created camping trip. 

That was the scene at Conte West School Wednesday morning during a two-hour coding lesson with third graders to-be from around New Haven. 

The young students learned some elementary computer programming skills by conjuring up a digital camping trip — which was interrupted by a sudden computer-generated thunderstorm.

Family Academy of Multilingual Exploration (FAME) math coach Stephanie White and Edgewood School math coach Sarah Clarke teamed up in the Conte classroom to host a weeklong summer coding program with the young students. 

White and Clarke are a part of a team of 16 New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) district educators with coding experience who make up a traveling coding program throughout the district this summer. The teachers visit each summer school site for a week of introducing second- through fourth-grade students to coding. 

For the second summer in a row, NHPS is using the STEM program SAM Labs for the coding summer camp. Participating educators received professional development from SAM Labs. SAM Labs also partners with NHPS during the school year at 16 schools around the district to support teaching in technology, STEAM, science, math, and general education. 

“Are you guys ready to get coding with us,” said White at the start of Wednesday’s class.

Wednesday’s lesson continued on from the students’ first two days of the coding camp. Earlier in the the week students created imitation camp fires and tents with crafts materials. They then programmed a RGB LED block to flicker and resemble the flames of their camp fires. The students also created camping tents with crafts and tested the durability of them by using blow dryers and spray bottles of water to mimic rain fall and strong winds. 

Wednesday’s class began with students getting set up with their tablets. They each scanned the SAM Labs QR code on the classroom’s smart board to begin using the program. 

“You guys are not going to believe what’s happening. A storm came during our camping trip. We need to code that storm!” White said. ​“What sounds do you hear during a storm?” she asked the class. 

Students called out sounds like lightning, rain, thunder, and wind. 

The curriculum used for the week-long lessons tells the story of a blue character named Blocky who takes the students on an imaginary camping trip where they crafted a fire, pitched tents, and roasted marshmallows.

By the end of Wednesday’s class the students paired their tablets with a RGB LED block which they coded to replicate the sounds of a thunderstorm, which was the unfortunate next part of their camping story. 

The students coded along with Clarke and White, letting Clarke first show and talk through the steps. Then the students repeated them on their tablets. 

The students started with placing a keypress in their digital work stations then clicking and dragging four delays onto their screen. They then placed five sound players, each for a storm sound that would sound off at a set time interval. 

“Do I have to put the buttons in a certain order?” asked one student. 

White responded no, but that buttons should be organized to make them easier to find on their screens. 

They then dragged the RGB LED button onto their screens alongside their actual blocks and paired them. 

Once paired, the students counted by threes to set each time delay for their storm sounds. 

“This connects to math, too?” White asked. 

The students cheered in response and added that the lesson also connects to science and time. 

“All of that is involved in coding! And we get to go on a fun camping trip while doing it!” White added. 

The students finished their project by lastly connecting their delays to the sound players and adding five sounds. The storm sounds were normal winds, normal rain, heavy rain, storm, and hurricane winds. 

“I’m so excited,” said one student as they neared completing the project and couldn’t wait to hear the final product of the storm they coded. 

For some students the coding process took only a few minutes. 

White emphasized the coding course’s key takeaways like its connection to other core academic subjects like literacy, math, science, and engineering. She added that the coding curriculum allows for students to make mistakes, they learn to troubleshoot whenever technology is involved, and they learn that there isn’t just one right answer for most problems. 

Earlier in the week the students began the camp by building an actual tent together as a class and enjoying marshmallows also known as ​“squishy goodness” to the class.

“We realized that some of these students have never seen a tent in real life,” said Clarke. 

This helped the educators to set the scene for the coding lesson’s story. 

Students also made tent replicas from cardboard boxes, paper, plastic wrap, and other maker space materials.

During the lesson third grader Malachi brought his tablet to White telling her he was having trouble connecting his RGB LED block to his tablet. 

“What are you noticing?” White asked him. 

“It’s not blinking any colors anymore,” he said. 

White then went on to help Malachi troubleshoot the issue and pair his block with his tablet again. 

After finishing creating their digital storms some students couldn’t help but continue to sharpen their coding skills by adding additional sounds to their work space like a lion roar and a doorbell. 

When asked what he thinks about coding, rising third grader Xavier described it as fun because he’s able to learn how technology works.

SAM Labs Junior Education Consultant Mary Donnelly told the Independent via email Thursday that the goal of SAM Labs is to ​“increase students’ Computer Science, Programming, and Computational Thinking skills.” 

Donnelly added: ​“While not every student may go into Coding or Engineering as an adult, all students need to develop collaboration, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. These concepts and skills are naturally embedded in all of our curriculum, enabling the students to learn and practice while still having fun. Not only do we want them to benefit educationally, but we also want to see them develop a love for learning and a desire to keep asking questions.”

To close out the storm lesson Wednesday, Clarke gathered the students in a circle on the classroom rug and placed a small paper campfire at the middle. 

She then read the students a ​“not so spooky, spooky story” while around the fire. While reading, Clarke used her coding program to also replicate the noises mentioned in the story like splashing puddles, creaky doors, and a the hoot of an owl in the woods at night. 

After the story the students talked through what the beginning, middle, and end of the story were. 

They also practiced identifying story elements like solution, problem, setting, and characters once returning to their desk. 

Before the students headed off to lunch, they began their next camping-focused lesson about fireflies. At the end of Wednesday’s class the students learned facts about fireflies like that they use their lights to communicate. The students were tasked with homework to look out their windows to see if they can find fireflies at night.

For the next class they planned to make firefly prototypes by coding a system that simulates a firefly’s light. 

After students headed to lunch, Clarke and White described the coding program as a ​“bonus for us teachers after a hard year.” 

“Doing this makes you want to teach again,” White said. 

They described the summer program as ​“refreshing” because they are able to focus on a single lesson at a time and complete it through. 

“You don’t always get the classroom time to work with them how you want,” White said. 

This summer the duo plans to do a pilot lesson with Clinton Avenue first graders to see if they can teach coding to younger grades next year. 

Clarke, who has taught for the past 20 years, said the summer coding lessons are the ​“highlight of my year.” 

This year is the second year the duo have been partnering with Sam Labs in the summer curriculum. 

“It rejuvenates me for the next year,” Clarke added. 

Next week Clarke and White will host the weeklong coding program at John Martinez School in both English and Spanish. 

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