Course C Overview

Course C is designed for students around the second-grade level. It builds on a basic understanding of shapes and elementary math ideas.

Throughout the course, students will write programs using loops, events, and conditionals (instructions that only run if a certain condition is true). They will translate their initials into binary code, explore different problem-solving strategies, and talk about how to handle cyberbullying. By the end of the course, students will design interactive games they can share with others. Every concept is introduced from the ground up, gradually building toward more creative and challenging activities so that every student gets a rich, hands-on experience with programming.

Journaling

The lessons in this course include journal prompts. Journals also serve as a kind of scratch paper — useful for building ideas, debugging (finding and fixing errors), and planning strategies. Over time, a student's journal becomes a valuable resource they can look back on when they run into more difficult problems.

Think Spot Journal

Debugging

Debugging — the process of finding and fixing mistakes in code — is a core skill for programmers at every level, from beginners to professionals, yet it's often overlooked. In fact, students will likely spend more time debugging than writing new code. To help students take ownership of this skill, we provide a simple reference guide they can use while coding. For more strategies on teaching debugging in your classroom, see the "Debugging" section of the CS Fundamentals Curriculum Guide.

Debugging Guide

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Chapter 1: Digital Citizenship

Lesson 1: Screen Out the Mean (Unplugged | Cyberbullying)
Students learn what to do if something they encounter online makes them feel angry, sad, or scared.

Lesson 2: Powerful Passwords (Unplugged | Online Safety)
Students learn how passwords protect their information and how to create a strong password.

Chapter Commentary: Digital Citizenship

Chapter 2: Sequencing

Lesson 3: My Robotic Friends Jr. (Unplugged | Sequencing)
Students pretend their classmates are robots and give them step-by-step instructions to build patterns of stacked cups.

Lesson 4: Programming with Angry Birds (Skill Building | Sequencing)
Students learn about sequences (ordered steps) and algorithms (sets of instructions) using the Angry Birds game.

Lesson 5: Debugging in Maze (Skill Building | Sequencing)
Students find problems in puzzles and practice their debugging skills.

Lesson 6: Collecting Treasure with Laurel (Skill Building | Sequencing)
Students write algorithms to help Laurel the Adventurer collect gems.

Lesson 7: Creating Art with Code (Skill Building | Sequencing)
Students create images by programming a virtual artist.

Chapter Commentary: Sequencing

Chapter 3: Binary

Lesson 8: Binary Bracelets (Unplugged | Binary)
Students make their own binary bracelets and learn how computers store information using binary code.

Chapter Commentary: Binary

Chapter 4: Loops

Lesson 9: My Loopy Robotic Friends Jr. (Unplugged | Loops)
Students again give instructions to classmates acting as robots, but this time they use loops (instructions that repeat) to solve bigger, more complex problems.

Lesson 10: Loops with Rey and BB-8 (Skill Building | Loops)
Students use loops to help BB-8 navigate mazes.

Lesson 11: Harvesting Crops with Loops (Skill Building | Loops)
Students use loops to help a harvester collect vegetables.

Lesson 12: Looking Ahead with Minecraft (Skill Building | Loops)
Students avoid lava while beginning to learn about conditionals in the world of Minecraft.

Lesson 13: Sticker Art with Loops (Application | Loops)
Students use loops to create more elaborate images with the Artist tool.

Chapter Commentary: Loops

Chapter 5: Events

Lesson 14: The Big Event (Unplugged | Events)
Students play a game to learn about events (actions that trigger a response in a program).

Lesson 15: Build a Flappy Game (Skill Building | Events)
Students build their own version of a Flappy Bird–style game and share it with classmates.

Lesson 16: Chase Game with Events (Skill Building | Events)
Students use creativity to build a game in Play Lab.

Chapter Commentary: Events

Chapter 6: Data

Lesson 17: Picturing Data (Unplugged | Data)
Data can help students understand the world around them and answer interesting questions. In this lesson, students collect data from a Play Lab project and display it using different types of graphs.

Chapter Commentary: Data

Chapter 7: End of Course Project

Lesson 18: End of Course Project
Students put their coding skills to use as they begin building their own final project.

Chapter Commentary: End of Course Project

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Lesson 1: Screen Out the Mean

Overview

This lesson teaches children that it's essential to tell a trusted adult if something online makes them feel angry, sad, or scared.

Students learn that people can sometimes act like bullies while online. They explore what cyberbullying means and what steps to take when they encounter it. After reading a scenario about mean online behavior, students discuss what cyberbullying is, how it affects people's feelings, and how to respond to it. Finally, they apply what they've learned by creating a simple tip sheet about cyberbullying in their journal.

Purpose

Students may never personally experience cyberbullying, but this lesson ensures they're prepared and informed in case they ever witness it online. They'll learn how to recognize cyberbullying and what steps to take to stop it. This knowledge will be useful later in the course, when students share their own work — if someone responds negatively to a student's project, this lesson gives them the tools to handle it.

Agenda

Warm Up (5 min) — Introduction

Main Activity (35 min) — What Is Cyberbullying? / What to Do About Cyberbullying

Wrap Up (15 min) — Flash Chat: What did we learn? / Journaling

Assessment (5–10 min)

View on Code Studio

Objectives

Students will be able to:

• Analyze online behaviors that could be considered cyberbullying.
• Explain how to handle a cyberbullying situation.
• Recognize why it's important to involve a trusted adult if they experience cyberbullying.

Preparation

For each student, print one Screen Out the Mean – Worksheet and one Screen Out the Mean – Assessment. Make sure every student has a Think Spot Journal – Reflection Journal.

Links

Heads up: Please make a copy of any documents you plan to share with students.

For Teachers: Screen Out the Mean – Assessment Answer Key; Common Sense Education (website)

For Students: Screen Out the Mean – Assessment; Screen Out the Mean – Worksheet; Online Safety Poster – Student Handout

Vocabulary

Cyberbullying — Doing something on the internet, usually repeatedly, to make another person feel angry, sad, or scared.

Online — Connected to the internet.

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Teaching Guide

Warm Up (5 min): Introduction

Encourage students to share what they already know about bullying.

Ask:

• What kinds of things count as bullying?

Students should understand that bullying means acting in a way that's purposefully mean or scary toward someone else — for example, making fun of how someone looks, spreading lies about them, or threatening to hurt them.

• How does bullying make people feel?

Hurt, angry, upset, scared.

• What's the best thing to do if you feel bullied, or if you see someone else being bullied?

Students should know to always tell a trusted adult when they experience or witness bullying.

Explain that students will now learn about a type of bullying that happens when people use the internet.

Main Activity (35 min)

What Is Cyberbullying?

Define:

• Online — Connected to the internet.
• Cyberbullying — Doing something on the internet, usually repeatedly, to make another person feel angry, sad, or scared.

Discuss: Some students don't go online very often, whether because of family rules or personal preference. Others go online regularly to do different things.

Ask: What do you do online, or what would you like to do?
Students may mention activities like messaging friends or playing games.

Share: Most of the time, going online is for fun or interesting activities. But sometimes people are mean to each other online — this is called cyberbullying.

Ask: Have you ever seen someone make another person feel bad online?
Answers will vary. Remind students to describe what happened without using real names.

Explain that students will now learn more about how cyberbullying happens and what to do if it happens to them or someone they know.

What to Do About Cyberbullying

Discussion goal — Questions to guide discussion:

• What do you think happened to Jada's game?
• How do you think Jada, Kyle, or Sasha felt when these things happened to them?
• How can you tell if someone is cyberbullying you?
• Why is it important to stop using the computer when cyberbullying starts?

(If students stay online, the cyberbullying may continue or get worse.)

Teacher tip: These scenarios can be read all at once and discussed together, or read and discussed one at a time.

Discuss: Read the following two scenarios aloud and briefly discuss them with the class.

• Kyle keeps getting instant messages from someone saying mean things about him. The sender doesn't use a real name, but Kyle can tell the messages are coming from someone who also makes fun of him in gym class.
• Sasha is new at school and is making a lot of friends. Then she finds out that another girl sent around an email with a picture of a cow labeled with Sasha's name.

Distribute a Screen Out the Mean – Worksheet to each student. Read the story at the top aloud, and have students work in pairs or small groups to complete the worksheet.

Discuss Jada's story as a class. Explain that there are specific steps for handling a cyberbully:

• Jada should STOP using the computer.
• Jada should TELL a trusted adult what happened.
• Jada should not return to the pony website until an adult says it's okay.
• If Jada and Michael are good friends, she may want to tell Michael how his actions made her feel — but only after getting help from an adult.
• If Michael keeps cyberbullying her, Jada should spend time with other kids who don't behave that way.

In general, there are four steps to take if you or someone you know is being cyberbullied:

1. Stop using the computer until it's safe.
2. Tell an adult you trust.
3. Go online again only when a trusted adult says it's okay.
4. Play online only with kids you know and who are kind.

Wrap Up (15 min): Flash Chat — What did we learn?

Ask:

• What is cyberbullying, and how does it make people feel?

Students should recognize that cyberbullying is any online behavior that makes someone feel sad, scared, angry, or upset.

• What four steps can help stop cyberbullying?

S – Stop using the computer until it's safe.
T – Tell a trusted adult.
O – Go Online again only when a trusted adult says it's okay.
P – Play online only with kids who are kind.

• What's the most important thing to do if someone starts cyberbullying you?

Telling a trusted adult is the most important step whenever something online makes them feel sad, scared, or angry.

Journaling

Having students write about what they learned, why it matters