Bedford Village Elementary Students Get Excited About Coding

“I think I’ll get it this time,” a Bedford Village Elementary School fourth grader said with determination. She was focused intently on her Chromebook, watching to see if her character moved across the screen the way she needed it to. Around the room, her classmates cheered excitedly or groaned in frustration. They were all taking part in the Hour of Code.

A worldwide movement, the Hour of Code aims to teach students the basics of coding and to ignite an interest in computer science.

“This week is Computer Science Education Week,” library media specialist Simone Loeffel told students as they came into the library. “Around the world, students are participating by learning how to code.”

“I love coding!” a student shouted with excitement.

Loeffel walked students through how to play Minecraft: Voyage Aquatic, a lesson that can be found on code.org. She reminded students how to code and modeled it for them before letting them start the first puzzle.

“If you aren’t sure, I’m going to go over each puzzle on the Promethean board,” Loeffel said.

Each of the puzzles required students to use code to follow a set of directions. They had to do things like have their character move to the end of the dock, jump into a boat and navigate through ice to get salmon. Some of the puzzles had more than one solution, making them a little trickier. As they worked through each puzzle, they became more and more difficult.

Students were vocal in both their excitement at their achievements and their frustration as they tried to learn from their mistakes.

“Level 9 is so hard!”

“Yay! I did it!” a student yelled, clapping.

“I’m stuck on 11, the hard one. The ultimate challenge. But I’m so close!”

“No! That’s the wrong way!”

Energized by the challenge, students were focused on the task at hand, while offering each other guidance when it was needed.

“It’s kind of hard, but I really like doing it,” one said, summing up the group’s experience perfectly.