From simple to complex, students at Forest Lake Elementary School have been improving their computer programming skills. All grade levels have been doing coding activities in STEAM classes throughout October.

STEAM teacher Alexa Del Piano said the difficulty of tasks progresses as students get older. Kindergartners used Osmo, an iPad-based application in which they follow instructions to recreate a design using colored geometric pieces. This teaches them to follow step-by-step instructions, which is how a computer program runs. 

Second graders worked with Bee-Bots and the activity had a fun twist with Halloween on the horizon. In pairs, students had to press the directional buttons on the small robots to get it to move among several haunted houses on a mat. Ms. Del Piano explained that the buttons had to be pressed in the correct sequence in order for the robot to move through the course successfully and pass by each house. 

Third, fourth and fifth graders used online activities through Code.org to make characters perform certain actions, like dancing or traveling through a maze.