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Primary students in Room 19 are exploring literacy and coding skills through memorable stories and hands-on activities, most recently using There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Ghost by Lucille Colandro. The class enjoys different versions of this story throughout the school year. Children love these tales because they are silly, they rhyme, and they can almost always turn the pages into a tune based on the original song, "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly." These stories also serve as a memorable way to practice reading comprehension. After reading, students retell the story by sequencing it from memory, a skill that enhances communication, mathematical thinking, problem-solving and organization.
Students learned to code a small robot named Bee-Bot to move forward, backward, left and right. Teachers used a grid board to place pictures of the items the lady swallowed in the story, allowing students to work in pairs to code Bee-Bot's movements around the board using the story as their roadmap. For example, they started Bee-Bot on the picture of the old lady swallowing a ghost — the first object in the story. Using their comprehension skills, they then coded Bee-Bot to move to the square with the second item she swallowed: a Halloween mask. As they worked together to navigate Bee-Bot around the board, they practiced sequencing and coding skills. When Bee-Bot didn’t go where they expected, they realized it still followed their coded instructions, learning about trial and error, planning a few steps ahead and trying again when necessary. The class looks forward to more coding opportunities like this throughout the school year!
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