The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) was awarded a grant by the Verizon Foundation to help educate students and teachers about integrating computer coding into the classroom.  WHRO has been chosen to receive funds from that grant to pilot this training.

April 11-15 rising 1st graders through rising 4th graders at Mack Benn, Jr. Elementary School in Suffolk will attend a PBS KIDS ScratchJr Code-to-Learn Afterschool Camp. The five-day sequence of activities will introduce the children to creative coding by giving them the opportunity to create their own stories, games, and collages with the PBS KIDS ScratchJr tablet app.

The camp will use both digital and physical activities to teach children about computer coding. The students will progress from basic knowledge to more advanced programming skills over the course of the five days.  WHRO will provide the instruction and bring our traveling iPad lab so that each student will have hands-on access to the technology.  A national research firm will be on site to evaluate the camp.

I am so excited to host this at Mack Benn, Jr,” said school Principal David Lefevre. “Thank you for selecting our school as a site for this amazing program.”

In addition to the camp for children, this summer WHRO will host professional development coding camps for elementary teachers as part of this grant.  Details on that opportunity will be available later this Spring.

The PBS KIDS ScratchJr app is available free through the App Store.