Lesson plan 9 of 12

Timers. Change things over time.

On the board: "a game that speeds up every 5 seconds". The game counts ticks, sixty a second. speedUpEvery turns that count into a timer: every that-many seconds, a bit faster.

0 min: The code on the board

Put the class code on the projector (Teach, then Projector). Children open codeitlearn.com/join, type the code and a first name. Five minutes, no accounts.

5 min: Say a game

Write on the board: "a game that speeds up every 5 seconds". Everyone types it, or their own version of it, on Build and presses Build it. Walk the room. By minute ten every child has a game playing.

12 min: The projector fills

Open the projector. Tiles appear as games are published. Press one; it plays on the big screen. Two minutes of this is the reward for the room and the reason the next part works.

15 min: The power: Timers

Everyone opens Powers and presses Timers. Read the first line aloud: "The game counts ticks, sixty a second. speedUpEvery turns that count into a timer: every that-many seconds, a bit faster." Step one changes one line and runs it; step two changes it again; the check is them writing it with the highlight gone. Three minutes for most, ten for some.

30 min: Build with it

Back to Build, with the power switched on in their game. Ask for a new sentence that uses it: a game that speeds up every 5 seconds. Publish. The projector shows the new ones.

40 min: Show two

Press two tiles on the projector. Ask each child what they changed. The sentence they say back is the assessment.

What to look for

Wait with them. The speed-up is the first thing in the course that happens without a key press.

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Before the lesson

Make a class on CodeIt and put its code on the projector. Children join at codeitlearn.com/join with the code and a first name. Classes are free.