Scratch 3.0 for kindergarten students

teacherkoding

Hi everyone,

I am running coding classes for kindergarten students (age 5-6). We have spent the first semester with ScratchJr. The students love it,
and are now exploring Scratch 3.0. So far so good, and the students seems to be able to accept Scratch 3.0. They can make simple projects using only blocks that they recognise.

I was wondering if anyone else have experience using Scratch 3.0 for kindergarten students?

1Oaktree2

Hi there, we mainly use the Questions about Scratch forum for asking questions about the features of the website. I'd highly recommend posting this on a website for educators.

teacherkoding

Thank you!

1Oaktree2

You're welcome. I also reccomend using this page to help your students

teacherkoding

1Oaktree2 wrote:
You're welcome. I also reccomend using this page to help your students

I am learning as much as I can to better teach my students. I just need help about transitioning from ScratchJr to Scratch 3.0. While my students have transitioned well (eventhough they are still in kindergarten), some teachers in my community disagree with using Scratch 3.0 on kindergarten students (simply because of the recommended age).

I will continue to research about this. Once again, thank you for pointing me to that link.

Last edited by teacherkoding (Nov. 28, 2021 13:18:28)

LionManStudios

teacherkoding wrote:
1Oaktree2 wrote:
You're welcome. I also reccomend using this page to help your students

I am learning as much as I can to better teach my students. I just need help about transitioning from ScratchJr to Scratch 3.0. While my students have transitioned well (eventhough they are still in kindergarten), some teachers in my community disagree with using Scratch 3.0 on kindergarten students (simply because of the recommended age).

I will continue to research about this. Once again, thank you for pointing me to that link.

if you're gonna use scratch don't let them make accounts, I know from experience (I think I was addicted to it during the pandemic due to it being my only social media plus, there can be cancel culture and flame wars on the site and it's a lot worse than you probably expect)

also scratch is too complicated for kindergartners and you probably won't know what most of the blocks do until you're in middle school

Last edited by LionManStudios (Nov. 28, 2021 19:57:08)

Hello there

why did you come here, well I guess I should reward you with something… Oh! I know! this unlisted yt video of a project I'm making

dertermenter

I started scratch when I was 7 and needed big guidance of that age to make a project, but 6 year olds can definitely do the big scratch. I would recommend starting with the basics that they hopefully learnt in scratch junior then maybe teach them about other features, like making sprites and exploring a variety of project types.

A good start may just to get them to follow the scratch tutorials. They are on the ideas tab at the top of every scratch page.

Thoughts on AFD on the forums

The2000 wrote:
All suggestions are unnecessary. If a suggestion is necessary then it's a bug report.

dertermenter wrote:
April Fools Day on the forums has been a repeated privilege, not an expectation

sharkode

I wouldn't recommend 5 years old using Scratch because it's like a social media and you can share stuffs onto it, I think that's too much responsibility for a 5 years old (also other people can upload things that might be dangerous for a young kid), I would recommend using the offline editor which is basically the same as the site but you cannot upload stuffs

>>>This suggestion could end reduce mass reporting.<<<
=======================================================================================

Common forum languages (highlight this text and click shift+down arrow for more):

Support - Means someone supports a suggestion, make sure to say the reason when you are supporting a suggestion.
No support - Means someone don't support a suggestion, while it may sound a little mean, it's actually not as not everybody have to support the suggestion you purposed.
Bump - Bumping is a method of bringing a topic back to the front page.
Necroposting - Means bringing an old, dead, topic that nobody cares about back to life, necroposting comes from the greek word “nekros” meaning “corpse”, necroposting is prohibited as it wastes front page space.
Ocular - A website that allows you to search forum posts.
Dupe/duplicate - Posts that suggests the same thing, it's a good idea to use Ocular.
ST - Is short for Scratch Team, the moderators on this site.
ToS - Is short for Terms of Use, a bunch of legal jargon and stuffs like that.
TOLoRS - Is short for The Official List of Rejected Suggestions, it's always a good idea to read it before making a suggestion.
Kaj - A user who threatened to hack Scratch, he later became a legend and people often joked about him hacking posts.

dave-alt-4

i dont think kids under 10 should use the online website (its not cuz of how hard the coding is , but the toxicity of the people here , i'd definitely say its safer to ask them to download the offline editor , anyways , to the main thing (projects) , try guiding them by explaining what every block does (just the basic ones)

Last edited by dave-alt-4 (Nov. 29, 2021 03:51:42)

guide to make good projects <3

Think! Is saying if you support a suggestion necessary? No! People can just tell by your constructive post after it. You have more freedom on your tone!
Forumers, especially new, may also get upset if you say “no support!!!” at them! They may take the whole post in a negative tone, and that makes them upset!
Instead, you can kindly say why their suggestion has cons. They will take it as “constructive criticism” and be happy. - dertermenter

sharkode

dave-alt-4 wrote:
i dont think kids under 10 should use the online website (its not cuz of how hard the coding is , but the toxicity of the people here , i'd definitely say its safer to ask them to download the offline editor , anyways , to the main thing (projects) , try guiding them by explaining what every block does (just the basic ones)

I agree, tons of people here are extremely rude and uploads stuffs that are definitely not appropriate (hate campaign, pro-protesting or rioting projects, bad words, misinformations), usually they will get banned but sometimes they don't, this is because Scratch is intended for 8+ and things that inappropriate for 5 years old might not get banned.

>>>This suggestion could end reduce mass reporting.<<<
=======================================================================================

Common forum languages (highlight this text and click shift+down arrow for more):

Support - Means someone supports a suggestion, make sure to say the reason when you are supporting a suggestion.
No support - Means someone don't support a suggestion, while it may sound a little mean, it's actually not as not everybody have to support the suggestion you purposed.
Bump - Bumping is a method of bringing a topic back to the front page.
Necroposting - Means bringing an old, dead, topic that nobody cares about back to life, necroposting comes from the greek word “nekros” meaning “corpse”, necroposting is prohibited as it wastes front page space.
Ocular - A website that allows you to search forum posts.
Dupe/duplicate - Posts that suggests the same thing, it's a good idea to use Ocular.
ST - Is short for Scratch Team, the moderators on this site.
ToS - Is short for Terms of Use, a bunch of legal jargon and stuffs like that.
TOLoRS - Is short for The Official List of Rejected Suggestions, it's always a good idea to read it before making a suggestion.
Kaj - A user who threatened to hack Scratch, he later became a legend and people often joked about him hacking posts.

teacherkoding

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Teaching offline for younger students seems like great idea.

Other than the social aspect of the Scratch 3.0 not being suitable, do you all think kindergarten students could be taught with Scratch 3.0? I personally think it can be used, so long as it is adjusted to the students' level (reading skills etc). A lot of my students seems a bit ‘bored’ after using ScratchJr for longer than 1 semester. While most parents of my students are happy with it, there are some criticism with using Scratch 3.0 for kindergarten level because of the ‘recommended age’.

vudeptrai090211

sharkode wrote:
dave-alt-4 wrote:
i dont think kids under 10 should use the online website (its not cuz of how hard the coding is , but the toxicity of the people here , i'd definitely say its safer to ask them to download the offline editor , anyways , to the main thing (projects) , try guiding them by explaining what every block does (just the basic ones)
I agree, tons of people here are extremely rude and uploads stuffs that are definitely not appropriate (hate campaign, pro-protesting or rioting projects, bad words, misinformations), usually they will get banned but sometimes they don't, this is because Scratch is intended for 8+ and things that inappropriate for 5 years old might not get banned.

Agree, some content doesn't appropriate to all ages. #StopCyberbullying

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ItsMe-XTV-

teacherkoding wrote:
Thanks everyone for the feedback. Teaching offline for younger students seems like great idea.

Other than the social aspect of the Scratch 3.0 not being suitable, do you all think kindergarten students could be taught with Scratch 3.0? I personally think it can be used, so long as it is adjusted to the students' level (reading skills etc). A lot of my students seems a bit ‘bored’ after using ScratchJr for longer than 1 semester. While most parents of my students are happy with it, there are some criticism with using Scratch 3.0 for kindergarten level because of the ‘recommended age’.

Yep! This can really open up their creativity. If a student does not know what a block means, they can ask you.

ventoaurum

teacherkoding wrote:
Thanks everyone for the feedback. Teaching offline for younger students seems like great idea.

Other than the social aspect of the Scratch 3.0 not being suitable, do you all think kindergarten students could be taught with Scratch 3.0? I personally think it can be used, so long as it is adjusted to the students' level (reading skills etc). A lot of my students seems a bit ‘bored’ after using ScratchJr for longer than 1 semester. While most parents of my students are happy with it, there are some criticism with using Scratch 3.0 for kindergarten level because of the ‘recommended age’.

I personally think it's okay to teach kindergarten students how to use scratch, just like you said, as long as it is adjusted to the students' level.
Scratch is made for kids anyway, so it's good enough to be used by kindergartner.

Since you want other teacher to understand your decision, try making these points:

humans tend to understands stuff more and like to learn more when they are motivated

the younger you are, the more motivated and dumb you are, proof: toddler is not exactly smart but they are excited to learn how to walk

but, when people turns 4 or 5, they drastically change, they went to kindergarten and learns how to socialize with (currently) stranger, learns how to read and write, and more

so “motivated and dumb” turns into “motivated and normal”

yes, their motivation still isn't high enough to learn complex stuff like scratch, but that's only if the motivation comes from just that, and that is not the case

humans' motivation raise up high when they learned the basic of things, you know it's true

and the kindergartner in question just learned the basic of programming through scratch jr

so, kindergartner's already high motivation + scratchjr(basic) learned motivation > motivation needed to learn scratch

and if they still doesnt agree just answer:
the recommended age doesn't matter if the person learning scratch can understand scratch stuff easily/normally/as good as a kid/adult would

(signature)
i make bad decisions professionally

TheGlassPenguin

Please note that I am NOT an educator.
If your students can make simple projects, then that's good. Try keeping your lessons simple, and slowly move your way through the harder stuff, like pen and cloning. Just don't club them with the complicated stuff too early. The Ideas page contains some interactive tutorials and some educator guides if you want/need them.

four years on scratch!

imfh

teacherkoding wrote:
Thanks everyone for the feedback. Teaching offline for younger students seems like great idea.

Other than the social aspect of the Scratch 3.0 not being suitable, do you all think kindergarten students could be taught with Scratch 3.0? I personally think it can be used, so long as it is adjusted to the students' level (reading skills etc). A lot of my students seems a bit ‘bored’ after using ScratchJr for longer than 1 semester. While most parents of my students are happy with it, there are some criticism with using Scratch 3.0 for kindergarten level because of the ‘recommended age’.

If your students are able to replicate the concepts they learned in Scratch Jr. with Scratch 3, then I don't see any reason why they wouldn't be able learn more using the senior version of Scratch. The main problem I can think of which could inhibit the student's learning is if they become frustrated with the larger and more complicated selection of blocks.

Scratch Jr. is pretty limited and isn't able to easily replicate a lot of common programming principles. If your students are able to use Scratch 3, then I think that is great. You can start by teaching them how to use concepts they learned in Scratch Jr., and then move on to slowly adding new concepts.

You might be able to help your students transition by creating a “starter” project for them. You can create several broadcasts, such as green, blue and orange, so they don't have to type out the names. You can also create some backdrops, which can sort of be used as “pages” with the “when backdrop switches to” hat.

Scratch to Pygame converter: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/600562/

teacherkoding

I agree with the fact that if they can learn with Scrach3.0 and enjoy while doing it why not. Unfortunately some people are more concern about the ‘optics’ of it, and are more comfortable with using the recommended age without asking why.

Either way, the students will still benefit from learning how to code. So I guess that's the most important thing.

10goto10

I just had another thought. I assume that your students are currently using tablets? (Because I don’t think Scratch JR is available for PC’s.)

Scratch does not have an offline app for iPads and many people seem to have problems with the Scratch app for Android.

You might look through the Hour of code website and see if any of those applications would be a good “step up” at this point.

Also, I wonder how many kindergarteners are already using the internet. Maybe if you just have them turn off comments to their Scratch profiles and projects that would shield them somewhat from the bad social aspect.

Last edited by 10goto10 (Dec. 2, 2021 20:00:17)

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in this studio.

sharkode

10goto10 wrote:
I just had another thought. I assume that your students are currently using tables? (Because I don’t think Scratch JR is available for PC’s.)

Scratch does not have an offline app for iPads and many people seem to have problems with the Scratch app for Android.

You might look through the Hour of code website and see if any of those applications would be a good “step up” at this point.

Also, I wonder how many kindergarteners are already using the internet. Maybe if you just have them turn off comments to their Scratch profiles and projects that would shield them somewhat from the bad social aspect.

That would not work, they can still view other unsafe things and can comment on other people's profiles

>>>This suggestion could end reduce mass reporting.<<<
=======================================================================================

Common forum languages (highlight this text and click shift+down arrow for more):

Support - Means someone supports a suggestion, make sure to say the reason when you are supporting a suggestion.
No support - Means someone don't support a suggestion, while it may sound a little mean, it's actually not as not everybody have to support the suggestion you purposed.
Bump - Bumping is a method of bringing a topic back to the front page.
Necroposting - Means bringing an old, dead, topic that nobody cares about back to life, necroposting comes from the greek word “nekros” meaning “corpse”, necroposting is prohibited as it wastes front page space.
Ocular - A website that allows you to search forum posts.
Dupe/duplicate - Posts that suggests the same thing, it's a good idea to use Ocular.
ST - Is short for Scratch Team, the moderators on this site.
ToS - Is short for Terms of Use, a bunch of legal jargon and stuffs like that.
TOLoRS - Is short for The Official List of Rejected Suggestions, it's always a good idea to read it before making a suggestion.
Kaj - A user who threatened to hack Scratch, he later became a legend and people often joked about him hacking posts.

sharkode

The kids would probably waste all their time playing video games uploaded onto this website instead of do proper programming, use the offline editor and do not let them use the site

>>>This suggestion could end reduce mass reporting.<<<
=======================================================================================

Common forum languages (highlight this text and click shift+down arrow for more):

Support - Means someone supports a suggestion, make sure to say the reason when you are supporting a suggestion.
No support - Means someone don't support a suggestion, while it may sound a little mean, it's actually not as not everybody have to support the suggestion you purposed.
Bump - Bumping is a method of bringing a topic back to the front page.
Necroposting - Means bringing an old, dead, topic that nobody cares about back to life, necroposting comes from the greek word “nekros” meaning “corpse”, necroposting is prohibited as it wastes front page space.
Ocular - A website that allows you to search forum posts.
Dupe/duplicate - Posts that suggests the same thing, it's a good idea to use Ocular.
ST - Is short for Scratch Team, the moderators on this site.
ToS - Is short for Terms of Use, a bunch of legal jargon and stuffs like that.
TOLoRS - Is short for The Official List of Rejected Suggestions, it's always a good idea to read it before making a suggestion.
Kaj - A user who threatened to hack Scratch, he later became a legend and people often joked about him hacking posts.

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