Beaver Achiever: TEACHER NOTES

Computer Science Education Week

overview

Beaver Achiever is one of CodeMonkey’s block-based coding games for 6-7 year olds. Beaver Achiever teaches 1st and 2nd graders computational thinking skills and the basics of coding through the use of blocks. In the game, students will use block coding to help a beaver with fun and engaging tasks.​

specifications

No matter how much or little coding experience you and your students have, CodeMonkey is engaging, entertaining & educational

ABOUT BEAVER ACHIEVER

THE HOUR-LONG VERSION

12 levels

The game consists of three chapters with more than 12 levels

CodeMonkey rat

6-7 year old

CodeMonkey’s Block-based game – some reading is required but no writing!

Coding concepts

Students will learn sequencing, loops, and logic

CodeMonkey chicken

block-based

Using a block sequence, students will program the monkey to catch bananas

how to host an hour of code

codemonkey banana

STEP 1: PREP

Go through as many coding levels as you can to get familiar with the program. We also recommend reading CodeMonkey's recommendations on how to have a successful hour of code below.

codemonkey banana

STEP 2: PRINT

Print out certificates for your students to take home. Students who have their own email can request a certificate at the end of the hour of code.

codemonkey banana

STEP 3: WRITE

Write www.codemonkey.com/hour-of-code/beaver-achiever on the board so students know where to begin.​

codemonkey banana

STEP 3: START

Instruct students to go to the link and click on ‘Start Playing’ to get started.

codemonkey banana

STEP 4: HANDOUT

Give your students their certificates to take home and show their parents!

FAQ

Beaver Achiever uses blocks to teach coding. In the game, students program the instructions using blocks. Although this is not a coding language, block coding helps students learn computational thinking and basic coding concepts such as sequencing and loops.

The goal of every level is to program a block sequence that will Make the Beaver do fun and engaging tasks

Yes, you can print out certificates for your students to take home. Students who have their own email address can request a certificate at the end of the hour of code. If not, you can print certificates out here.

Encourage them to go back and try to get 3 stars in all of the challenges.  Ask them to help classmates who are having trouble or start a new activity here

  1. First students should think about how to program the correct block sequence
  2. Then, they should tap the desired blocks in order to build the sequence. The block will go to the first vacant spot in the coding area. 
  3. In order to change the order of instructions in the coding area, they will need to drag the blocks.
  4. To execute their code, they will tap Play 
  5. If the monkey reaches the goal, the score will appear and the student can move to the next level. If the beaver does not reach the goal, they can tap replay and correct their code.

Star-Score

Upon completion of a level, students can get anywhere between one to three stars.

  • One Star – The beaver got his task done
  • Two Stars  – The beaver got  his task done but did not use the shortest code possible.
  • Three Stars – The beaver got his task done and used the shortest code possible.

Students will learn the following:

  • Logic
  • Algorithms
  • Sequencing
  • Direction/Orientation
  • Counting
  • Loops

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