Welcome to Learn to Code!
Learn to Code is a free email course for elementary and middle school teachers who want to explore coding on their own or with students.
The goal isn’t to create programmers, but to promote computational thinking: problem-solving, sequencing, pattern recognition, and more.
Exploration, discovery, experimentation, and creativity are key to this process.
| What is Learn to Code? | Learn to Code is a month-long email course with 12 main lessons and 4 Bonus sections. Step-by-step lessons cover the basics in a fun, friendly, and interactive way. Each lesson introduces a new programming concept that all coders need to learn. Short activities help you understand and practice the concept. Each lesson links to our Learn To Code website with more activities and a link to the original email. |
| How much does it cost? | Nothing! It’s free, and the tools you’ll use—online robot emulators, Logo Blocks, and a Logo trial—are all free. |
| Who is it for? | It’s for teachers or parents who want to learn to code with their students in grades 3–8. |
| When do lessons arrive? | Lessons arrive via email every other day. You don’t have to keep up that pace, but you should save them and do them in order when you are ready. You can even resubscribe to start the course again! |
| Why should my students learn to code? | Learning coding concepts is key to success in many disciplines. Even if students aren’t making computer science a career, they will learn problem-solving strategies that apply to all areas of their learning. They will learn to be precise in their language, develop sequencing skills, pattern recognition, and much more. |
Terrapin is in a unique position to offer a course that uses a combination of robots, block coding, and a full programming language to teach coding concepts. The Logo language was originally developed at MIT by Seymour Papert and his colleagues to give children a way to learn by discovery and build knowledge by exploring on their own. They just need to know a few basics to take advantage of this powerful learning environment. This course is designed to do just that.
Logo is a graphical language, with its iconic turtle that you can move on the screen. But it offers all the capabilities of a modern text-based programming language. We’ll show you how to begin your coding journey and advance at your own pace.
Get started today!
Sign up for this free 12-part course delivered directly to your Inbox!
Here is a preview of what you will learn:
- Lesson 1 - What is Coding All About?
- Lesson 2 - Stop Repeating Yourself: Use Loops!
- Lesson 3 - Add Surprise with Random Numbers!
- Lesson 4 - Create Your Own Commands Using Procedures
- Lesson 5 - What If? Using Conditionals
- Lesson 6 - Recursion: Procedures that Call Themselves
- Lesson 7 - Store Information with Variables
- Lesson 8 - Inputs: Interact With Your Users
- Lesson 9 - Functions: Procedures That Return Results
- Lesson 10 - Data Handling: Coding with Numbers and Words
- Lesson 11 - Events: When I Click the Mouse or Type a Letter…
- Lesson 12 - Design and Code Your Own Project
Bonus Lessons to Do Anytime!
- Bonus Lesson 1 - Editing and Debugging Your Code
- Bonus Lesson 2 - Coding and AI
- Bonus Lesson 3 - Programming Other Bots
- Bonus Lesson 4 - Coding Resources
Questions? As you go through the course, do not hesitate to contact us for help!