We focus on more than just coding at Youth Code Jam. While coding is a great skill for students to learn and helps them to approach problems in new ways, there’s a different set of skills they’ll need to be successful in a digital world, whether or not they go on to be programmers. These skills fall under the category of digital literacy.
We at Youth Code Jam use Scratch in a lot of our coding activities. In fact we use it so much for our lessons, that we have a YouTube playlist dedicated to Scratch coding activities. Families new to Youth Code Jam, as well as those who have been with us for a while, probably wonder why we use this tool so much in our programming. Read on to find out why and what exactly Scratch is.
In another post, we discussed what Scratch is and why we use it in Youth Code Jam programming. In this post, we will cover how to create an account and the Scratch Editor.
Go to https://scratch.mit.edu and click the “Join Scratch” link at the top of the page.
Have your student create a username that they will remember. But make sure it does not include their first, middle, or last name. While Scratch is mainly targeted toward students in grades K-12, there are adults on the site. Help protect your student’s privacy by creating a fun username with them. Also, take this opportunity to teach your student how to create a strong password. (Here are some tips on passwords from Google.)
Save the username and password somewhere safe so you and your student can find it if either are forgotten.
After creating your username and password, answer the series of questions. You can use your birthdate or your student’s. This information is not visible on the site.
For the email address, use either your personal email or your student’s email. Email accounts from schools or workplaces may block Scratch messages, so it’s best to use a personal email.
Click the button to create your account. Then click “Get Started.”
You’ll notice an orange block at the top of the page that asks you to confirm your email address. Sign into the email account you used to create your Scratch account. Find the verification email from Scratch. The sender will be no-reply@scratch.mit.edu, and the subject line will be “Confirm your Scratch account.” Click the confirmation button or link provided. Now you’re ready to share your work (always optional), remix programs, and participate in the Scratch community!
If you forget to do this or can’t find the email, click on your username in the upper right corner of the screen and select “Account Settings.” In the menu on the left, click “Email.” If your email is unconfirmed, you can resend a confirmation email by entering your Scratch password and clicking resend. Then follow the instructions above to confirm your email.
Explore existing Scratch projects or head to the editor to get started!
To open the Scratch Editor, click on “Create” at the top of the Scratch page. The editor is simple to use, but there are a lot of parts. We’ll break the editor into different sections and go through each one.
The top menu are the links that appear on the deeper blue at the top page. We’ll work from left to right on the options:
The left panel menu contains three sections separated by tabs: Code, Costumes and Sounds.
The Workspace is the empty, white middle section of the editor. Users will drag and drop code blocks here to build their program.
The right side of the editor has three parts: the Stage, the Sprite Panel, and the Stage Panel.
And that brings us to the end of the parts of the Scratch Editor. Take some time to explore all it has to offer with your student, and have fun learning to code!
