I believe that this is an extremely important initiative being that technology is on the rise. Technology is the future, and because of this, I believe that it is important that every student is knowledgeable on the subject. I believe that it is a good investment for public schools and will help lead students to future success!

https://code.org/learn– This website has many one hour coding activities and exercises for students of all ages. The coding activities vary based on subject and age groups. One thing that I like about this site is that the activities are up to date with what is “in” currently. For example, one of the coding activities is based off of Mine Craft. Mine Craft is extremely popular for elementary school children right now, so having a coding activity based off of it will encourage the children to play it. The children may not even realize they are learning being that they are creating something that they are excited to play! I think it is awesome that this website does that! There are also 2 different levels of coding exercises: Beginner and Comfortable. I did not find anything that I did not like about this website.

https://www.tynker.com– Tynker is the #1 coding platform for kids and works to empower children to create. They have coding activities and exercises for children of all ages. They have access on their website for parents, teachers and students. One thing that I like about this website is that it offers full curriculum for educators. That is an awesome resource for teachers! I also really like that they have a tab for parents because I believe that parent involvement is very important! The coding activities for children ages 5-7 years old also have voice instructions so that children can learn how to code even if they have not perfected their reading skills yet! Again, I did not find anything that I disliked about this website.

https://www.codecademy.com/learn/paths/web-development– Code Academy teaches how to build apps as well as how to build portfolio-worthy projects. On this site, you are not learning through games like the other sites but instead you have actual lessons. The first thing that I noticed about this website is that it is not as child-friendly as the other sites. One thing that I do like about this site though, is that it is a very professional site and is laid out well.

https://coderdojo.com– This website provides free programming clubs for children. The programming clubs are called Dojo’s and are relaxed and fun! Dojo’s happen in person and are led by volunteers! I like that this site has in person programs. Even though coding is online, I still think person to person interaction is important and a helpful learning factor.