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View Winners → Plymouth Elementary Students Display Coding Skills During Annual Epic Build Showcase
Education Nov 21, 2019
Plymouth Elementary students display their completed coding projects during an Epic Build Showcase held Nov. 15. The showcase gave students the opportunity to engage with one another and demonstrate their projects to parents and community members. - Courtesy photo / MUSD
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Plymouth Elementary students demonstrated howthey created animated characters for digital stories and video games during theschool’s annual Epic Build Showcase on Nov. 15, an event that celebrated theschool’s computer science immersion program, Code to the Future.
“Our Epic Build Showcase gives our community theopportunity to not just see pockets of excellence in a few classes, but witnessamazing displays of learning in every classroom with the opportunity of everystudent learning computer science at a high level,” Principal Dr. Greg Gerosaid.
Through Code to the Future, students work withblock-based coding and JavaScript and engage in hands-on programming, robotics,and analog activities. Beginning in transitional kindergarten, students applythe logic of computer science by creating loops, sequences, and animations. Bysecond grade, students begin building video games; by fifth grade, studentsskillfully combine coding with integrated stories.
“At Monrovia Unified, preparing our students forcollege, career and beyond is at the forefront of everything we do,” BoardPresident Ed Gililland said. “Our students are learning how to problem solveand think critically, and develop technological literacy, on which they canexpand throughout their educational experience at Monrovia Unified.”
At Plymouth Elementary, coding can become asecond language for students and, for its Mandarin Dual Language Immersionstudents, coding can become a third language.
The school focuses on educational skillscomposed of the four Cs: critical thinking, collaboration, communication, andcreativity. Gero explained that the showcase was not just a celebration ofcoding, but a celebration of the skills students are developing, which preparethem for college and career success.
“Plymouth’s Epic Build showcase gives ourstudents the opportunity to not only engage with one another, but with parentsand community members as well,” Superintendent Dr. Katherine Thorossian said.“Through our coding curriculum, our students, at an early age, develop theknowledge and skills they need to pursue science and technology career paths inthe future.”
