Unit 3.3
Like, literally?
In this unit, students will explore figurative language by creating an interactive animation of an idiom. First, they will use decomposition to figure out the meaning of an idiom, and draw its literal meaning. Then, they will plan how they would like to animate their idioms in Scratch, and start to create their programs. Next, students will be introduced to user input and modify their programs to allow a user to enter a guess about the meaning of their idioms. Then, they will use a conditional and an operator to check to show a surprise if a user’s input contains a specific keyword. They will add additional sprites and use a broadcast message to activate part of their code, which uses a loop to repeat commands. To conclude the unit, students will test their program with their classmates, recording how many attempts it takes for users to determine the keyword.
Overview documents
What does that mean?
Students are introduced to decomposition as a way to break problems into smaller parts. They apply decomposition to determine the meaning of figurative phrases. They then choose an idiom and illustrate it as if it were literally true.
Animate it
Students create a plan for their animation, then they are introduced to the Scratch programming language. They choose sprites for their projects, then determine the sequence of Looks and Motion commands they need to animate their sprites.
What's the word?
Students collect data from their peers to determine two keywords that help explain the meaning of their idioms. They are then introduced to input as data that is entered into a computer. They modify their programs to prompt a user to enter a guess about the meaning of their idioms.
Surprise!
Students choose a keyword, then use a flowchart to plan how their programs will respond if a user input includes their keyword. They are then introduced to conditionals as a way to manage the flow of their programs.
Right on cue
Students are introduced to count-controlled loops and use them to repeat parts of their code. Students are then introduced to broadcasting as an additional way to control the flow of their programs.
Break a leg
Students test their programs to ensure they work as intended. They share their projects with peers, collecting data about how frequently their peers are able to find their keyword. Finally, students reflect on their learnings with their classmates.