I just found an amazing resource for understanding more about world history in a fun way. (Thanks for putting them on the playlist for our unit, Moi!) As a "big picture" kind of thinker, I love how these videos capture the important essence of a historical concept without killing the viewer with names and dates. (There are some of those of course, too!) I would love to catch up on this series and watch them all! What great background knowledge for teachers when looking at historical context of current concepts.

My first thought after seeing one of these videos was, "What a great idea! Why isn't there something like this for kids?" Then I remembered that there is. It's called BrainPop (and BrainPop Jr.) and it's also pretty awesome. Second though? These need to be shared!

We are learning to code at NIST's Global Codeathon event with all kinds of inspiration from around the world. Kids are exploring, creating and learning on their own all over the place! 

Scratch can be overwhelming. The idea of "just play with it" does not inspire me when there are thousands of possibilities and only specific ways of combining them that work. After trying Scratch a few times before and ending up disappointed, I returned to it with a recommendation from Reid @wayfaringpath to check out the tutorials. It turns out, they are amazing! Not only do they give simple instructions that can instantly be implemented but they always end with an open-ended prompt to try a new combination of instructions and see what happens. Even as an adult, I just had to try the challenges out right away! This will be fun to explore with students and easy to introduce through the simplicity of the tutorial pages (found under the Scratch help tab). I look forward to seeing how students play around with Scratch, learn to code and become more proficient content creators.