分类: CodeJoy - iCreate iLearn

Have You Thanked an Inventor? - Grade 6

10/11/2026

This week designers started with the Design Thinking Story, Have You Thanked an Inventor? which led to learning about the radio with the micro:bit as well as learning about Streetlights with Forward Education.

Designers explored the Makers Empire module of Everyone's an Inventor and engaged in 3D design challenges, videos, and quizzes.

Designers experienced the game of Red Light, Green Light using the micro:bits and charges on their wrist which then led to partner coding with Kelsey from CodeJoy where partners created their own radio program to transmit and receive with each other.

And the week ended with creating a prototype of a smart streetlight using an LED ring, sonar sensor, and Forward Education breakout board.

Design Thinking Story

Coding Radio with Kelsey from CodeJoy

Student Reflections

Instructional Slides

Grade 6 WK5 An Inventor by Karie Huttner

The Technology Tail - A Digital Footprint (Gr. 6)

9/11/2026

This week 6th grade designers learned about how to use MakeCode with Kelsey from CodeJoy to program their micro:bit.

They also designed an All About Me poster in Canva and learned how to design keychains in Makers Empire.

Instructional Slides

Grade 6 WK2 The Technology Tail by Karie Huttner

The Mess That We Made - SDG 14

6/17/2026

As I am learning this summer with CodeJoy, this is the first new unit lesson that I am developing with a focus on SDG 14 Life Below Water. I started with the story The Mess That We Made read by Storyline Online which is a favorite of mine for read aloud stories.

Using Edpuzzle, I am able to create questions that prompt each learner about what they know, what they are understanding, and what they might do to respond to the challenge in the book.

Next I created an activity using the micro:bits and an SDG version of tag. Using Amanda Jeane's template from the Infosys Summer PD and Codejoy's Session A of Coding Carnival, I started to plan how I would design the tag game.

So after using the story to introduce SDG 14 - Life Below Water, I needed to think of how I would need to code each micro:bit for each role in the game.

I decided on sea turtles for the majority of the players that would be affected by the plastic bag player. The releaser player would have only a certain amount of time to remove the plastic bag otherwise the sea turtle would die.

So I started to brainstorm the three different codes that I would develop. Because the releaser doesn't need to be on a radio frequency, I wanted to create a tracker of how many sea turtles were saved. The sea turtles would be captured by the plastic bag if they were within a range of the plastic bag of 1 ft. I realize that this will be a little complicated to code but now I start the coding in MakeCode. I'm going to start with the plastic bag code first.

First Iteration - Plastic Bag (Role 1)

I chose the radio set group 1 but I'm wondering if in my next iteration, I put a random block so that different sea turtles might be on different radio frequencies. I set the transmit power to 1 so that the plastic bag has to be within a close range. I don't know what radio set transmit power 1 actually translates to so I will need to test this. The radio would send a string with the word caught and an image of a plastic bag.

First Iteration - Sea Turtles (Role 2)

The sea turtle code will be the most complicated because I want it to have multiple triggers. I want for the nearness of the radio frequency to stop the music and allow only 2 minutes before the sea turtle is out. I want the release to be triggered by the touch sensor which then would bring back the music. I want the accelerometer to track that the sea turtle is not moving.

I'm thinking that my code will conflict between the forever block and radio received. My next step is to test this code.

First Iteration - Turtle Releaser (Role 3)

This code is for the releaser to keep track of the sea turtles saved by using a counter. This role won't be on a radio program. To be consistent, I used the touch logo pressed to both release the sea turtle but also to track the sea turtles released. I thought that this would make the play simpler with only one thing to press on the micro:bit for both the releaser to track and release sea turtles.

Now I have to go try out my code. To be continued....

Creative Robotics Final Projects

4/17/2026

Our creative robotics unit is one of our favorite units because it combines robotics, coding, and creativity into a powerful Design Thinking unit. This year design teams had even more choices of what type of project they wanted to create through Robot Arcade, Robot Petting Zoo, and Robot Mini Golf.

These beautiful designs will be showcased on Thursday, April 30th from 4-6p in our SOMS LMC for the public to scan a QR code to see the design behind the physical design.

Click here to see the previous posts of the Creative Robotics Unit

WK4/5 Creative Robotics Design Project by Karie Huttner

A Technology Tail ... a digital footprint story (Grade 6)

4/16/2026

As I have learned more about different stories like A Technology Tail and have found ways to integrate micro:bits into more creative challenges, I have continued to update our sixth grade curriculum to integrate technology learning in more powerful ways.

This week designers learned how to use Canva as well as creating animations in MakeCode and keychains in Makers Empire.

STEM Design Thinking Story

CodeJoy Animation Edpuzzle

Using resources from Infosys Pathfinders Micro:bit in the Wild course designed by CodeJoy, designers created their own animations with the micro:bit.

Made with Padlet

Teaching Resources

Grade 6 WK2 The Technology Tail by Karie Huttner

Creative Robotics (Adding the Last Details)

4/10/2026

Sometimes best laid plans need more time. This week with state testing and shortened schedules, projects had only three 30minute design times so the final project had to be extended to next week with the addition of a recorded slideshow that will be QR coded to the project in the Art Design Showcase on Thursday, April 30th from 4-6p.

This will be the first time that our design teams will showcase their creative robotics projects for the whole community.

Student Reflections

Click here for previous week's posts

Creative Robotics Design Thinking Project - Wk 1

3/13/2026

This week designers started their team Design Thinking Project for our Creative Robotics Unit. This is the first time that teams have had choices of what they would design - Robot Mini Golf, Robot Petting Zoo, or Robot Arcade. I found that using the Forward Education Design Journal really helps facilitate multiple projects at the same time.

Design teams need to ground their design in both a Sustainable Development Goal as well as Define the Problem that they are addressing. This week teams focused on research using multiple sources as well as conducting an interview with another team to help guide the final project. Lastly teams were given the criteria and constraints and started their brainstorm.

Next week will be a whirlwind of building a prototype

Instructional Slides

Wk 1 Creative Robotics Design Project by Karie Huttner

Creative Robotics with Hummingbird - Mechanisms and Sensors

3/6/2026

This week designers explored more complex parts of the Hummingbird robotics kit by building mechanisms and learning about sensors with an Edpuzzle of Kelsey from CodeJoy.

Design teams selected their final project - Robot Mini Golf, Robot Petting Zoo, or Robot Arcade and started the Design Thinking Process using the Forward Education Design Journal. First teams identified a Sustainable Development Goal aligned with their project ideas and defined the problem that they will be researching and interviewing their target audience about starting next week.

Student Work

Instructional Slides

Wk6 Creative Robotics and Hummingbird by Karie Huttner

Creative Robotics and Intro to Hummingbird

2/27/2026

This week designers were introduced to my favorite creative robotics tool the Hummingbird. It was with the Hummingbird that robotics and programming really gave me the opportunity to be creative.

I was fortunate enough to learn from some of the best instructional leaders - Kelsey and Matt, CodeJoy with Infosys Pathfinders Summer Professional Development. CodeJoy has a way of empowering the learner to understand and try creative inputs and outputs.

This week designers worked in teams using the Edpuzzles from Kelsey and Matt that I had downloaded from the Birdbrain site so that teams could progress at their own rate and understand the important concepts about LEDs, Tri-LEDs, and servos. I was then able to move around the room and support teams who struggled while other teams continued at their own pace.

The joy that the Hummingbird robotics kit and CodeJoy instruction bring into the room is just one of the greatest parts of this creative robotics unit.

Instructional Slides

Wk5 Creative Robotics and Hummingbird by Karie Huttner

CodeJoy Robot Garden Student Show

1/13/2026

Today designers in period 1, 5, and 7 were able to experience the virtual learning integrating creative robotics and coding that CodeJoy's Kelsey and Matt have graciously provided for our students.

These 45 minute interactive shows engage our designers in coding with a focus on a story that they help program the robots to move. CodeJoy donated 4 shows to our school which normally cost $300 per show.

Click on the picture above to find out all about Robot Garden and the making of this amazing show as well as learn more about CodeJoy.

Trombone Shorty and SDG 3 Good Health and Well-Being

1/9/2026

This week designers in 6th grade focused on how music and technology play integral roles in our own personal good health and well-being. Using the design thinking story - Trombone Shorty, we started out the week learning about an artist who continues to share his love of music. Using Code.org's Music Lab Jam Session, designers learned how music and programming can create original music.

After learning about gestures on the micro:bit from Kelsey at CodeJoy in an edpuzzle, teams started to create their own music using the micro:bit and the charge to go with a cardboard instrument. Check out the amazing designs that teams created below.

Instructional Slides

Grade 6 Trombone Shorty by Karie Huttner

AI for Good (MakeCode and CreateAI)

11/14/2025

This week designers started to build an understanding of how to help the micro:bit "Think" in the focus of Sense, Think, Act using MakeCode and micro:bit CreateAI.

Using CodeJoy's video of MakeCode that was created for teachers, I adjusted the video in an Edpuzzle to introduce MakeCode to my designers who used split screen or two tabs to watch and apply the instructional video at the same time.

They had the option to work with a table partner or alone depending on their learning preference. Many designers who opted to work with a table partner enjoyed the experience of learning with a partner instead of alone. After watching the Edpuzzle, designers selected from Level 1 - Use a tutorial in MakeCode, Level 2 - Modify the code from last week's learning activities, or Level 3 - Create a program to solve a problem.

The second day of instruction designers focused on how the micro:bit can be used with AI through the program CreateAI. This learning activity is a little more difficult so table partners were required to work together to use one of their devices to run the edpuzzle and one of their devices to run micro:bit CreateAI to learn about how to use the program.

After learning through the use of the Edpuzzle instructional support, each designer was then challenged to use CreateAI to answer the question - "Do all people wave the same?", "Can CreateAI be trained to notice the difference between how you wave and how your table partner waves?", "How can you edit the code in MakeCode to recognize and show who is waving?".

Designer Reflections

Teaching Resources

Micro:Bit AI for Good Wk 2 by Karie Huttner

AI for Good (Micro:bit Introduction)

11/7/2025

This week started our new unit focusing on AI for Good using the micro:bits and Forward Education resources like the Charge. After attending Amanda Jeane's CodeJoy presentation at the Micro:bit Live Conference in Virginia, I returned to the classroom with some well designed introductory stations for the micro:bit.

I took these activities as a starting point and designed them into Edpuzzle learning activities that introduced a key feature of the micro:bit, introduced the activity, and included a reflection about what was learned by each designer in the learning activity.

Day 1: Stations (Intro to Micro:bit, Simple Compass, and Bird Calls)

I was going to do all 6 stations at once and then I realized that these three were the best for everyone to experience before the next three.

These three introduced important concepts like the parts of the micro:bit, the buttons, music, and more. It was fascinating to see many students experience the compass rose and cardinal directions for the first time.

Day 2: Stations (Garbage Counter, Step Counter, and Sensor Circus)

With the second set of stations, we needed more room to move so three of my classes were able to do the activities in our library. Of course, the trash counter had to be switched to finding pencils.

The last class of the day we used our commons and outside to have a nice large space to learn and apply the different activities. These learning activities from CodeJoy were a big success with all of the designers and may have won over a few who thought the micro:bit wasn't that interesting.

Teacher Resources

Micro:Bit AI for Good Wk 1 by Karie Huttner

Creative Robotics with Hummingbird Servos and Sensors

5/15/2025

After learning about single color and tri-color LEDs, designers learned about the different types of servos (positional and rotational) using CodeJoy's Kelsey and Matt instructional edpuzzles.

With more difficult content, using the Edpuzzles allows design teams to go at their own pace while I move around the room to reinforce key concepts like black to negative and making sure the code matches the Hummingbird components.

After learning about servos, designers jumped into learning about the four sensors that come with the Hummingbird kit - light, dial, sound, and distance.

Once again teams used Kelsey and Matt's instructional videos as an edpuzzle to follow along and monitor comprehension as well as application.

Creative Robotics, CodeJoy, and Hummingbird - Week 1

5/2/2025

After having experienced the CodeJoy student show, designers were excited to start to use the same robotics kits as they had seen in the show. Our classroom is extremely fortunate to have Hummingbird Robotics kits that have been funded partially through grants so that teams of 2 each have a kit to use. As an educator, I have greatly benefitted from summer PD offered through Infosys Pathfinders around both the micro:bit and Hummingbird kit.

I am constantly returning to my Pathfinders account to rewatch instructional videos from Kelsey to help better develop my understanding of what I am teaching using the Hummingbird and Snap.

Week 1

This week designers learned about Snap as well as how to setup the Hummingbird. The second day of instruction was focused on LEDs and Tri LEDs using Edpuzzles from CodeJoy. Teams were paired up so that one designer could run the Edpuzzle for the team to learn with while the other designer could run Snap and follow the video.

Student Reflections