Computing (Scratch)

Hello Year 5,

I was so excited to try Scratch with you in the summer term. Don’t worry – I will give you the opportunity to try it from home!  Scratch is a free programming language and online community where you can create your own interactive stories, games, and animations.

Do you remember what the word algorithm means?

An algorithm is a series of written instructions that can be followed. What have you programmed computers to do?

Today we are going to be learning how to use Scratch to produce animations and games.

Please see this example of a fish tank animation. If you want to learn how it is made, click on ‘See inside’. There have been comments added to the code to explain how it works.

Today you are going to complete the animation.

As you may remember from having used Scratch in Year 4, the instructions are placed on the code area. You can respond to the questions by right clicking anywhere and clicking on ‘Add Comment’.

Start with the yellow fish, then move onto the Octopus.

You can add some more undersea creatures and make them move and animate (5 would be a good number). You could even add a Shark!

Play around and investigate the codes. How can you make it move faster/slower? How can you make it spin faster/slower?

Here are some Help videos:(please be aware that some of these links take you to YouTube. Make sure you have an adult nearby to help make sure it is the correct video and that you have turned off autoplay so that a new video doesn’t play at the end). Do you remember James (who often came in to help us with our computer problems)? You may recognise his voice in the videos! 🙂

Help Video: Scratch Tutorial

Help Video: Create a Fish Tank Animation 

Help Video: Create a Fish Tank Game 

How do I save my work?

The website version of Scratch does allow children (like you) to make an account with a username and password which gives you, the user, the ability to save projects online and work easily at home.  If you wish to use an offline version of Scratch, it can be downloaded on to your desktop so that once it is installed it does not need any usernames or passwords. Please ask for permission from your parents before making an account or downloading anything.  Scratch is completely free and you don’t even NEED to create a username or password but it is recommended if you wish to save your work in order to return to it at a later time. Projects can be downloaded and saved directly to your computer by choosing ‘Save to your computer’ from the file menu. Please ask your parents if it is okay to save any work – especially if the computer is shared with other family members or used for your parent’s work!

In the blog comment you are welcome to tell us about your creations and even share some of the coding you used so that others can try it!

Enjoy 🙂

Mrs Avdiu