5th Grade

​​​

Scratch



​Scratch is a programming language that enables beginners to get results without having to learn code first. Created by the MIT Media Lab, it is intended to motivate kids through playfully experimenting and projects, such as interactive animations, games, etc. Students who use Scratch at a young age develop a solid foundation of knowledge that can help prepare them for the use of higher level programming languages and math.
 

Scratch is free and can be downloaded at http://info.scratch.mit.edu/scratch_1.4_download.

​

​Reflection Activity:

• ​Name 3 objects you can find in Scratch.

​

Animations and Stage

​​

To make an animation you need a sequence of images in different positions and then change from one to another with certain speed, to make them look they are alive. We call this images costumes.
The stage is the space in which we can see the way that stories, games and animations become alive.
Sprites move and interact in stage.
The stage is 480X360 units, and it is divided in an x-y grid.

 

 

​Reflection Activity

• Name the kind of blocks that can't be used with the stage.

​

Broadcast block

The Broadcast block is a control block and a stack block which sends a broadcast throughout the whole Scratch program. Any scripts in any sprites that are hatted with the When I Receive block that is set to a specified broadcast will activate. This broadcast block lets scripts send broadcasts without any waits in its script (unlike the Broadcast and Wait block). Broadcasts are a good way to have sprites and scripts communicate.

​
Reflection Activity
• Which block “listen” the broadcasted instruction?​

​​

​