Lesson video

Hello, everybody, it's Mrs. Franzsen here.

Welcome to Computing.

It's really good to see you today.

I hope that you are just as excited as me to do some learning about command blocks today and some programming.

Here we go.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to connect commands together to make a programme.

Let's look at our keywords for today.

So we're going to look at the keywords and we're going to do my turn, your turn.

So that means I'm going to say the keyword and then I want you to say the keyword and then I want you to listen really carefully while I explain the definition of what that keyword means.

Are you ready? So here we go.

First word, my turn, background, your turn.

That's great, a background is the still picture behind sprites.

Next word, my turn, programme, your turn.

That's great, now programme is a really important word.

A programme is a set of ordered commands that can be run by a computer to complete a task.

Next word, here we go, my turn, algorithm, your turn.

That's great, an algorithm is a set of instructions that can be turned into a programme.

So with an algorithm you will hear words that we use and with a programme it is commands that computers can understand.

In this first part of the lesson, we are going to be looking at the background.

Are you ready? Let's go.

In ScratchJr, the stage is the area behind the sprite.

So can you see the white box surrounding Tic here? Tic is our blue friend in the middle and all the way around Tic you can see a white space and we call that the stage.

In ScratchJr, we can change what the stage area looks like.

This will make our animation more interesting.

To do this first tap on the change background button.

The change background button is here up at the top.

I always think it looks a bit like a postcard.

Can you see how it's got a green land and blue sky and a tiny little cloud? So I think the background button looks a bit like a postcard.

Next you select a background by tapping on it.

And then you tap on the tick button at the top.

The blue one, it's got a tick.

It looks a bit like a V, like the letter V.

The background here is a picture of a classroom.

The picture does not move.

Only sprites like Tic can move.

We move sprites by using command blocks.

So none of the details in the background move, but Tic, the sprite, will be moving around when we give Tic command blocks.

Changing the background makes our animation more interesting and helps us tell a better story.

True or false? In this background, the trees will not move.

Have a good look at the screenshot here.

We've got an image from ScratchJr, we've got Tic and we have got a background and I want to know in this background, the trees will not move.

True or false? Pause the video now and have a think about that.

The answer was true.

Why? Well done if you got that right, the answer was true because the trees are part of the background which cannot move, only sprites can be moved.

We move sprites using the command blocks.

There are lots of options for the background picture.

You will have to scroll down to see all the options.

So to scroll, you drag your finger up and down, so you move your finger up and down on the screen and it will move the menu up.

You can even create your own background by choosing the white page and then tapping the paint brush button.

It sounds exciting, doesn't it? And we are gonna get a chance to design our own backgrounds a little bit later.

Right, we're getting ready for our first task now.

Our first part of this task is all about Tic going on holiday.

So it says Tic is going on holiday, first, change the background so Tic appears in these places.

So we are sending Tic off on the holiday.

First they're going to the beach.

Next they're going to the jungle and then they're going to the city.

So you need to be able to change your background so Tic can go to these three places.

Pause your video here to work on the first part of the task.

The next part of this task is that you are going to get to design your own background using the painting tools.

So just to remind you here to find the painting tools in the background menu, you press on the white page and then you press the paintbrush at the top of the page and that will help you get to the design menu where you can make your own background.

I can't wait to see what you're going to make.

It's time for you to pause this video now and work on part two.

When you're done you can come back and I will show you what I have made.

Welcome back, well done for working so hard on your tasks.

That was some excellent effort.

Let's have a look at the first part of the task together.

Let me show you how I changed the background.

So first I tapped on the background button at the top of the screen.

To find the beach, I scrolled down.

There it is, tap on the beach and then up at the top I'm gonna tap on the tick button in the middle.

Just like that, now tick is at the beach.

For the next place, I'm gonna tap on the background button again and then scroll down to look for the jungle.

Let's see if we can find it.

Scrolling down, there it is.

Tap on the jungle and then tap on the tick button up at the top in the middle.

For the third place, the city, we're going to tap on the background button again and then we don't have to go down very far to find the city.

Where is it? Right there.

Tap on the tick again.

And Tic has had a wonderful holiday travelling to all three places.

Part two, you got to design your own background so you pressed on paintbrush and then you might have drawn something like mine or it might look a bit different.

So I'm changing the size of my brush on the side.

I'm changing the colour of my brush on the bottom and I'm tapping and dragging my finger to put the paint where I want it to go.

There's the outline of my tree there.

So I'm gonna use the bucket to fill in the tree colour and changing my next colour.

Got my ground.

And then for my sky, there we go, tick when you're finished, just like that.

For the next part of this lesson, we are going to work on joining commands together.

A programme.

Did you hear that key word? I'm gonna say it again.

A programme is a set of ordered commands that can be run by a computer to complete a task.

We can create a programme in ScratchJr using command blocks.

We link the command blocks together like jigsaw.

So your command blocks go together like jigsaw.

Start blocks in ScratchJr are yellow.

These are used to start or run your programme.

End blocks in ScratchJr are red.

These are used to tell the programme it has reached the end.

And there in the middle we've got our blue command blocks, which tell the sprite where or what the sprite will be doing.

You can click on the colourful buttons to see command blocks grouped in different ways.

Let's look at how that works.

So when I tap on a coloured block on the side, it opens up that colour on the blocks palette so I can get to those colour blocks.

When you have created your programme, you run your programme by tapping on the green flag at the top of the screen.

So you'll see here in this animation, when I tap on the green flag, Tic uses the command blocks and moves around depending what blocks I have given it.

Just like that.

An algorithm is a set of clear instructions.

We use algorithms to help us do tasks that have steps that have to go in the right order.

Can you think of any tasks that you do in your day that have to be done in the right order? I want you to pause the video here and have a think about that question.

Well done for thinking about algorithms in your every day.

I'm sure you thought of some different ones.

I was hearing all different ideas.

Some people might have said, "Getting ready for school." Some people might have said, "Crossing the road." There are so many different algorithms. I'm going to show you one example.

This is the algorithm for brushing your teeth.

Can you see all those steps? It starts when you get your toothbrush and then you follow all the steps of the algorithm to brush your teeth correctly and then at the end you put your toothbrush away.

The algorithm needs to be followed step by step.

If you skip a step or don't go in order, your teeth won't be brushed properly.

I'm gonna read the algorithm, here we go.

Get your toothbrush, put a little toothpaste on it.

Wet the toothbrush with water, open your mouth wide, brush your top teeth, go in little circles, brush your bottom teeth, go in little circles, brush the front, back and chewing parts of each tooth, spit the toothpaste out, rinse your mouth with water, rinse your toothbrush, put your toothbrush away.

Whew, that algorithm felt really long, but in real life when we have algorithms, we get used to them, we practise them over and over and we do those steps step by step every time.

And then we end up learning that off by heart, don't we, yeah? Here is an algorithm for a ScratchJr programme.

Are you ready? I'm going to read the algorithm.

Start the programme, move the sprite up, move this sprite up again, and then again, end the programme.

This is how we could draw this algorithm.

Can you see how I've drawn it? I've written the word start, then I've done an up arrow, an up arrow, another up arrow, and then I've done the word end.

So there's my drawing of the algorithm.

We are gonna make Tic move by following this algorithm.

How many command blocks would you need to make this programme in ScratchJr, hmm? Pause the video now and have a think about that.

Welcome back, well done for thinking about this algorithm and how many command blocks you might need.

I counted five command blocks to make this programme.

This is how I did it.

I got a green flag, that's a yellow start block and then I got a move up, a move up, another move up.

And then what comes at the end of a programme? The end block.

So I've got a red end block at the end there.

We can run this programme in ScratchJr.

So if you watch my animation here, I'm pulling out the blocks we need.

We've got the starting flag, then I need the move up, move up, move up, and what comes at the end? The red ending block.

And if I run this programme, Tic will follow it.

Where would Tic end up if you ran this programme? So this is a tricky one.

Have a look at where Tic is in the stage on the background.

Right in the middle of that classroom picture.

And we've got a programme above Tic here that runs start, move left, move left, move left, end.

Where would Tic end up? Would he be on the cake? Would he be on the chair? Or would he be on the planet? I want you to pause the video and have a think about that.

I'll be here when you get back.

Well done for your effort on that question.

That was a hard one.

So let's look at our answer here.

The answer was B.

So Tic would end up on the chair.

Let's see, Tic's movements when the programme is run.

So I'm going to build that programme again following my algorithm.

I'm gonna get the move left, move left, move left.

And then the ending block.

Let's see when I run the programme where Tic ends up.

Tic ends up on the chair, just like we said in our answer.

Right, we are going to do a task now.

I hope you are as excited as me.

I can't wait to see what you're gonna do in this task.

It says the first step in the task is to choose a background.

So you may choose any background for this programme.

The second step says make your own programme using the start and end blocks and the five movement blocks.

So we have got one, two, three, four, five blue movement blocks and we've got the start and end blocks.

So you can use any combination of those blocks to create your own programme.

Then I want you to tell a story about Tic using the background that you've chosen and the movement blocks in your programme.

So this is really exciting.

You get to be creative with your programming today.

You get to decide on a story for Tic.

I think it's time now for you to pause this video and go and work on your programme.

Make sure that you use those five movement blocks that I showed you and I can't wait to hear the stories that you are going to invent.

I'll be here when you get back.

Off you go.

Welcome back.

I hope you enjoyed that task.

I had a lot of fun watching people's programmes there.

I saw Tic flipping around, hopping around, running around from place to place.

I created my programme about Tic going to the moon.

So I'm going to let you watch that in a minute.

Well done for all of your hard work on this task.

My idea for my programme was to make a story about Tic, the sprite, going to the moon.

So my first step is to go and find the background.

I'm going to scroll with my finger all the way to the bottom, Find the moon background and tap on it and then tap on the tick.

There that looks great.

Now I need to find the starting block, the yellow start block with the green flag.

And I'm going to choose some movement commands.

I want Tic to go to the left and then go to the right.

So I'm adding my arrows and then I want Tic to try doing some space hopping on the moon.

My program's getting quite long now, so I'm gonna go to the red and get the red ending block.

Let's run my programme and see how it looks.

That was great.

Here is my story about Tic going to the moon.

Are you ready? Once upon a time, Tic went on an adventure to the moon.

They explored to the left, then they explored to the right.

Tic tried some moon jumps - you jump really high on the moon.

Tic had a fun day on the moon, the end.

Well done for your hard work this lesson you have learned so much.

Let's go through our summary and see what we've learned today.

Backgrounds are still pictures and do not move.

Changing the background makes our animation more interesting and helps us tell a better story.

A programme is a set of ordered commands that could be run by a computer to complete a task.

In ScratchJr, programmes must start with a start block and end with the end block.

An algorithm is a part of the design of a programme.

It is a set of instruction showing what you want the programme to do.

Thank you for joining me today.

It was really great to have you here and I hope that you'll come back soon for some more learning with me.