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New
New
Year 3

Programming in a block-based environment

I can use sprites in Scratch and customise them.

icon-background-square
New
New
Year 3

Programming in a block-based environment

I can use sprites in Scratch and customise them.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Blocks in Scratch can be used to control the movement of a sprite.
  2. A sprite has three features that can be changed: code, costumes and sounds.

Keywords

  • Sprite - a graphic object that can be controlled by a program

  • Blocks - ready-made programming commands that carry out actions

  • Costume - a costume changes the appearance of a sprite

Common misconception

Point in direction turns the sprite the amount of degrees from which it is already facing.

The point in direction block includes numbers which represent the turn in degrees from the upward reference point. 90 degrees makes the sprite face right, 180 degrees faces down, -90 faces left and 0 makes the sprite face the top.

The resources for this lesson use the high-contrast version of the code blocks. Pupils may need to be shown the difference between the standard code blocks and these code blocks which can be accessed via the settings - colour mode menu.
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Teacher tip

Equipment

All pupils require access to devices that have or can access the online version of Scratch. Starter programs are linked to the lesson and can be remixed as required.

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
What do you use in Scratch to provide commands?
slabs
Correct answer: blocks
tiles
bricks
Q2.
"The order of commands in a program" is the definition of ...
Correct answer: sequence.
course.
pattern.
arrangement.
Q3.
You can link together to create a sequence of commands.
Correct Answer: Blocks
Q4.
What does this code block do?
An image in a quiz
Correct answer: starts the program
ends the program
pauses the program
Q5.
A is a character or graphic object that can be controlled by a program.
Correct answer: sprite
stage
space
Q6.
Finding errors in code is called ...
compiling.
running.
Correct answer: debugging.

5 Questions

Q1.
A is a graphic object in Scratch that can be controlled
Correct answer: sprite
stage
block
costume
Q2.
Which of these movement blocks would make the ladybird sprite face the floor?
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: An image in a quiz
An image in a quiz
An image in a quiz
An image in a quiz
Q3.
Match the code block to what it does.
Correct Answer:move 10 steps,Moves the sprite forward 10 steps in the direction it is facing.

Moves the sprite forward 10 steps in the direction it is facing.

Correct Answer:turn clockwise 15 degrees,Turns the sprite clockwise 15 degrees from where it is facing.

Turns the sprite clockwise 15 degrees from where it is facing.

Correct Answer:point in direction 180,Points the sprite to face towards the ground.

Points the sprite to face towards the ground.

Q4.
The of a sprite changes what it looks like.
sprite
stage
block
Correct answer: costume
Q5.
Name one feature of a sprite that can be changed.
Correct Answer: costume, code, sounds, sound, costumes
Q2 Scratch Foundation under CC BY-SA 2.0 Q2 image 1 Scratch Foundation under CC BY-SA 2.0 Q2 image 2 Scratch Foundation under CC BY-SA 2.0