Coding Education

How Important Are After-School Programs?

Most parents know that after-school programs are more than an option for kids to have fun – they’re actually very important within a community. But how important are they? Some recent studies and anecdotal evidence from after-school programs across the country have shown that they’re actually more important than you may think.

Many kids have nowhere to go after school. For kids with two-parent families, it’s more common now that both parents work. It’s easy to see that elementary kids need after-school care but what do you do when your child is old enough to be on their own yet you don’t want them to just sit in front of the TV and veg out every day after school? That’s where after-school programs can come in.

Estimates show that about 11 million kids have nowhere to after school most days. Some areas have clubs like the Boys & Girls Club, and they can be a great choice for some – but not for everyone. Many kids view those types of clubs as nothing more than glorified babysitting. But what’s a better option? At CodeREV Kids we recommend more targeted after-school activities, like our after school membership program that’s a ton of fun for kids while also teaching them valuable skills.

Remember that studies have also shown that the vast majority of juvenile crime happens between 3 PM and 6 PM – the hours after kids are out of school and before their parents are likely home for the evening.

Consider another study that showed that kids who participated in after-school programs had a smaller math achievement gap between high- and low-income families and generally score higher on tests. 80% of parents who have a kid in an after-school program said that the programs allowed to keep them working.

Of course, these are all great reasons but they’re tied to after-school programs in general. At CodeREV Kids we want to emphasize not just that kids have something to do after school, but that it’s an activity that’s fun and ultimately useful. Not sure a coding class is right for them? Consider why coding is now being taught in many schools around the country. The job prospects are excellent for people who know how to code – and not just in computer fields. Coding is, and will continue to be, an asset in a wide variety of sectors.

Coding Education

Coding for Kids – Which Side of the Argument Are You On?

At CodeREV Kids, we’re huge proponents of teaching kids coding. We believe there are many advantages and that it helps not only prepare kids for their future careers – in virtually any field – but increase their problem-solving skills as well. While we strongly hold this opinion, we keep up on those who say that coding for kids has its drawbacks.

An article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Younger kids learn to code — but is it too early? raises some interesting questions. The article discusses the decision of San Francisco to teach computer science starting in preschool and in every year through a student’s senior year. There are a number of programs that help kids learning computer science, and many of these programs involve coding.

Programs have introduced kids as young as three and four to programming robots with apps. Preschoolers who started learning to code a few years ago are reported to love it, and parents have loved it too. A school principal who has a similar program says that it improves her students’ vocabularies and encourages them to think in computational ways.

Not everyone is on board, though. Detractors say that encouraging kids to spend more time in front of computers is a mistake. There’s no question that children’s brains are more sensitive than the brains of adults. They worry that if a child is exposed too much to screen time, that their stress hormones will be affected or their natural clocks will be out of sync – even when they’re using computers for educational reasons.

However, Dr. Tanya Altmann, a pediatrician, disagrees. She believes that teaching coding to children as young as three-years-old is appropriate, assuming parents have rules about how much time they spend in front of screens. She even says that her own son was involved in a coding class when he was seven. The key was that she created guidelines to ensure the kids weren’t always on computers.

At CodeREV Kids we understand these arguments but the truth is that the future is in technology. Kids are already spending hours a day in front of some form of technology, whether it’s TV or a game on their tablet. We know from experience that getting kids involved in creating – not just consuming – this technology is fun for everyone involved. Do you want to learn more about our programs? Reach out to us today and let us share our passion with you and your family.

Coding Education

5 Reasons it Makes Sense to Teach Kids to Code

All over the country, camps and classes are springing up to teach kids to code. But does it really make a difference? Is it really worthy of being taught to our children? At CodeREV Kids we say yes! Here are five reasons it makes sense to teach kids to code.

1. Coding programs are a great way to empower kids

For kids, the ability to communicate with machines is akin to a superpower. They can learn how to control robots and machines, teach a computer to solve complicated problems, turn the ideas in their mind into interactive realities, and make their ideas accessible to millions of people.

2. Learning a language is always easier when kids are young

You may have heard that it’s much easier for young kids to learn a foreign language when they’re young, as opposed to teaching them when they’re a teenager. The same is true of coding – it is a language, after all. In fact, believe it or not, kids can actually be taught to code before they know how to speak. Games can teach them logic and problem solving and they’ll learn to code along the way.

3. The perfect age to teach kids logic-based information is 5 – 6

When kids are five to six years old, they’re in what’s known as the “psycho-social development stage.” This means they’re starting to take everything around them and make logical connections to them. It’s the perfect time to introduce coding. Still think it’s too young? Consider that in Estonia, every 1st grader learns to code.

4. The earlier kids get fluent in technology the better

In this day and age, all kids interact with technology from a young age. But interacting and creating are two different things. When kids code, they can express themselves and they can truly create some unique things.

5. Programmers are in demand

Over the next decade, programmers are going to be one of the top in-demand occupations. Think it only applies to tech jobs? Consider this: of the 1.4 million programming jobs there will be to fill in the next decade, 67% of them will be outside of the tech sector.

Are you ready to further explore the options to get your kid interested in coding? Contact CodeREV Kids and let us walk you through the process. Your kids – and their future – will thank you!

Education

Think Only Boys Like Robotics? Think Again

At CodeREV Kids we see it all the time: parents who are surprised that girls can be into robots too. The truth is that one of our goals is to promote STEM-learning for all kids – both boys and girls. A recent article in the Belleville News-Democrat, O’Fallon Girl Scouts reach out to youth with robotics camp, made us proud of the girls involved.

13 girls from a local O’Fallon Girl Scout troop formed a group called Oops! Robotics, and managed to qualify for state competitions in both Missouri and Illinois in 2015. Now they’re getting involved in several youth robotics programs in STEM camps in Edwardsville and Belleville.

The Oops! Robotics team was created by the O’Fallon Girl Scouts and has girls from several schools involved. The group has gotten very involved in community service too – in fact, just last year they gave more than 1,100 hours to their community. Kids that are high school now began the program in 6th grade, and are now able to get involved in outreach to bring other kids in.

The purpose of the camps has always been to reach out to all youth, though they do focus more on girls than boys. This team is unlike other similar teams because there are girls from six different Girl Scout troops, three cities, and five schools. The result is a great mix of kids with unique skill sets to bring to the group.

One 18 year old has stated that she intends to continue focusing on STEM subjects – she’s majoring in bio engineering. Why? Because she got involved with STEM when she was young, she says. It helped her with problem solving and helped her get excited about robotics and other STEM based skills. She wants to help other girls get involved and encourage them to follow their interest.

While it’s great to see so many girls involved, it’s important to keep in mind that in the Belleville weeklong camp that was held in July, only four of the 25 kids in attendance were girls. The program wants girls to know that it’s okay to be interested in robotics and other STEM platforms and at CodeREV Kids we want to encourage that as well. That’s why we offer STEM classes for a variety of ages – including coding for kids as young as six years old.

Skills

5 Perfect Gifts for Kids Who Love Robots

Robots have been a popular fascination of kids for decades but in this day and age, kids can do more than dream about them – they can get involved in coding and building them. At CodeREV Kids, we’re always excited to see anything that gets imaginations brewing. That’s why this article in Clapway, Top 10 Robot Toys for Kids Who Love Robotics, really struck our fancy. Here are five of our favorites for the list.

1. The Zoob Bot Kit

We love this 54-page kit, which includes instructions, lighting, and four wheels, because it’s won tons of awards and because it also includes gears, pieces, and joints that rotate and extend. This is an affordable kit, coming it at under $20.00, that’s simple enough for kids six and up to use. It’s a great choice when you want to nudge a child’s imagination in a robotic direction.

2. The Ozobot Starter Pack

This toy won best robot in both 2014 and 2015. It can be used in conjunction with Ozobot’s apps, to increase the ways kids can play with it, and parents can use the free STEM lesson plan for kids that comes along with it. This is an impressive robot that costs less than $50.

3. Wall-E U-Control Remote Control Robot

Are your kids fans of the Disney / Pixar movie Wall-E? If so, this is a great choice! It talks, blinks bright lights, plays funny music, and is just nine inches tall. Parents or kids can control it with the remote control and robotics can even be programmed into it. This is a costlier item but can be a great splurge option for kids.

4. Sphero Star Wars BB-8 Droid

With this Star Wars themed robot, you’ll pay more than you’d pay for the others on this list, but in exchange you get some impressive features: voice commands, a personality that adjusts to your kid, holographic messages, and much more.

5. Robotics classes

While the toys on this list are sure to be a hit amongst robot-loving kids, what better way to get them excited than to give them the gift of learning? At CodeREV Kids we offer classes suited specifically for kids. We get them excited, involved, and hungry for more coding and robot knowledge. Whether you want to send them to an after-school program or a STEM-based camp, we have you covered.

Coding Education

Cincinnati Kids Are Getting Coding Experience at Their Local Libraries

The public library in Cincinnati is giving kids some unique options this summer. It’s true that teachers across the country have long complained that kids who are out of school for the entire summer end up losing much of the knowledge they learned through the year, and it’s also true that coding teaches kids a host of skills beyond coding, so this seems like a marriage made in heaven.

WCPO Cincinnati put together an article titled Kids are creating, coding, engineering — oh, and reading — at local libraries this summer. The author begins by detailing the ways that summer learning is about more than just reading. That’s why library workers in Cincinnati are looking for unique ways to tackle the issues that revolve around poverty and the “summer slide” for kids and teens. They’ve created a series of hands-on crafts and activities to keep kids interested and learning during the summer.

The city’s theme this summer is, “Read, Make, Create,” and the library has created a MakerSpace that’s the central part of many of their programs. There are 41 locations taking part in the summer activities and three of them have areas for MakerSpace. The main branch includes incredible equipment like a 3D printer, recording booth, vinyl printer, and much more.

They also have brain camps along with black rocket technology. Together these are the two more STEM-orientated programs. They focus on engineering, math, science, and technology by utilizing the tools in the MakerSpace area.

The library’s brain camps are a week long and come in two-hour sessions. Every week, kids who attend are tasked with learning about a unique theme through games, crafts, reading, and science and art experiments. For example, recent topics have included circuitry, electricity, photography, and 2D design.

The age requirements change every week to ensure kids have a camp they can attend sometime in the summer. Most camp sessions focus on helping kids in 1st –5th grades. There are also mini camps, like the computer technology and coding design camp, which was created for teens and pre-teens, lasts four days, and involves designing short films, mobile apps, and 3D video games.

At CodeREV we think these are fantastic programs. We’re proud to offer the best tech camps in Southern California as well as programs throughout the school year. Contact us today to get more information.

Coding Education

Summer STEM Programs Are Helping Kids All Over the Country

There are many ways to get kids excited about STEM programs and a lot of cool programs all over the country that are doing just that. The Kane County Chronicle featured an article titled STEM program at Elburn library helps children learn this summer that details one program.

Chris Walker writes, “Although it’s the middle of summer, some kids haven’t stopped learning. Emily Owen, a fifth grade teacher at Blackberry Creek Elementary School, is leading a science, technology, engineering and mathematics – STEM – program for second- to fifth-graders at Town & Country Public Library in Elburn.

It’s the first time the program has been offered at the library and, with 21 participants, it has been deemed a huge success. It will run through the end of July. “It’s been really well received,” Owen said. “If we were in the classroom there probably would be a little more planning and stuff because we would have more time, but with just an hour [per week], we’re a little bit more on the play and problem-solving focus. … It’s worked out very well.”

Lily Lake resident Abby Drommerhausen has both of her kids, Emma, 7, and Joshua, 5, in the program. Drommerhausen said she has been pleased. “One of my girlfriends has kids in the program so she’s the one who told me about it,” she said. “My kids just love it. My daughter isn’t into princesses – she’d rather do puzzles – and this has been a perfect fit for her.”

Like many parents with school-age children in the area, Drommerhausen knows keeping a kid’s mind challenged throughout the summer months can be difficult. “It gets to a point where reading and doing stuff with Mom gets a little boring for them,” Drommerhausen said of her kids. “This is something that’s great for the kids, plus not all the kids are social, so this kind of forces them to be social.”

One of the major advantages of a STEM-based program is that teachings often can be incorporated into many others thing in life, which is something Owen advocates. “There’s a lot of critical thinking and engineering-type things that go into STEM,” Owen said. “These are the kinds of things that are going to be huge no matter where you end up in life. Being able to diagnose a problem, then come up with an idea and design a solution, is going to go a long way toward helping them regardless of what they do.”

Of course, at CodeREV Kids we believe that STEM skills are essential for your kids. Not only do they build creativity but these are problem-solving kids that can serve them for the rest of their lives. Check out our spring classes or take a moment to learn more about why coding is so important.

Coding Education

South Florida’s Coding for Kids Program is Off to a Great Start

At CodeREV Kids, we’re proud of our ability to help kids in the California area learn how to kid and get excited about STEM-related projects and ideas. We’re always keeping an eye on programs across the country who are following the same ideals and having similar success. An article in the Miami Herald highlighted one such program that we were glad to learn more about.

In an article titled CodeKids camp teaches South Florida children coding, robotics Samantha Smith writes, “A day-camp instructor recently sat on the floor beside a camper typing code onto an iPad. The child taps “run,” and a small spherical robot moves, following the instructions he just wrote. The goal is to keep the robot on the road printed on the rug in front of him.

It wobbles off-track. “That’s OK,” said instructor C.J. Ramos. “That’s not real failure. You know what real failure is?” “Giving up,” camper Julian Leon answered. “I’m never going to give up.” Ramos is an instructor at CodeKids, a tech-based summer camp now in its second year for children ages 7 to 13. Campers learn about coding, game development, computer science and robotics at 22 schools in South Florida.

Maurice Lopes, Brad Nickel and Richard Chimelis, 70, of the Miami Entrepreneurship Center came up with the idea when thinking of their own children. They wanted a computer-focused summer camp, but bemoaned the price of those in the area. “Maurice had the nerve to say, ‘Maybe we could have a camp.’ And I had the stupidity to say, ‘We can do that!’” said Nickel, CodeKids’ curriculum coordinator.

After launching a website to gauge interest, about 300 campers signed up, resulting in the need for three locations and 12 instructors. “We were literally sold out almost every week last summer,” said Nickel, 51. In one year, CodeKids grew to 22 locations with more than 60 teachers and 2,500 campers.

Those campers don’t need any prior knowledge of computers or coding before attending CodeKids, and can sign up for any number of weeks. Regardless of when they sign up, they are considered week-one campers, and work with a flexible curriculum so they can learn material they enjoy at their own pace. “I like that you can play Minecraft and make mods,” camper Julian said. “Minecraft is my favorite game in the whole world.”

During the coding portion of the camp June 15, Julian created a Minecraft “mod” — a modification to a program created by adding to or editing its original code — which makes lightning strike blocks broken by the player. “Mods are my favorite thing to do,” said Julian, 9. Because CodeKids runs only eight weeks in the summer, Nickel said only a certain amount of material can be taught.”

We think this sounds like a great program but it has one main flaw, as we see it: It only runs for eight weeks in the summer. At CodeREV Kids we’re proud of both our summer camps and our after-school programs that run throughout the year.

Coding Education

The Fun Way to Keep Kids Learning Over the Summer

There isn’t always agreement over how much sense it makes in today’s world to have a summer break from school and more and more schools are turning to a year-round model with shorter breaks throughout the year. Whether you support summer vacations or not, there’s plenty of evidence that kids can lose valuable skills when not challenged over the summer months.

That’s where incredible STEM-based programs come in. We ran across a very inspiring article in The River City News titled Summer of STEM Aims to Keep Kids Learning Over School Break that could inspire anyone.

The author writes, “This summer’s 17-year cicada hum will be drowned out by the shrieks of discovery, the pure delight and joy as children of all ages and walks of life from the Cincinnati region participate in summer camps, activities and classes during the Summer of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) that combats brain drain with active, engaged learning.

While many offerings are highly developed by longtime STEM-focused organizations, the collaboration and network Summer of STEM (SOS) ties together is new.

ArtsWave’s Kintner was grateful her organization, the nation’s largest and oldest community arts campaign, had the technology to enable a joint listing of arts and STEM activities. “The efficiency of that platform,” according to Kintner, “enabled cincyartsandstem.org and a richer, more comprehensive tool.” The unusual pairing of art and STEM “gives kids new access points and the chance for STEM educators and parents to see arts opportunities at the same time,” Kintner said.

“As Cincinnati becomes a hotbed for the maker movement, start-ups, entrepreneurial culture and tech support, it’s really important that our century-old arts institutions are not relegated to or stuck in the past in actuality or public perception. One way to ensure the cutting edge is to be closely aligned with the new future and the new economy. Cincyartsandstem.org is one manifestation of that vision.”

“Because there’s so much design work in engineering and everything has a creative bent, we don’t want to limit these kids,” Kelley said. “Whether it’s ballet or biology camp, they can find resources in the same place.”

“Our highest order for Summer of STEM is to keep kids engaged in a natural asset: a giant, outdoor science lab,” said Mary Adams, GCSC program manager and former Procter & Gamble (P&G) executive. Uniting education and business partners, non-profit organizer GCSC opens STEM educational and career possibilities to meet the accelerating regional demand.”

At CodeREV we’ve been well aware for years that STEM-based summer camps can have a huge and lasting impact. We’re always glad to see other areas of the country embracing the evidence. Are you curious about after-school or summer camp options in the Los Angeles area and beyond? Contact us today!

Coding Education

How Disney is Upping the Coding for Kids Game

At CodeREV we’re excited to see companies and schools across the country begin to see how important coding is and why it should be taught to kids. To do that, we need to find innovative ways to make the experience fun and interesting. We’ve come up with some really unique and well-received ways to do that but it’s nice to see that Disney is working hard to shoulder some of that burden too.

USA Today has an article titled Disney to join effort to get kids into the coding game. Greg Toppo writes, “Do you want to code a snowman? How about a droid? The non-profit group Code.org on Tuesday said that it will team up with Disney and Lucasfilm to create Frozen- and Star Wars-themed computer science courses for children, part of a free, 80-hour computer science course that will be integrated into the group’s curriculum over the next year.

In 2014, Code.org’s much shorter “Hour of Code” animation tutorial featured Anna and Elsa from Frozen, while the 2015 version included Rey, BB-8, Princess Leia, R2-D2 and others from Star Wars, the group said. It hopes the characters will provide a kind of bridge for students to transition from the short introductory tutorials to a full computer science course, offered at its online Code Studio. “We regularly hear from teachers that their students want to keep coding,” said Hadi Partovi, the group’s CEO and co-founder.

Students, he said, have been known to skip recess to spend more time coding. “Part of this is because it’s inherently fun to create things, to make apps or games,” he said. “But a huge part of it is because of the engagement factor from interacting with characters like Anna and Elsa, BB-8, or R2-D2.” The new partnership was announced at the annual conference of the International Society for Technology in Education. Code.org said more than 11 million students and 330,000 teachers have accounts on its platform.”

Are you interested in hearing more about coding for kids in the Los Angeles and surrounding areas? CodeREV has been bringing the world of STEM-learning and coding to kids for quite some time and we’re excited to expand on a regular basis. We’ve found some really unique ways to get kids excited in both our summer camps and our after-school sessions.