Kindergartners work on coding problems at Briargrove Elementary School on Monday, Dec. 8.

Kindergartners at Briargrove Elementary School collaborated to create an interactive character, coordinating his movements, look and sound for their Hour of Code activity. On Monday, Dec. 8, Cleopatra Jones’ ESL kindergarten class used Scratch, a web programming language tool used to create interactive art, stories and simulations to create an interactive character and build its environment.

More than 100 HISD schools are participating in the Hour of Code as part of Computer Science Education Week, Dec. 8–14. The week-long global initiative encourages students of all ages to learn the basics of coding, engineering, computer programming, and gaming.

“I hope that this opportunity and experience fuels a love of math and science as well as introduces them to express themselves and ideas in other media formats,” said ESL kindergarten teacher Cleopatra Jones, who plans to provide information to the students’ parents on how to download the Scratch app at home, so students can continue to learn the program after school hours.

Is your school participating in the Hour of Code? Let the rest of Team HISD know about it.

Send pictures and posts of your campus activities to news@houstonisd.org. And if you’re a Twitter user, tweet your event using #HISDecoded. We’d like to spread the word about all of the coding opportunities our campuses are providing for our students.