It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. – Albert Einstein
Python Programming Club
Why teach your kids to code?
Computer programming is a crucial skill every child should be learning. From 3D printers, to mobile apps, to robots, to drones that deliver products, the world around us relies on code more than ever before. Coders get to solve problems and do interesting, fulfilling work, and the time to start learning to code is now.
Why Python?
It is fun and easy to learn. Many people recommend Python as the best beginner language because of its simplicity yet great capabilities. The code is easy to read and enforces good programming style, without being overly strict about syntax. It requires less time, less lines of code, and less concepts to be taught to reach a given goal. Python gets a lot of love these days, and happens to be a quickly-growing language with wide adoption among open source projects.
Python Resources:
There are a lots of Python books and online resources. If you are grade 5 or under, or prefer to learn under the guidance of parents or instructor, the Hello Word! Computer Programming for Kids and Other Beginners is a very good book for you to start with. The following two books are also very good as supplement materials.
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Python for Kids: A Playful Introduction to Programming
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Teach Your Kids to Code: A Parent-Friendly Guide to Python Programming
If you are grade 6 or above, or prefer to learn by yourself on an interactive website, Codecademy is an excellent place, it not only provides learning materials but also verifies the code you submitted. You get course credit only once your code is validated. Learn Python the Hard Way provides more in-depth knowledge than Codecademay, but doesn't provide code validation.
CodingBat is a excellent free site of live coding problems to build coding skill, practice and solidify understanding of the concepts in Python.
We also collected and developed many questions and exercises as additional homework for kid to practice, they are posted on the Club's slack Python Programming channel.
More Advanced Recommended Books:
Teams Introduction:
6th grade team
The 6th grade Python team has 8 students, meet every Sunday evening, and is led by a volunteer teacher. We use "Hello World" as our text book and homework will be assigned to the students every week. Also the parents will alternate hosting the classes.
We learn basic programming elements, the way of the program, variables and statements, functions, string, loop, list and dictionary, class and object, files, and PyGame.
Python is a easy and fun way to develop good programming skills.
7th grade team
7th grade team has ? students and organized by parents. The students use Codecademy website to learn Python and meet every week.
Codecademy is a great site, it is interactive, you get immediate feedback on your answers. Also, if you get stuck, they have a forum for each exercise where you can post a question or read others questions.