Code Crew Grade 3
Twelve big coding ideas, from sequences and loops to algorithms, one short lesson a day.
Free, start to finish. No card. Every week opens without signing in.
- Grade
- Grade 3
- Length
- 12 weeks
- Pace
- 6 short lessons a week
- Price
- Free, every week
About this course
Code Crew Grade 3 covers the core ideas of computer science, one per week: sequences, loops, conditionals, variables, functions, debugging, algorithms, abstraction, true-and-false logic, patterns and decomposition. Kids read short programs, trace them, sort steps, fill in answers and plan their own, with Rocket, Raven and Nova along for every lesson. In the last week they design and playtest their own board game using everything they learned.
Kids will
- Put steps in order and read a flowchart (sequences)
- Use counted loops, repeat-until loops and nested loops
- Follow and write IF, THEN, ELSE rules, including nested ones
- Store and change values in variables, and name reusable steps as functions
- Trace a short program to find and fix a bug
- Compare ways to sort and search, and break a big project into small steps
The 12 weeks
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Week 1
Sequencing
What comes first?
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Week 2
Loops
Doing it again
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Week 3
Conditionals
If this, then that
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Week 4
Variables
Boxes that hold things
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Week 5
Functions
Steps with names
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Week 6
Debugging
Finding the broken step
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Week 7
Algorithms
Best way to solve it
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Week 8
Abstraction
Big idea, small details
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Week 9
Boolean Logic
True, false, AND/OR
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Week 10
Patterns
What's repeating?
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Week 11
Decomposition
Breaking it down
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Week 12
Computational Thinking
Design your board game
Inside the course
Capstone
Design a board game from scratch: pick a theme, break the project into parts, draw the board with symbols, write the rules with IF, ELSE, loops and score variables, then playtest it and fix the bugs. Every idea from the year shows up in one thing kids can play with the family.
From Week 7
Sort the crew by height, then try two sorting methods on the same cards: pick the smallest, and bubble it up. Kids compare them, meet linear and binary search, and find out that there is more than one right way to solve a problem.
Is it the right fit?
The flagship course. Best for third graders who can read a sentence on their own. Strong second graders and curious fourth graders do well too.
10 to 15 minutes a day, four or five days a week.
See the Code Crew ladder →More in Code Crew
Try Week 1 today.
Open the course, pick Day 1 and go. Make a free parent account when you want progress saved for each kid.