CoderDojo Athy

From another large group we had a small handful starting with some Python. In case you need to find them again, here are the two sites we used.

PythonAnywhere, a commercial Python-hosting company. We set up beginner accounts (free) and used these to get started quickly with Python. It’s particularly useful for anyone at Coderdojo using a borrowed laptop; all your files are stored on your account and will be there when you get home or come back next week.

Django Girls tutorial, an introduction to Python that aims for a fully-working Django-powered website at the end. We got through the basics of Python this week, and next week we’ll aim to get some of the way to a working website. If you missed this week don’t worry, we’ll have a re-cap of what we did this week and catching up shouldn’t be a problem.

We had a very busy start to the new year last Saturday, with (we think) over 50 children attending! (This was a lot more than expected; please book a free ticket!)

Because we had so many we ended up working on Scratch only, just to get everyone up and running. We know, though, that some have done Scratch before (whether with us before or at their own schools) and might be looking for something new.

So, next Saturday we plan to start two extra things.

We were fortunate to get a small number (four, I think?) Kano kits which are complete Raspberry Pi-based computer kits. If you have a Raspberry Pi yourself, feel free to bring it in as well (along with cables, keyboards, etc, if possible!).

The other thing we’ll be looking at is using the Python programming language. We’ll try jumping in at the deep end and get started on the Django Girls tutorial, which will get us up and running with writing a simple web application to run a blog. This will probably be best suited to older children.

Look forward to seeing you on Saturday!

The first session of this year will be on Saturday 1st October, 10:00–12:00, in Athy College. Please register that you’re coming (it’s free!) so we have an idea of how many to expect.

Also, if at all possible bring your own laptop. We have a few you can borrow if you need, but not too many.

This Saturday (28th May) is our final week before our Summer break!

Next weekend is the weekend of the May public holiday, so we’ll be taking a break and back on May 7th.

A popular game recently is Agar.io, but here’s a video we were looking at on how to make the basics of the game in Scratch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PUz1QKCtPM

We’re taking the next two weeks off for the Easter break. We’ll be back on Saturday 2nd April. See you then!

With the schools off for most next week (or parts of it), we’re taking a mid-term break too. We’ll be back on February 27th.

Welcome to 2016! Our first session of the new year will be Saturday 9th. See you then!

With the 19th busy for so many people and so close to Christmas, we’ve decided Saturday 12th will be our last session before Christmas. Hope to see you there!