Towards the end of teaching a coding language I like to give students the opportunity to challenge themselves at a level that suits them. Coding challenge books can leave pupils ‘in the pit’ and develop their resilience, debugging and problem solving skills in a way directed learning cannot. This short challenge book is designed to support S3/ Y9 students working on Small Basic. Usually pupils will have experience of a graphical language such as Scratch and have gained basic knowledge of Small Basic including: All students will have TextWindow GraphicsWindow Turtle Basic shape construction Draw and Fill shapes with Pen and Brush color Coordinates Sequencing Skills Basic loops Selection with IFs Ninja level students will have Nested loops Nested IFs Experimented with extra code from autocomplete Time Made in Publisher with space for your school logo at the top of page 1. Designed to be printing efficient on one sheet to reduce printing costs. Source file and PDF ready to print are both included. Part of my Small Basic SoW. Feedback or questions welcome at Twitter @TechMenace

An entire unit of work for use with the program Small Basic suitable for Key Stage 3 (we deliver this to Year 8). It is a great (and free!) program to use if you want students to progress from block-based programming (such as Scratch) onto text-based programming. This contains: 7 lessons work, including a DIRT lesson in the middle for students to work on an area they need to improve on A full and detailed scheme of work with information about numeracy, literacy and a lesson plan for each lesson A two-part workbook (the DIRT lesson goes in between) as two separate DOC files, and the complete workbook if that is preferred. Clear extension tasks for all students in all lessons. 3 Homework worksheets Powerpoint presentations for all lessons We have had a few non-specialists in the department so this unit of work was designed to be easily accessible and clear for everyone to use - you should (hopefully!) be able to pick this up and teach it without too much preparation beyond the amount you would usually do for a lesson.

Starter activity to help students learn the four main Data Types used in Computing (String, Integer, Float, Boolean)

**Small Basic - Lesson 2 **- House challenge In this series of lessons we will take pupils from no experience of Small Basic to a good understanding with the skills to solve problems and think algorithmically in Small Basic. Students should enter this scheme of work with a basic understanding of computational thinking, having some graphical based language experience such as Scratch, Kodu, HourOfCode, etc. In addition to other expectations, this lesson benefits from being proceeded with a lesson on Flowcharts or Pseudocode. Pupils recap their planning skills before coding. Support pupils by issuing some paper and pencils do they can keep track of the Turtles position vs their drawing. This is particularly useful for meeting the needs of teaching a text based programming language based on (KS3 in England / BGE in Scotland) outcomes and is a strong foundation/scaffolding to supporting students to program in Python in following units. For the less confident teacher I have included a bunch of pre-written Small Basic programs to demonstrate WAGOLL. In this lesson: Recap knowledge from previous lesson. Discuss planning skills - flowcharts / pseudocode Revisit the features of the Small Basic IDE Debugging Sequencing Challenge - to build a house design

**Small Basic - Lesson 3 **- snowman In this series of lessons we will take pupils from no experience of Small Basic to a good understanding with the skills to solve problems and think algorithmically in Small Basic. Students should enter this scheme of work with a basic understanding of computational thinking, having some graphical based language experience such as Scratch, Kodu, HourOfCode, etc. In addition to other expectations, this lesson benefits from being proceeded with a lesson on Flowcharts or Pseudocode. Pupils recap their planning skills before coding. Support pupils by issuing some paper and pencils do they can keep track of the Turtles position vs their drawing. This is particularly useful for meeting the needs of teaching a text based programming language based on (KS3 in England / BGE in Scotland) outcomes and is a strong foundation/scaffolding to supporting students to program in Python in following units. For the less confident teacher I have included a bunch of pre-written Small Basic programs to demonstrate WAGOLL. In this lesson: Recap knowledge from previous lesson. Discuss planning skills - flowcharts / pseudocode Revisit the features of the Small Basic IDE Debugging Sequencing Challenge - to draw a snowman (this is an xmas variant of lesson 3 - chessboard) Pupils to consider the number of lines used to code their solution Teacher tracks most elegant solutions (square by square, zig zag lines, outwardly growing squares, etc)

This resource contains 8 fully planned and resourced Visual Basic Lessons. Each lesson contains 1 x Teaching Powerpoint with LOs, SCs and Teaching material 1 or 2 x Activity worksheets that progress in difficulty and have extension Full VB examples of the standard and extension task for demonstration or support The lesson Titles are: 1- Algorithms and Flow charts 2 - Getting to Know VB (Hello World) 3 - Objects and Properties 4 - Variables / Constants 5 - Variables Continued 6 - Selection (IFs) 7 - Selection (CASE) 8 - Loops (For & While) - Enough activity for 2 lessons All PowerPoints are fully editable to suit your classroom needs.

A lesson with resources for Small Basic programming, introducing the concepts of For loops and variables. This worksheet introduces simple programming concepts in a fun and visual way by using the 'Turtle' to draw shapes. I have used these lessons with Year 5, 7 and 8, and they were very popular with pupils as well as colleagues who used them in their own lessons. I think the key to success is encouraging pupils to be creative and experiment with the commands they learn in these lessons. Before you know it they will be making all sorts of shapes and discoveries of what else can be done. This could follow on from use of 'Bee-Bots' or other similar tools pupils will be familiar with from KS1, or could be used independently to get pupils interested in the use of a text-based programming language. Small Basic is a good choice of programming language for KS2 or KS3 as there are very few commands to learn, yet quite advanced programmes can be designed. Further lessons will be available that follow the style of this lesson but introduce more programming concepts including subroutines (like 'teaching' the language a new command, e.g. to make it draw a square whenever you type 'square'), and even how to interact with the mouse (e.g. draw a square wherever the mouse is clicked). I have included a PDF and Word version as you may wish to edit parts of it, and a zip file containing an example solutions to the challenges.

Programming Lesson - Small Basic (Lesson 03) This lesson was originally used to teach KS3: Year 7 ICT - after teaching the Y7s LOGO. The resource includes a teacher lesson presentation. Lesson 03 Objectives: LO1: Learn how to program loops within Small Basic and save a sub. LO2: Learn to use subs to create more complex commands using turtle graphics. LO3: Learn how to add shapes and images to the Small Basic window.

Programming Lesson - Small Basic (Lesson 01) This lesson was originally used to teach KS3: Year 7 ICT - after teaching the Y7s LOGO. The resource includes a teacher lesson presentation. Lesson 01 Objectives: LO1: Learn what is meant by “computer programming“ LO2: Explore the parts of the Small Basic Window LO3: Learn how to program and run a simple Small Basic program using turtle graphics

Worksheet for students to assist them in generating Small Basic code to write a times table and list multiples of a number. (Output in the Text Window) This activity will develop understanding of For and While loops (and consoldiate use of a variable e.g. name) Answers for the teacher included. The worksheet is available in** .docx** and **.pdf **formats.

A fun lesson resources to guide students in creating a simple text based Roulette Game using Python - or can be used for any programming language. 3-4 levels of differentiation, involves printing, generating random numbers, concatenation and IF statements. Hard option involves using arrays/lists. Students can choose one of 3 examples to create from Easy - Hard. Making of the game is broken down into easy steps for students to follow if they wish - or not.

A fun lesson resources to guide students in creating a simple text based Dice Game using Python - or can be used for any programming language. 3-4 levels of differentiation, involves printing, generating random numbers, concatenation and IF statements. Hard option involves adding variables. Students can choose one of 3 examples to create from Easy - Hard. Provides snippets of code to get them started. Perfect for beginners.

This colourful A3 sized poster will look great on your wall and help your students remember the different types of blocks in Scratch. For each Scratch block type there is a definition and an image to help the students. Perfect for your Hour of Code. Included are: Motion, Looks, Sound, pen, control, Sensing, Operators and variables. Enjoy

This fun and engaging Jeopardy Style Game is the perfect way to bond with your class all year long and learn scratch. I typically put the class into small groups and ask a member of the group to choose a color and number. That is the question that they have to answer. If correct they get one point. Then I move to the next group. Alternatively the whole class answers and then we tally up the points to get a winner. I run it on an interactive whiteboard but would be equally successful on a projector, computer or TV screen. Alternatively it could be run for an individual student on their own device. When you start the game press the shuffle button to randomize the questions ensuring that no game is ever the same. This means that this Jeopardy game came be used multiple times with the one class as it is different every time. Once you have unzipped the file you will find a PowerPoint Macro Show. To run the game double click the file and make sure you say "yes" to running macros. If you do not the questions will not shuffle correctly. I have tested on a PC but it should work on other devices. If this is your first time with Macros let me know by personal message and I am happy to answer all your questions. Enjoy

**Small Basic - Lesson 1 **- Introducing the language and shapes algorithms In this series of lessons we will take pupils from no experience of Small Basic to a good understanding with the skills to solve problems and think algorithmically in Small Basic. Students should enter this scheme of work with a basic understanding of computational thinking, having some graphical based language experience such as Scratch, Kodu, HourOfCode, etc. This is particularly useful for meeting the needs of teaching a text based programming language based on (KS3 in England / BGE in Scotland) outcomes and is a strong foundation/scaffolding to supporting students to program in Python in following units. For the less confident teacher I have included a bunch of pre-written Small Basic programs to demonstrate WAGOLL. In this lesson: Begin to understand what an EXE files is Meet the CLI and DOS Understand why Small Basic is much more powerful than Scratch Meeting the Small Basic IDE Hello World Meeting Turtle Basic shapes challenges Exploring more code using the Carousel Pupils are rewarded with a game at the end of the lesson Plenary - in a nutshell

**Small Basic - Lesson 3 **- Chessboard challenge In this series of lessons we will take pupils from no experience of Small Basic to a good understanding with the skills to solve problems and think algorithmically in Small Basic. Students should enter this scheme of work with a basic understanding of computational thinking, having some graphical based language experience such as Scratch, Kodu, HourOfCode, etc. In addition to other expectations, this lesson benefits from being proceeded with a lesson on Flowcharts or Pseudocode. Pupils recap their planning skills before coding. Support pupils by issuing some paper and pencils do they can keep track of the Turtles position vs their drawing. This is particularly useful for meeting the needs of teaching a text based programming language based on (KS3 in England / BGE in Scotland) outcomes and is a strong foundation/scaffolding to supporting students to program in Python in following units. For the less confident teacher I have included a bunch of pre-written Small Basic programs to demonstrate WAGOLL. In this lesson: Recap knowledge from previous lesson. Discuss planning skills - flowcharts / pseudocode Revisit the features of the Small Basic IDE Debugging Sequencing Challenge - to draw a chess board Pupils to consider the number of lines used to code their solution Teacher tracks most elegant solutions (square by square, zig zag lines, outwardly growing squares, etc)

A free introductory lesson (part of a series) on Small Basic programming. This worksheet introduces simple programming concepts in a fun and visual way by using the 'Turtle' to draw shapes. I used these lessons with Year 7 and 8, and they were very popular with pupils as well as colleagues who used them in their own lessons. Now that primary pupils are being introduced to computing principles much earlier on, I think these lessons would also be suitable for KS2 pupils. I think the key to success is encouraging pupils to be creative and experiment with the commands they learn in these lessons. Before you know it they will be making all sorts of shapes and discoveries of what else can be done. This could follow on from use of 'Bee-Bots' or other similar tools pupils will be familiar with from KS1, or could be used independently to get pupils interested in the use of a text-based programming language. Small Basic is a good choice of programming language for KS2 or KS3 as there are very few commands to learn, yet quite advanced programmes can be designed. Further lessons will be available for a small cost that follow the style of this lesson but introduce programming concepts including loops to repeat commands , subroutines (like 'teaching' the language a new command, e.g. to make it draw a square whenever you type 'square'), and even how to interact with the mouse (e.g. draw a square wherever the mouse is clicked). I have included a PDF and Word version as you may need to edit the first paragraph about how to open Small Basic (depending where it is located on your school computers), and a zip file containing an example of a solution to an extension 'challenge task'.

Quick challenges for introducing the graphics window to students. Gets the students looking for clues in the syntax and changing settings.

This is a wordsearch for a programming unit. Instructions are the usual for a wordsearch. It can be used as a starter or plenary.

This is a PowerPoint for a programming and control unit. It details work to be completed in the unit, giving some outline to Scratch and Python. For other worksheets and activities linked, see my other resources.