Dear Harbor Families,

Did you know that in the second week of December, countries across the globe join together to participate in a global event to highlight the importance of coding? The event began in 2013 as an effort to promote coding education with a one hour commitment during Computer Science Week. Hour of Code has since grown exponentially, and according to the code.com website, there are over 100 million students who have participated in over 180 countries worldwide. The organization continues to promote and advocate for computer science in a wide diversity of school environments across the globe.

Did you also know that The Harbor School has a vibrant technology and makerspace committee of teachers, representing every grade level, who are bringing ongoing professional knowledge, resources, and enthusiasm to our curriculum every day? Thanks to our committed tech team and our partnership with KID Museum, coding is already embedded into our curriculum, and we have bolstered our robotics and coding resources and faculty-wide professional development over the past two years.

This year, we are excited that Harbor students will be joining in the global celebration and participate in Hour of Code activities with their classes for the first time! Next week, ask your child about their experiences with coding:

• Preschool students will program our Ozobots, small robots that follow colorful lines of coding
• JK and K will work with Scratch Jr., a coding app that enables students to design and program their own animations
• Grades 1 and 2 students will work on a variety of coding projects using code.org

Be sure to ask your child about his/her experiences learning the language of coding - next week and throughout the year. Here’s to STEAM learning in early childhood, which is exactly where it belongs!

Warm regards,

Leah Musico

Head of School

The Harbor School