Three primary classrooms at Peter J. Shields participated in the Hour of Code (designed by hourofcode.com) event in December.

During Hour of Code, students were encouraged to explore computer science in the form of coding activities. They learned that there is a whole career field related to this topic and there are actual professionals are behind all the apps and games the students love to play.

The student-participants worked as partners to navigate and problem solve their way through coding challenges.

Special guest speaker Yurii Sekretar, CEO and Co-founder of messaging app company Quiks Inc. brought his laptop, wireless router and a small, basic computer called Raspberry. He coded a simple reaction time game for two players. He explained and showed the children how he coded the LED light to light up at random intervals of time, input player names, and then allowed the children to play the game. During the game, they first had to press their button when the light initially flashed on. When the kids asked if the light could just flash on and off, he changed his code to accomplish that function, enabling students to see that a person is behind every function done on technology devices.

In January, school will be starting the STEM-inspired (Science Technology Engineering and Math) Crusader Coding Club open to 3-5 graders. They will be using the computer science curriculum for beginning coding skills from Hour of Code.org. Students will begin coding using a block format which progresses from basic commands and advances towards more complex commands such as loops and events. The club will run for approximately eight weeks.