California Computer Science: 3rd Grade
- Level Elementary School
- Number of Lessons 32
- Grade 3rd
This course belongs to the CodeHS Computer Science Standards for California Public Schools pathway. This course is designed to provide computer science instruction for California 3rd grade students, and it is aligned to the Computer Science Standards for California Public Schools.
See the full syllabus for all topics and activities, or explore the course to try it out.
UNITS - 9 (32 lessons)
Students learn to log in and navigate the CodeHop Playground as a warm-up before diving into full lessons.
Through a sequential story-driven unit, students use sequences, loops, events, and motion/look blocks to animate a Scout adventure and create custom sprites with drawing tools.
Students build programs using parallel sequences, events, animated costumes and backdrops, and broadcast messages while exploring CS careers and practicing responsible remixing and attribution.
Students learn how loops repeat instructions, debug loop-based programs, and compare different loop types by programming falling objects.
Students learn to use if/then and if/then/else conditional blocks to control program behavior based on color and other changing conditions.
Students create and modify variables, use comparison operators in conditionals, and use lists to build an I-Spy style activity.
Students learn to create and call functions to organize and reuse code within a program.
Students combine events, conditionals, variables, comparison operators, and broadcasts to build a capstone digital pet project and apply design thinking to improve accessibility.
Students explore digital literacy topics such as strong passwords, cybersecurity, computing systems, networks, file and data management, source attribution, data inquiry, and the ethical use of generative AI.
Explore a sample lesson from this course!
No. The course has no prerequisites and is designed to support all learners, regardless of prior computer science experience.
CodeHop, a block-based programming language that builds on the CodeHopJr skills from earlier grades.
Conditionals, variables, lists, comparison operators, and functions — building toward more advanced program logic.
Some units end with a short two-question quiz, which can be given digitally, as a QuizBuzz activity, or on paper.
A Digital Literacy unit covering cybersecurity, digital footprint, file management, research and source evaluation, and the ethical use of generative AI.
