New York Computer Science and Digital Fluency: 4th Grade
- Level Elementary School
- Number of Lessons 34
- Grade 4th
This course is designed to provide computer science instruction for New York 4th grade students. Students learn programming and principles of computer science including: computing systems, research, algorithms and programming, and computer safety.
See the full syllabus for all topics and activities, or explore the course to try it out.
UNITS - 9 (34 lessons)
Students get an optional refresher on the CodeHop platform, key computer science vocabulary, and using the coordinate plane to create animations.
Students identify parts of a computing system and troubleshoot simple hardware and software problems, then apply computational thinking to design a school.
Students design and evaluate algorithms, collaborate through pair programming, use broadcast messages to coordinate sprites, and build timeline and choose-your-own-path programs connecting coding to technology history, sports careers, and elements of culture.
Students use different types of loops to build a catching game and practice decomposing and debugging maze programs.
Students use if/then conditionals along with keyboard and mouse inputs to build an underwater exploration program and an interactive drawing app.
Students create and use variables to track points and lists to build a spelling bee game, then apply these skills to an inquiry project that displays data as a bar graph.
Students learn to create clones and functions that take boolean and number inputs, applying them to animations, password-checking logic, and drawings.
Students combine conditionals, variables, booleans, and events to build a Whack-a-Mole style game and apply design thinking to redesign a game for greater accessibility.
Students explore the cultural impacts of technology, practice digital etiquette, learn to recognize and respond to cyberbullying, manage their digital footprint, explore cryptography and cybersecurity policies, properly attribute online sources, understand file storage and network data transfer, and discuss the ethical use of generative AI.
Explore a sample lesson from this course!
4th grade students build programs using algorithms, broadcasts, loops, conditionals, variables, lists, clones, and functions, with projects like pair programming a band, a cultural choose-your-own-path game, a drawing app, a spelling bee game, and a Click-a-Mole game, ending with a design thinking project on accessibility. They also complete a data bar graph project, stand up to cyberbullying, explore cryptography and cybersecurity laws, learn how information travels across the Internet, and examine the pros and cons of generative AI.
The course includes 36 lessons, each about 45 minutes long, providing a full year of instruction when taught once a week. Every lesson is built in a ready-to-teach format, with step-by-step videos that walk students through the lesson. Lessons are designed to be teacher-led using an "I do, we do, you do" format, and a self-paced option is also available. Optional review lessons at the start of the course are not counted in the 36 lessons.
No. There are no prerequisites, and the course is designed to support all learners regardless of prior computer science experience. Optional review lessons at the start of the course help students who are new to CodeHop learn the basics before moving into grade-level content.
New York Computer Science and Digital Fluency: 4th Grade is aligned to the New York State K-12 Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards. Lessons required to fully meet the standards are labeled in the course syllabus with the standards they address, and all Digital Literacy lessons are required because they cover essential non-programming computer science concepts.
