5th Grade Computer Science
- Level Elementary School
- Number of Lessons 33
- Grade 5th
This course is designed to provide computer science instruction aligned to CSTA standards for 5th grade students. It is meant to be taught approximately once a week by a designated computer science teacher.
See the full syllabus for all topics and activities, or explore the course to try it out.
UNITS - 12 (33 lessons)
Reviews CodeHop basics, CS vocabulary, the coordinate plane, drawing tools, and computational thinking through designing a neighborhood.
Teaches students to use event blocks in a traveling program and to debug a pizza-making program by decomposing it.
Students use the pen tool and loops to create turtle graphics.
Students plan and decompose the steps needed to build a quest program using conditionals and operators.
Teaches students to create and use variables, lists, and comparison operators through a shopping simulator, a game, and a dance project.
Introduces clones, classes, and objects through building interactive games such as a throwing-acorns game.
Applies a year of programming skills to two culminating projects, designing an app through design thinking and collaborating to build a game.
Teaches students to identify computing system components, troubleshoot simple problems, and model how devices communicate over networks using packets.
Covers screen-time habits, digital reputation and identity, cybersecurity, and giving proper attribution when remixing programs.
Teaches students to collect, organize, and visualize data using spreadsheet tools like Google Sheets and Excel, and through an inquiry line graph project.
Explores how technology and culture influence each other, how inclusion has shaped computing, and careers in mobile app development, including a global collaboration project.
Compares human and machine performance, has students train an AI model, and covers the ethical and responsible use of generative AI products.
Explore a sample lesson from this course!
5th grade students build advanced projects in CodeHop Blocks using loops, conditionals, operators, variables, lists, clones, and functions, and are introduced to classes and objects. Projects include turtle graphics, a quest program, a shopping simulator, and a throwing acorns game, ending with design thinking projects to design an app and a game. Students also learn about network protocols, cybersecurity, and digital reputation, analyze data with spreadsheets and line graphs, and explore AI by training a model, evaluating AI products, and creating a code of conduct for generative AI.
5th Grade Computer Science 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. The course mixes hands-on programming projects with unplugged activities, with module quizzes to check understanding. Optional review lessons at the start of the course can be used as warm-ups and are not counted in the 36 lessons. Teachers have flexibility in pacing, and the lessons required to fully meet CSTA standards are identified in the course syllabus.
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 5th grade content.
5th Grade Computer Science focuses on programming, with most lessons spent building block-based programs, animations, and games, along with lessons on computing systems, online safety, data, impacts of computing, and AI. 5th Grade Digital Literacy & AI focuses on digital skills such as productivity software, online safety, research, and AI, with less time spent on programming. Some lessons appear in both courses, so schools can choose the course that best fits their goals.
5th Grade Computer Science is aligned to state computer science standards and CSTA standards.
