Try It Thursday-1
Try-It Thursday: GEAR UP FOR THE CLIMB!

Teacher's Lounge

Today's Showcase Resource

This 30 hour curriculum is made up of 5 six-hour units that can be split. Use micro:bits and craft materials to design interactive projects that center art, nature, music, movement, and storytelling.

Equip yourself with the curated collection of computer science professional learning resources.

CS Ready

Discover how CS Ready helps schools move from scattered efforts to true system-wide readiness with a clear, actionable plan and the support educators deserve. Explore a pathway that brings together curriculum resources, coaching, progress check-ins, and a statewide network so your team can confidently grow high-quality CS instruction.

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Want to learn more Programming?

The CodeVA Programming Institute is an intense, three-day professional learning experience focused on preparing teachers to code, teach coding, and assess their students’ programming skills in the classroom. At the Programming Institute, you bring your own coding language (e.g., Scratch, Python, Java and more!) and learn how to teach foundational concepts through your chosen tool. Here are some of the best resources we used this past year in our Programming Institute sessions. Join us next year to build your coding confidence! Offered virtually and in-person for 2026!

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CSTA Rising Heroes Coloring Sheets

Celebrate students shaping the future of computing. These Rising Heroes were nominated for their creativity, perseverance, and passion for using technology to make a difference. Discover how Computer Science powers AI innovation and inspires the next generation of change-makers!

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Computer Science in Social Studies

Use this one-page document to identify overlaps between computer science concepts and history or social studies content, to bring more CS into your classroom!

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What Is Computer Science?

Need some help explaining computer science to administrators or parents? This handy guide gives you some quick information on CS concepts and where we see computer science.

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Primary Patterns

Need an easy way to relate computer science to patterning? This activity helps students make the connection!

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Student Corner

STUDENT CORNER

Each day, the Student Corner highlights a different CS Career  to consider, especially those that don't necessarily seem like they use computer science.

Explore our student-friendly resources and videos you can use immediately in your classroom.

Landing Page Banner CS Summit - Happy CS Ed Week 2025 (1200 x 450 px) (6)

CS Careers and Hobbies

Read more about how CS has become both a career and a hobby for our featured professionals! Meet an Inventor & Consultant and a Data Scientist & Software Developer. Click the image below to learn more!
 
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Student Resources

Conditionals Poster: Learn how conditionals act as rules that help computers make decisions.
 
Color Code Match- K-2 Unplugged Activity: Explore data representation through colored shapes.
 
Debug the Recipe - 3-5 Unplugged Activity: Find the bug in an algorithm (recipe).
 
Flowchart Follower - 6-8 Unplugged Activity: A challenge to design a flowchart
 
Cringe Code: Prove how well you know digital etiquette with this list of Do's and Don'ts! 
 
Computational Storycards 4: Computational storytelling cards help students plan, sequence, and communicate ideas, making it easy to bring algorithms and creative thinking into any story-based activity.
Videos Below

Student Friendly Videos

Boolean Logic: Show students that debugging is part of problem-solving, not a mistake.
Models and Simulations: Teach step-by-step thinking with easy, student-friendly examples.
Boolean Logic: Guide students in tracing code to find errors and understand flow.

Partners in AI Education

 

Classroom Ready STEMtoSpace Videos

Mission 

Air & Space STEM Outreach is a Department of the Air Force program with a mission to inspire, cultivate, and develop exceptional STEM talent by exposing K-12 students and teachers to U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force opportunities and resources.

Connecting Classrooms

Air & Space STEM Outreach connects K‑12 classrooms with engineers, scientists, and professionals from the Air Force and Space Force through virtual talks, Q&A sessions, and hands-on STEM activities. It also provides lesson plans, competitions, and resources that help students explore aerospace, cybersecurity, engineering, and other STEM fields.

K-12 STEM Activities

Air and Space STEM Outreach

Events & Resources | Inspiring the next generation of explorers

 

Thinkabit Lab at Virginia Tech provides K–12 educators and students access to a makerspace-style STEM lab where students engage in hands-on engineering, programming, and invention activities in a collaborative setting.

For teachers interested in field trips, visiting or learning about teacher resources, you can contact the Roanoke location by emailing Scott Weimer or ContactThinkabitLab@qualcomm.com to learn more.

Thinkabit Lab Makerspace

Qualcomm and Virginia Tech | Hands-on learning for K-12 students

 

Teaching with Bots & Brains: BirdBrain PD for Educators

BirdBrain Technologies provides self-paced online courses and resources to help educators learn to teach with tools like the Hummingbird Kit and Finch Robot. They offer virtual workshops, recorded webinars, and planning guides to support classroom integration across subjects and grade levels. These materials give teachers clear guidance on setup, programming, and instructional use.

Birdbrain Technologies

Robotics kits | Learn, code, create.

 

Equipping Educators with the: EdEquity VA Video Library

The ONE Virginia Plan is focused on advancing inclusive excellence across the entire Commonwealth.

Virginia now accepts micro-credentials for re-licensure points,

Virginia Educators can access Computer Science micro-credentials at no cost thanks to the partnership between NEA & CodeVA's in the development of the Computer Science micro-credential stack. 

VirtualED

Learning Portal, Micro-credentials, and other resources

Virginia Education Association

Advocacy & Resources | CS Micro-credentials

AFOSR STEM
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birdbrain
VEA

Challenge & Reflection

Reflection: Which of your classroom routines could benefit from a “CS thinking” approach?
Challenge: Collect a tiny bit of classroom data (like a poll or tally) and think about how it could be used to inform instruction. Bonus: Ask students how they would organize or analyze it.

Need to catch up?