Coding for Kids
Set Up an Hour of Code for Your Class in 5 Minutes
The Hour of Code is coming up! Who else can’t wait? For those of you who haven’t participated before: Hour of Code is a global movement that reaches MILLIONS of students in more than 180 countries. With 18 free tutorials, Tynker makes it easy for students of all ages, interests, and experience levels to get involved and celebrate computer science!
As a teacher, you’ll find everything you need to run a successful Hour of Code with Tynker. We provide teacher guides, answer keys, student metrics, certificates, and more!
Get set up in just 5 minutes:
- Register as a teacher on tynker.com (1 min)
- Create a classroom and enroll your students (1-4 min)
- Have your students log into their Tynker dashboard for Hour of Code activities
Still have questions? We have you covered:
- What devices do I need to participate? We recommend that each student has a desktop computer, laptop computer, or Chromebook with an internet connection and an up-to-date browser. No downloads are required. If not enough devices are available, students can work in pairs on the same device.
- How do I set up a classroom? If you’re a registered Tynker teacher, you may have already completed this step – nice work! For those who still need to get set up: take 2 minutes to create a Tynker account and add a classroom for your students. Use any method to add students – Clever, Google Classroom, Roster import, or adding students one-by-one. All students have a link to Hour of Code activities in their accounts, so your work is done!
- How do I add students to my classroom? Once you set up a classroom, you can add students and assign lessons through your teacher dashboard. You can import students to a single classroom, add them to multiple classrooms, manually create individual Tynker accounts, or have your students add themselves using a class code. You can set up your student rosters with Clever, Google Accounts, or Tynker Accounts. If you use Clever, read this post to set up your classes. If you use Google Accounts, watch this quick setup video. To create Tynker Accounts for your classes, this quick video walks you through the process.
- What do I get in my Tynker teacher dashboard? Your teacher dashboard is where you can access all your teacher guides, answer keys, student metrics, and certificates. Use the Gradebook tab in your classroom to see just how much coding your students are doing and even help them along if they get stuck! From the Hour of Code section in the Gradebook tab, you can even print personalized achievement certificates for all students with one click.
- How do students get started? Have your students log into their Tynker dashboard and select the Hour of Code link from the left navigation bar.
- What do I do if my students get stuck? Encourage your students to help each other if they get stuck! You can also find answer keys for all Tynker coding activities in your teacher dashboard.
- How do I help my students show off their work? Students can publish all the projects that they create during the Hour of Code to Tynker’s project gallery. Tynker also makes it easy for you to create a showcase of student projects so that you can share what they’ve accomplished. Every time a student completes an Hour of Code activity in Tynker, they earn another badge for their personalized certificate that they can print and take home!
- How do I go beyond an Hour of Code? Whether you want to learn at home or at school, Tynker has you covered. Check out our full programming curriculum and make programming a regular part of your classroom!
Check out our Hour of Code Teacher Guide for in-depth guidance and resources to take your kids beyond an Hour of Code, and be sure to join us on November 30 for a LIVE webinar with Tynker’s Education Community Manager, Daniel Rezac. “Getting Started with the Hour of Code” offers a step by step walk-through with a veteran educator, an opportunity to ask questions, and preparation for a great week of Computer Science fun!
