Warm Up (10 min)

Introduction

Review the "Conditionals with Cards" activity with your students.

• What is a conditional statement?
• When is a conditional useful?
• What are some of the conditions you used in the last activity?

Now we're going to use conditionals with the Code.org bee to help him deal with some mysterious clouds. We don't know if his flowers have nectar or not, so we'll need to use conditionals to make sure that we collect nectar if it's there, but that we don't try to collect nectar from a flower that doesn't have any.

Bridging Activity - Conditionals (15 min)

This activity will help bring the unplugged concepts from "Conditionals With Cards" into the online world that the students are moving into. Choose one of the following to do with your class:

Unplugged Activity Using Paper Blocks

Print and cut out 2-3 if / else and blank action blocks from Unplugged Blocks (Courses C-F) - Manipulatives and pull out a deck of cards. Ask the class to come up with a couple of conditionals to use with the deck of cards like they did in "Conditionals with Cards." When the conditionals have been decided on as a class, fill in the blank part of the if block with the various card values that the kids came up with. Examples include "King of Hearts", "Even Numbered", or "Diamonds". Fill in the action blocks with the actions the students came up with. Make sure the students know the action blocks need to be directly under the if or else block. Below is an example.

Now shuffle the deck of cards and play "Conditionals with Cards" again. Flip through the deck card-by-card, reacting to cards if a conditional has been made for it.

Preview of Online Puzzles

Pull up a puzzle from this lesson, we recommend puzzle 9.

• Ask the class what the bee should do when it gets to the cloud.
  • The bee should use a conditional to check for a flower or a honeycomb.
• Use the if at flower / else block. Ask the class what the bee should do if there's a flower. If there's not a flower, there will be a honeycomb. What should the bee do then?
  • The bee should get nectar if there is a flower and make honey if there is a honeycomb.

Fill in the rest of the code and press Run. Discuss with the class why this worked.

Main Activity (30 min)

Online Puzzles

These puzzles might sprout some questions, so have the students work in pairs or implement the "Ask three before you ask me" rule (have the students ask three other peers for help before they go to the teacher.) This will spark discussions that will develop each student's understanding.

Wrap Up (15 min)

Journaling

Having students write about what they learned, why it’s useful, and how they feel about it can help solidify any knowledge they obtained today and build a review sheet for them to look to in the future.

Journal Prompts:

• What was today's lesson about?
• How did today's lesson make you feel?
• What conditionals did you use in your code today?
• What are some other conditionals a bee might use? Examples include:
  • if there is a tree in front of me, buzz out of the way
  • if my wing is hurt, rest on the ground
  • if I see another bee, say "Hello!"

Extended Learning

Use these activities to enhance student learning. They can be used as outside of class activities or other enrichment.

True/False Tag

• Line students up as if to play Red Light / Green Light.
• Select one person to stand in front as the Caller.
• The Caller chooses a condition and asks everyone who meets that condition to take a step forward.
  • If you have a red belt, step forward.
  • If you are wearing sandals, take a step forward.
• Try switching it up by saying things like "If you are not blonde, step forward."

Nesting

• Break students up into pairs or small groups.
• Have them write if statements for playing cards on strips of paper, such as:
  • If the suit is clubs
  • If the color is red
• Have students create similar strips for outcomes.
  • Add one point
  • Subtract one point
• Once that's done, have students choose three of each type of strip and three playing cards, paying attention to the order selected.
• Using three pieces of paper, have students write three different programs using only the sets of strips that they selected, in any order.
  • Encourage students to put some if statements inside other if statements.
• Now, students should run through all three programs using the cards that they drew, in the same order for each program.
  • Did any two programs return the same answer?
  • Did any return something different?