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    <title>Abbey Code Club</title>
    <link>http://abbeycodeclub.org/</link>
    <description>Recent content on Abbey Code Club</description>
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    <language>en-us</language>
    <lastBuildDate>Mon, 26 Sep 2016 21:36:24 +0100</lastBuildDate>
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    <item>
      <title>PICO-8 First steps</title>
      <link>http://abbeycodeclub.org/post/pico-8/pico-8.02/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 26 Sep 2016 21:36:24 +0100</pubDate>
      
      <guid>http://abbeycodeclub.org/post/pico-8/pico-8.02/</guid>
      <description>

&lt;h1 id=&#34;pico-8-first-steps&#34;&gt;PICO-8: First steps&lt;/h1&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Before we start to write any code, you need to learn how to find your way around the PICO-8 screens.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&#34;start-the-pico-8-application&#34;&gt;Start the PICO-8 application&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;PICO-8 should already be installed on your computer. Click on the PICO-8 entry in the Start Menu to run it.  You will see this screen and hear a little tune when it starts up&amp;hellip;&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/pico-8/console.png&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Console&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;To run a program, you type &amp;ldquo;RUN&amp;rdquo; and press the &amp;ldquo;Enter&amp;rdquo; key. At the moment this does absolutely nothing, as we haven&amp;rsquo;t written a program yet!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Go ahead and try it!&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/pico-8/run.png&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Run the current program&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;We can tell PICO-8 to do stuff by typing at this command prompt. For example, PICO-8 can print messages and do sums!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Again, try it out! If type something the computer doesn&amp;rsquo;t understand it won&amp;rsquo;t catch fire! Make up your own messages to print!&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/pico-8/print.png&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Printing messages&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;Computers are really fussy about what you type. If you make just a single mistake, the computer will give you an error message and refuse to run the command or program. If you see an error then you need to check your code and work out what is wrong.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Look at these examples and see if you can spot my mistakes!&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/pico-8/errors.png&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Nasty error messages!&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;You will see these errors when writing code - we all make mistakes! So don&amp;rsquo;t panic when you get them - the computer is just trying to help you get your code right!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&#34;switch-between-screens&#34;&gt;Switch between screens&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you press the &amp;ldquo;ESC&amp;rdquo; key (top left key on your keyboard) then you switch between the console window and the editor windows.  You use the editor windows to write your code and design your graphics and sound.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Press ESC once and you will see the code editor&amp;hellip; We&amp;rsquo;ll write some code in here very soon!&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/pico-8/code_window.png&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Code editor&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;Press ESC again and you will go back to the console window.
Then press ESC again to go back to the code editor!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;See the icons in the top right of the code editor? Click on those to see the other editors&amp;hellip;&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/pico-8/sprite_editor.png&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Sprite  (graphics) editor&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;



&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/pico-8/level_editor.png&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Level/map editor&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;



&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/pico-8/sound_editor.png&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Sound editor&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;



&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/pico-8/music_editor.png&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Music editor&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;

</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>PICO-8 Introduction</title>
      <link>http://abbeycodeclub.org/post/pico-8/pico-8.01/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 26 Sep 2016 21:36:24 +0100</pubDate>
      
      <guid>http://abbeycodeclub.org/post/pico-8/pico-8.01/</guid>
      <description>

&lt;h1 id=&#34;pico-8-fantasy-games-console&#34;&gt;PICO-8: Fantasy Games Console!&lt;/h1&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&#34;1-introduction&#34;&gt;1. Introduction&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Last week you told me that you&amp;rsquo;d like to learn how to program by typing code, rather than dragging blocks around!  You asked for it, so we are now going to learn how to write a game with actual code. This will take several weeks and won&amp;rsquo;t be easy, but will definitely be worth it! Fasten your seatbelt!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;http://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php&#34;&gt;PICO-8&lt;/a&gt; is a &amp;ldquo;fantasy games console&amp;rdquo;, for making, sharing and playing small games.  In PICO-8, the code is written using a programming language called &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.lua.org/about.html&#34;&gt;Lua&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Most games consoles, such as the Sony Playstation or Nintendo Wii, are physical boxes that cost a lot of money and can only be used to play games that you buy.  PICO-8 is different - it runs as a program on an existing computer running Windows, OSX (Apple Mac), or Linux (Raspberry Pi).&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;What is really great about PICO-8 is that it includes everything you need to write your own games - you write the code, design the graphics, create the sounds, and play the game all inside of PICO-8.  It all looks very retro, which I think is cool! All games looked like this when I was your age :-)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/pico-8/pico-8-demo1.gif&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Tweaking graphics and running game&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/pico-8/pico-8-demo2.gif&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Creating bleeps and blerps!&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/pico-8/pico-8-demo3.gif&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Editing code&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&#34;links&#34;&gt;Links&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;http://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php&#34;&gt;PICO-8 homepage&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://sectordub.itch.io/pico-8-fanzine-1&#34;&gt;PICO-8 fanzine - Written by fans, lots of info and tips&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://github.com/felipebueno/awesome-PICO-8&#34;&gt;Great list of PICO-8 resources, tutorials, tools and more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/pico-8-review/&#34;&gt;Raspberry Pi Magpi magazine review&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&#34;video-tutorials&#34;&gt;Video tutorials&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;iframe width=&#34;560&#34; height=&#34;315&#34; src=&#34;https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZuaLuMhwcc8&#34; frameborder=&#34;0&#34; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;
&lt;iframe width=&#34;560&#34; height=&#34;315&#34; src=&#34;https://www.youtube.com/embed/Cjxzjc0NFpw&#34; frameborder=&#34;0&#34; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;
</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>CodeClub/002 (20/9/16)</title>
      <link>http://abbeycodeclub.org/post/codeclub-002/</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 21 Sep 2016 09:03:34 +0100</pubDate>
      
      <guid>http://abbeycodeclub.org/post/codeclub-002/</guid>
      <description>

&lt;p&gt;Code Club 2 was a busy one! The computer room was packed, and it was a very hot day too!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h1 id=&#34;scratch-game-hide-and-seek&#34;&gt;Scratch game: Hide and Seek&lt;/h1&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This week we used &lt;a href=&#34;https://scratch.mit.edu&#34;&gt;Scratch&lt;/a&gt; to write a little &lt;a href=&#34;https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/85963232/?tip_bar=hide#editor&#34;&gt;Hide and Seek game&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/hideandseek.jpg&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Hide and Seek&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;Scratch is the most popular programming environment for primary school children. It allows you to build programs by dragging and dropping graphical blocks. This makes it much easier to learn about key computer programming ideas without having to type much, and without the annoying errors you get if you type programs as text.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If any of you think Scratch is a bit simple, think again! You can do some impressive apps with it, that would take much longer to develop in a traditional programming language.  Check out these examples&amp;hellip;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/16795490/&#34;&gt;Whale&lt;/a&gt;: Control a swimming whale!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/119253569/&#34;&gt;Picnic Smash&lt;/a&gt;: Don&amp;rsquo;t get any ants in your sandwiches!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/10012676/&#34;&gt;Piano&lt;/a&gt;: Can you play a tune?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/11640429/&#34;&gt;DJ Scratch Cat&lt;/a&gt;: A cat DJ?!!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The great thing is that you can look at and modify the code for any of these. It is very common for people to produce modified versions of other people&amp;rsquo;s programs - this is called &amp;lsquo;remixing&amp;rsquo;!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Have a go, and tell me if you create any remixes!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h1 id=&#34;tingbot&#34;&gt;Tingbot&lt;/h1&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I talked a bit about &lt;a href=&#34;http://tingbot.com&#34;&gt;Tingbot&lt;/a&gt; which is a cool little computer system based around a &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.raspberrypi.org&#34;&gt;Raspberry Pi&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/tingbot.gif&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Tingbot&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;It is made by a small company in London who had the idea and raised the money to make it via the &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/744235676/tingbot-raspberry-pi-made-fun/description&#34;&gt;Kickstarter&lt;/a&gt; website.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;It doesn&amp;rsquo;t have a separate monitor or keyboard like the computers in the computer room, but has a small built-in screen and a few buttons.  Inside is a Raspberry Pi computer that can run Python programs that can read the buttons and draw pictures on the screen.&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/animated_tingbot.gif&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Inside Tingbot&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;The good news is that I just got one this week, so once I have built it we can use it in future Code Clubs.  Hurrah!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h1 id=&#34;python&#34;&gt;Python&lt;/h1&gt;

&lt;p&gt;To write programs for Tingbot, we are going to have to learn how to program in a language called Python.  My favourite computer language! :-)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This is going to be more challenging than using Scratch.  We had a quick vote at the end of the club and everyone said they were up for it, so let&amp;rsquo;s see how it goes!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Therefore&amp;hellip; next week is &lt;em&gt;Python Week&lt;/em&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Be sure not to confuse this&amp;hellip;&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/pythonlogo.jpg&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Python programming language...&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;&amp;hellip;with this&amp;hellip;!&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/ball_python.jpg&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Python snake! Run away!&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;

</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>CodeClub/001 (13/9/16)</title>
      <link>http://abbeycodeclub.org/post/codeclub-001/</link>
      <pubDate>Tue, 13 Sep 2016 21:48:58 +0100</pubDate>
      
      <guid>http://abbeycodeclub.org/post/codeclub-001/</guid>
      <description>

&lt;p&gt;What a great first Code Club! I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This week we:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;talked about why it is important and fun to learn about coding&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;looked at how computers have changed in recent years, and thought about how they might change in future (nobody knows!)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;did some great programming of &lt;a href=&#34;https://code.org/mc&#34;&gt;Minecraft&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&#34;https://studio.code.org/s/infinity/stage/1/puzzle/1&#34;&gt;Disney Infinity Play Lab&lt;/a&gt; at &lt;a href=&#34;https://code.org&#34;&gt;code.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;had a play with my super-colourful &lt;a href=&#34;https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide/overview&#34;&gt;NeoPixel&lt;/a&gt; LED strip, controlled by a &lt;a href=&#34;http://microview.io&#34;&gt;Microview&lt;/a&gt; microcontroller and a Wii Nunchuk hand controller&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I was really impressed with your enthusiasm and how much progress you all made in the programming exercises!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h1 id=&#34;code-clubs&#34;&gt;Code clubs&lt;/h1&gt;

&lt;p&gt;There are now nearly 5,000 Code Clubs across the country! Can you work out which circle we are in?&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/national_code_clubs.jpg&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;National Code Clubs&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;h1 id=&#34;computers-are-everywhere&#34;&gt;Computers are everywhere!&lt;/h1&gt;

&lt;p&gt;We talked about how computers are not just the things with keyboards and screens that are in the computer lab.  There are now computers inside most electrical products: phones, TVs, cars, and even electric toothbrushes!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Soon all these devices will communicate with each other using the internet!  This is called the &amp;ldquo;Internet of Things&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/iot.jpg&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Internet of Things&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;h1 id=&#34;how-computers-have-changed&#34;&gt;How computers have changed&amp;hellip;&lt;/h1&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Early computers filled a whole room!&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/ibm_360.jpg&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;IBM/360 mainframe computer&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;This was the first low cost home computer, produced by a British company called Sinclair.&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/zx80.jpg&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Sinclair ZX80&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;This was the first computer I used in school.  We only had one of them!&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/trs_80.jpg&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Radio Shack TRS-80&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;The first mobile phones were really big!&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/big_phone.jpg&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;I don&amp;#39;t think you&amp;#39;ll fit that in your pocket...&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;But have shrunk over the years&amp;hellip;&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/shrinking_phones.jpg&#34; /&gt;
    
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;And now have got bigger again!  Today&amp;rsquo;s phones are incredibly powerful computers with a large super high quality screens and camera.  This is probably 1000 times more powerful than the IBM/360 mainframe shown earlier!&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/iphone7.jpg&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;iPhone 7&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;h1 id=&#34;the-future&#34;&gt;The future&amp;hellip;&lt;/h1&gt;

&lt;p&gt;No one knows what the future holds.  Computers are still developing incredibly quickly.  Will you all be doing school lessons using virtual reality headsets&amp;hellip;?!&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;figure &gt;
    
        &lt;img src=&#34;http://abbeycodeclub.org/img/vr_headset.jpg&#34; /&gt;
    
    
    &lt;figcaption&gt;
        &lt;h4&gt;Virtual Reality headset&lt;/h4&gt;
        
    &lt;/figcaption&gt;
    
&lt;/figure&gt;


&lt;p&gt;What I can say for certain is that computers will play an even bigger part of everyday life than they are now.  So the more you know about how they work, the better!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I&amp;rsquo;m looking forward to seeing you all next week!&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>Welcome!</title>
      <link>http://abbeycodeclub.org/post/welcome/</link>
      <pubDate>Tue, 13 Sep 2016 09:17:48 +0100</pubDate>
      
      <guid>http://abbeycodeclub.org/post/welcome/</guid>
      <description>

&lt;h1 id=&#34;welcome-to-abbey-code-club&#34;&gt;Welcome to Abbey Code Club!&lt;/h1&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I&amp;rsquo;m very excited about our brand new code club - the first ever code club at Abbey School.  I hope you are too!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;There&amp;rsquo;s not much to read here at the moment, but I&amp;rsquo;ll be updating the website regularly so check back often.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Code clubs will run every Tuesday afternoon 3:30-4:30 in the computer room.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;To get started, here are some links to websites that you might find interesting!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://www.codeclub.org.uk&#34;&gt;Code Club&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Home of all Code Clubs. There are nearly 5,000 clubs in the UK!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Lots of &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.codeclubprojects.org/en-GB/&#34;&gt;projects here&lt;/a&gt;, some of which we will be doing in our Code Club.  Most of these projects need a passcode to access them.  If you are keen to try them out outside of Code Club then tell me and I&amp;rsquo;ll give you the required code.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://code.org/learn&#34;&gt;Code.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;An American organisation, whose mission is to teach children to code. Sounds like a good place for us to go!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;There are some great &amp;ldquo;Hour of Code&amp;rdquo; games here that are a fantastic way to get started with programming, including &lt;a href=&#34;https://code.org/mc&#34;&gt;Minecraft&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&#34;https://code.org/starwars&#34;&gt;Star Wars&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&#34;https://studio.code.org/s/frozen/stage/1/puzzle/1&#34;&gt;Frozen&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Can you complete them all?!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;You should also watch some of the &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzdnOPI1iJNfpD8i4Sx7U0y2MccnrNZuP&#34;&gt;videos&lt;/a&gt; - they have a lot of famous people in them, including Bill Gates (who started Microsoft), Mark Zuckerberg (who started Facebook) and Barack Obama (the USA president!). All of these people think it is really important for children to learn to code!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/editor/?tip_bar=home&#34;&gt;Scratch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The most popular way to write programs using graphical blocks.  A great tool to start with.  It means you don&amp;rsquo;t have to type very much, and teaches you the main principles of computer programming.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;There are instructions on the right hand side of the page to help you learn how to use it!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://www.raspberrypi.org&#34;&gt;Raspberry Pi&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Everyone&amp;rsquo;s favourite low-cost computer.  And it is British!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Have you got one?!  If so, tell me what you do with it&amp;hellip;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://www.microbit.co.uk&#34;&gt;BBC micro:bit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;A low cost &amp;ldquo;wearable&amp;rdquo; computer, recently released by the BBC (yes, the people who make TV programmes!).  Check out the &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.microbit.co.uk/watch-video&#34;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Through the generosity of Code Club, we will shoortly be getting four of these, so I look forward to us using them later in the term!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you want to get some practice in, you can follow a tutorial, write programs and run them on a &amp;ldquo;virtual&amp;rdquo; micro:bit &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.microbit.co.uk/create-code&#34;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.  Tip: it will easiest if you start off using the Block Editor!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://shop.pimoroni.com&#34;&gt;Pimoroni&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;A British company who started off making cases for Raspberry Pis, but have now grown into making their own electronics, and selling all sorts of add-ons.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Designers and makers of the fantastic &lt;a href=&#34;https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pimoroni/flotilla-for-raspberry-pi-making-for-everyone/description&#34;&gt;Flotilla&lt;/a&gt; electronics kit.  I&amp;rsquo;ve got one of these, and we&amp;rsquo;ll do something with it later in the year!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://www.adafruit.com&#34;&gt;Adafruit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;American designer and maker of all sorts of cool electronic components.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Loads of &lt;a href=&#34;https://learn.adafruit.com&#34;&gt;great projects&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://www.sparkfun.com&#34;&gt;SparkFun&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Another American maker of all sorts of cool electronic components!  They have a large number of &lt;a href=&#34;https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials&#34;&gt;tutorials&lt;/a&gt;.  Most of them are quite advanced electronics, but they might give you some ideas!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;hr /&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;http://makezine.com&#34;&gt;Make:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;A very established American website that covers making all sorts of things - not just computer-related ones!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Lots of super-creative ideas here&amp;hellip;!&lt;/p&gt;
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