Coolest Projects is back for 2021

Coolest Projects will be returning next year as an online showcase.

The closing date for entries is February 1st 2021.

Each entry will be allocated its own online demo space. Anyone , anywhere up to the age of 18 can enter.

“Young people with all project types and all levels of experience are welcome, from beginners to advanced creators, and it doesn’t matter whether projects are a work in progress, a prototype, or completely finished. We encourage everyone to take part!”

Check out the Coolest Projects 2020 Showcase Gallery

 

 

 

Why volunteers help at their local CoderDojo

This video was shot during Coolest Projects 2018 at the RDS Simmonscourt, Dublin 4. It gives a prospective dojo volunteer a some insights into the role of a mentor.

Click on the link for more details . . .  https://zen.coderdojo.com/dojos/ie/dublin-16/sasns-saint-attractas-sns

End of Year Award Ceremony 2018

The End of Year Award Ceremony is taking place on the last day of term, Friday June  29th at 11:00 am. The principal of Saint Attracta’s Senior National School, Iníon Uí Mháirtín, is delighted to include our awards in the ceremony. I have applied for official CoderDojo Certificates for the occasion. It is a special day for 3 of our ninjas as they will be moving onto post-primary and leaving our dojo.

 

Coding Badges on the way

HTML Beginner CoderDojo Badge

I visited the computer room today and downloaded all the ninja directories so the coding award badges will be emailed over the next few days. If you saved your work to your MegaDojo USB band leave a comment using your username. Do not use your real name. I will email your parent / guardian.

 

Award Badges coming soon

10 Sessions Attendance CoderDojo Badge

Award badges are coming soon. They will be awarded according to your progress and attendance record. An email will be sent to your parent / guardian with an award code and instructions on how to claim it for your profile.

One of the tasks assigned to the dojo champion is the awarding of badges. Of course, it is said the easiest award to earn is the attendance badge.  Not so! Joining a dojo is a commitment to attend as many sessions as possible, to make friends and to share ideas and know-how with your fellow ninjas. Cooperation and inclusion are the binding blocks of the dojo.

We had 27 sessions in this school year, 10 – 9 – 8 according to the length of each school term. Some of you never missed a day and will be awarded the 25 sessions badge, others joined the dojo in January and are only eligible for the 10 sessions badge and finally those of you who joined after Easter will receive the 5 sessions badge. There are no 15 or 20 sessions badges. Ninjas will get a chance to earn the the 25 sessions badge starting next September.

Open Day at SASNS

It was Open Day at Saint Attracta’s Senior National School today. All the ninjas at SASNS dojo introduced parents and future pupils of the school to the newly arrived BBC micro:bit. Scratch and Minecraft were also put through their paces. Most of our demos worked!

The Theremin wasn’t as musical as we thought but it worked first time.

The girls showed the visitors around and demonstrated various activities. Here Scratch is being shown on a Raspberry Pi 3. The boys also worked hard in the background showing off the 8 Ball and Coin Flipper on the microbit.

Raspberry Pi and microbit working side by side. What do you think of our new badges?

It was great timing! Our dojo Starter Pack arrived just in time and we put what we had learned on borrowed BBC micro:bits into practice using our new kit.

Wow! A club kit of 10 BBC micro:bits was a great surprise.

Lots of other goodies arrived including our badges but we were too busy to check it all out so that is a post for another day.