CodeHS Middle School Insider: Seasonal Projects, Teaching Tips, and More!

❄️ Seasonal Coding

Looking for a fun way to celebrate the changing seasons and practice programming skills? Here’s a fun themed activity your students will love!

Snowflake Challenges (Tracy the Turtle)
Winter is coming! Get students excited for the colder months with this frosty, winter-themed Tracy the Turtle challenge. They'll create unique snowflake patterns and explore loops in a festive, snowy setting.

<b>Meet the CodeHS Curriculum Developer</b>

🔒 Cyber Awareness

During the holiday season, students may come across more websites, messages, and apps than usual–but some of them can be misleading or unsafe. It’s the perfect time to remind them that cybersecurity helps protect their devices and personal information from digital attacks like scams, fake links, or suspicious apps.

Have students explore what cybersecurity really means in the Cybersecurity lesson from our Mix and Match course. They’ll learn how connected devices, online data, and the Internet of Things can make people more vulnerable, and how smart habits can keep them safe.

🎁 Teacher Tip: Seasonal Creativity Boost

The holiday season is a great time to tap into students’ natural excitement and curiosity. Research shows that connecting learning to timely, relevant themes can increase engagement and help students retain new concepts. Here are some ways to bring a little holiday magic into your coding classroom:

Thematic Remixes: Encourage students to take an existing program and give it a seasonal twist. For example, they could try adding fall colors or experiment with their code to create fun winter designs.
Seasonal Showcases: Have students present a holiday-themed project to the class. Ask them to explain their logic and design choices using proper programming vocabulary.
Creative Constraints: Give students a fun prompt like “Your program must include one loop, one conditional, and something fall/winter themed” and let them run with it.

Adding a seasonal touch not only makes coding more fun, but also encourages creativity and ownership in student work.

📲 Curriculum Feedback Group

CodeHS is interested in learning more about how you use our curriculum and resources in your classroom—what CodeHS materials do you rely on and what do you wish was different for the courses you teach? If you are interested in joining a course advisory group to help improve the CodeHS courses, please complete the short form.

✨ AI Creator

With AI Creator, teachers can instantly create customized notes, quizzes, practice problems, Parsons problems, and examples, all designed to match students' understanding and interests for more engaging and effective learning. Watch a demo of AI Creator here.