Yearly courses for middle school?

As a technology focused middle school we are now trying to integrate a full year course in CS for each year of middle school. I find that my 6th and 7th graders are a little unprepared to complete CS Discoveries. My 8th graders handle it fine. I wonder if there are any plans for a level or two of CSD lite to allow less experienced 6th and 7th graders an easier ramp up? Course F is too easy for them, but they struggle and lag badly in CSD.

If students take CSD in 6th or 7th, what do I teach them in 8th? Even if there are other courses out there that someone can suggest, I would be grateful for the information.

Remember that the goal is to have a year long course for 6th graders, a different one for 7th, and a third one for 8th. The 9th graders are already taking CS Principles.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

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I am in the exact same situation! I will look to see how someone responds to this. Our CSPrinciples class is going great, but I too am struggling with the 6th and 7th grade grasping the CS Discoveries content.

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In order to build a successful pathway for grades 6-12 (we are a small school), I have branched out from Code.org a bit. To prepare students for CS Discoveries, I really like what I’ve seen so far with Edhesive’s new Explorations in Coding course. I have a small group of kids grades 5-7 piloting it and it is going well!

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I am not familiar with Edhesive so I browsed it a little bit. How much does the program cost?

I think Explorations is $500 for up to 50 students. Their AP courses are pricier.

Awesome. Thanks for the quick response!

Not a curriculum…but here is a 4-6 week project that introduces computational thinking. I have used it with 6th & 7th grade students and it has really challenged their thinking skills. Coding skills are not used in this activity, but the application of the computational thinking process is. I would love feedback from anyone who tries it out! Lemonade Stand

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That looks fun. I might try that at the beginning of next year.