Lesson 20: Blank Space Stories

Display: Show “How are things stored?” slide

One way to store things is with labeled containers.

Display: Show “Blank Space Stories” slide

Ask students to think about how we organize and store things. Do students ever keep things in boxes? Are those boxes labeled? Why? If students do not have this experience, ask them to imagine helping you pack up the classroom for the summer. What if instead of objects, you needed to store information?

Inform students that today we will be playing a word game, similar to Mad Libs®, where you will be prompted for words that will then be placed into a silly story.

Display: Show “Blank Space Story: Favorite Meal” slide

Do this: Show the first blank space story (Favorite Meal) on the board using the lesson slides.

Prompt: How do you think this blank space story works? What do you notice about the labels for each blank space?

It’s important that students understand one person typically provides the words designated by each label without seeing the story first. Students may notice that each space has a unique label.

Do This: Prepare the first three envelopes for demonstration. If using the slides, advance the animation to show the three purple boxes.

In a moment, I’ll have volunteers to help us fill in the blanks. We’re going to use envelopes to keep track of the information they provide. Each envelope has a label that goes with one of the blank spaces. If I hand you an envelope, please write a word that goes with that label and place it inside, then hand it back to me.

Do This: Facilitate handing out and collecting the envelopes marked “object”, “liquid”, and “number”. Once collected, keep the envelopes closed and begin reading the story. Only when you reach each blank, open the envelope and read the value stored.

Display: Show “Blank Space Story: Party Games” slide

Do This:

• Prepare the envelopes marked “adjective”, “object”, “body part”, and “number”.
• Repeat the game above with the second story. This time you can begin with the labels before showing the story to build more suspense. The animations in the lesson slides are already set up to help facilitate this.

(Optional) Role Play Extension

A connection can be made between the volunteers and the idea of an app having a “user”. In this analogy, your role as the teacher has been like the computer. You will request and store the information from the "users" and then work out how to put the story together. To involve more students and have them act out this model, assign roles:

Computers: Pass out and collect envelopes. Open each envelope as the story is being read to check for the values being stored.

Users: Submit the words needed to complete the story.

Reader: Read the finished story out loud.

Debrief

Display: Show “Reflect” slide

Reflect: How is writing a blank space story different from writing a normal story?

Vocabulary

Display: Show “Vocabulary” slide

The blank spaces in these stories work like containers for information. Each container also has a label.

In computer science, we call this a variable.

• Variable - A label for a piece of information used in a program.

Create Your Own Story (20 mins)

Display: Show “Unplugged Variables in Envelopes” video

In today’s activity, you’ll work with a group to create your own blank space story.

Display: Show “Create Your Own Story” slide

Do This: Pass out the *student worksheet and go over the instructions.

Writing a blank space story can be challenging. It can be helpful to give students suggestions of themes to inspire and focus their writing. Consider having students work on this task in groups so they can collaborate.

Topic suggestions:

• imaginary class field trip

• unusual holiday

• movie review

• morning routine

• a day at the beach

• how to fly a kite

Share Your Stories (10 mins)

Display: Show “Share Your Stories” slide

Do This: Pair up two groups and have them take turns sharing their stories.

If you have enough time and materials, give students their own envelopes to label and exchange. This will help students build the right mental model for how this exchange works when they transition back to programming.

Save students' stories!

In a couple of lessons, students will apply what they've been learning to create another Sprite Lab project. There are several options for this project, but one of them is to create a digital blank space story.

For example, here is a Sprite Lab version of the Party Games story from this lesson.

Display: Show “Blank Space Stories Wrap-Up” slide

Do this: Summarize the rules of blank space stories once more with the class.

Display: Show next slide

These apps are all asking the user to provide some information. How does this relate to today's activity?

Display: Show “Variables” slide

Information is stored in the computer's memory with variables. Each variable has a label that tells us what kind of information to expect. When the computer needs that information later, it looks for the label of the variable.

Display: Show next “Variables” slide

Whether you're storing objects in a box, words in an envelope, or information in a variable, it's important to use good labels, so you don't get confused later.

When a user types into a prompt, it’s like the computer stores the information in a container. The variable label tells us what kind of information to expect.

Display: Show next slide

Display: Show “Reflect” slide

Reflect: How do you think blank space stories relate to learning computer science?

Food Chain Variables (45-60 minutes)

Computer Science + English Language Arts + Math + Science

Food Chain Variables is an optional activity aligned to Common Core ELA, Common Core Math and Next Generation Science Standards, written by our teacher community. Students will identify various values for the variables found in food chains (Example: plants, animals, decomposer, etc.) as they document these values on notecards and show the movement of matter through an environment. Students will also learn about the 10% Rule and further describe energy flow with a writing prompt.

Standards Addressed:

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.2.B: Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic.

• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NF.B.7.C: Solve real world problems involving division of unit fractions by non-zero whole numbers and division of whole numbers by unit fractions, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem.

• NGSS.5-LS2-1: Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.