2026 CSTA PK12 COMPUTER SCIENCE STANDARDS

Good Morning!

I'm Ms. Alonzo, and I am a Computer Literacy and Coding teacher in Newark, NJ. I teach grades 5-8 (Middle School).  The platforms that I use are Code.org, Scratch, and (at times) Tynker, as well as a few others.  My goal this year is to create engagingly creative lessons that would enhance problem solving/critical thiking skills, foster more self-expression, as well as creative collaborations. 

I look forward to learning a lot from this course.

Good afternoon, Ms Alonzo!

This is my second attempt at responding, so if two pop up, that's why.

I love to kick off my 6th grade classes with problem solving.  We do jigsaw puzzles (from Dollar Tree), Rubik's cubes or pop balls, bead counting/sorting/comparing, plus paper puzzles like word searches, logic problems, and mazes.  Then we go over the steps of the problem solving process and use those puzzles for context.  I also give them a link to PBSKids engineering games for practicing critical thinking, especially for early finishers. 

I hope you and your students have an enjoyable year!

Pam K