Volume 3: March 2024

Our Developing Computer Science Concepts in Early Childhood – book series – is in production!

I received a fantastic gift on Valentine’s day – that was the day our books; Little Computer Scientists, Little Hackers and Supporting the Development of Computer Science Concepts in Early Childhood: A Practical Guide for Parents and Educators, officially went into production! They’re currently slated for a Fall 2024 release.

Get notified when these books are available for pre-order by filling out this two-question form.

One of our primary motivations for writing this forthcoming book series is to inspire underrepresented groups (girls and BIPOC kids) to develop an interest in, and feel comfortable with, computer science (and technology related) careers. My illustrator D. J. Cools and I asked my students for voluntary input, for the design of our main character; how she should dress, style her hair etc. We poured through hundreds of student responses before settling on Zuri’s design. It is my sincerest hope that all kids can see themselves reflected in the pages of our books.

Zuri character design tests – images by D.J. Cools.

The kids particularly liked the shirt design in the above illustrations, so D. J. Cools made one that you can wear in real life! Get yours here.

The MACUL Conference is really soon!

I’ll be speaking about the forthcoming book series and a plethora of resources related to teaching computer science concepts in early childhood at the MACUL conference on Friday, March 15th. I’d love to see you there!

Additional March Events & Resources

One of my goals (with all of my writing) is to encourage underrepresented groups (those who identify as girls/women, BIPOC folks) to feel comfortable, welcome, and empowered with computer science and technology. These organizations – Black Girls Code and Girls Who Code are both doing really great work in that regard.

I currently run a Girls Who Code club for middle school students at my school. It’s one of my favorite parts of the week! We’re learning Python3 and web design, connecting over the shared interest of learning how to code and of course enjoying yummy snacks. I encourage you to connect with Black Girls Code and/or Girls Who Code to see if hosting a club might be something that works for you, too. You won’t regret it.

March is Women’s History Month! These are some of the Founding Mothers of Computer Science.

Portrait of Ada Lovelace from Wikimedia.

Ada Lovelace is considered by most to be the first computer programmer. She invented the concept of programming before computers even existed. This Kids National Geographic article has good, additional information about her.

Grace Hopper was a U.S. Navy rear admiral, one of the first computer scientists and popularized the term “debugging” (for finding and fixing errors in code) when a moth was removed from the Mark II computer she was working with. This quick video provides a great snapshot that compliments the Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code biography.

Dorothy Vaughan, one of the subjects of the Hidden Figures movie and books was a brilliant mathematician who taught herself and her staff the Fortran programming language. She was one of the women instrumental in helping to win the space race. This is a great animated short about her obstacles, and contributions.

I hope you enjoy these resources! I’m looking forward to sharing highlights from the MACUL conference next time. Until next month!

Image of beach in Canada with dramatic clouds.

Resources, News and Updates

Read | Write | Tech Newsletter

January 30, 2024January 31, 2024 Julie Darling

Volume 2: February 2024

Photo of a beach in Canada taken in Fall 2023.

For a short month, this February is jam packed! Between celebrating African-American history, Lunar New Year and the bonus of Leap Day, there’s no shortage of interesting and important events. February is also the month when I most poignantly miss beaches, blue skies and hot Summer days. But what better way to feel a little heat than with dancing and dragons?! Read on for more details…

February Events & Resources

African American Heritage Month

Yolanda Renee King, the 15 year old granddaughter of Coretta Scott King and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. recently released We Dream a World: Carrying the Light from My Grandparents. The book was inspired by the poem I Dream a World by Langston Hughes (also an influence on Dr. King’s I Have a Dream speech). You can hear the author talk about her book on PBS books here and watch her CBS morning interview here.

The Electric Slide and Kai is an absolutely delightful book by local Michigan author Kelly J. Baptist. At the suggestion of a colleague, I read this book to my students and then taught them how to do the Electric Slide, which resulted in lots of smiles and a little laughter, too. They clapped when I finished reading the book, because they loved it (as will you when you read it).

The Youth Media Awards were just announced and Big by Vashti Harrison was not only the Caldecott Winner, but also a Coretta Scott King Winner and National Book Award Finalist. Harrison is the first African American woman to ever win the Caldecott. This one is a must read!

Image of the cover of the Black Boy Joy Book.

Isn’t this a delightful cover? Black Boy Joy is a collection of 17 stories spanning a range of genres by heavy hitters including Jerry Craft and Jason Reynolds. This middle grade book was a New York Times bestseller and received a plethora of starred reviews. Don’t pass this one up.

One of my goals with my writing is to encourage underrepresented groups (girls, BIPOC folks) to feel comfortable, welcome and empowered with computer science and tech. This organization – Black Girls Code – is doing really great work in that regard. Check them out!

Lunar New Year

Photo by Thomas Despeyroux on Unsplash

Amy Wu and the Patchwork Dragon is the perfect read for Lunar New Year! This title is part of a series. Zhang provides discussion sheets and activity guides for free on her site, too. Follow that up with this short from PBS Kids (Time: 2:05 ): Curious George | Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Chinese New Year! If you’re working with littles, this is a really great video to share with them to celebrate Lunar New Year. Note: it cuts off a bit abruptly at the end.

Leap Year/Day

Photo by Leo_Visions on Unsplash

Looking for a brief history on the origin and reason for Leap Day/Year? Look no further: National Geographic Kids: What is Leap Year?

This is a good tutorial about how to create a Python program that tells you whether or not this year is a leap year. I would recommend trying it out at Replit.com or a comparable IDE (integrated development environment), so that students who are just learning Python can utilize the built-in debugging help: Python program to check leap year

Social Media Shout-Out!

Image of Michal Threets sitting in a chair in the library smiling.

Mychal Threets has been making the news lately for his lovely, inclusive librarianship. He’s also one of the 2024 recipients of the I Love My Librarian awards. If you haven’t heard of him yet, you should check out this interview on ABC News. He’s a breath of fresh air.

Interested in More From Me?

A cumulative list of books mentioned in the Read. Write. Tech. newsletters can be found here. Never want to miss a book release? Follow me on my Amazon author page for updates. Want an autographed copy of my book Social-Emotional Learning Using Makerspaces and Passion Project? You can order one here through Booksweet!