A Program Is Like the Teacher's Instructions

Note for parents or teachers: sit with your child while reading. Read the longer parts aloud, then let your child try things on the tablet on their own.

What is a program?

Every morning at school, the teacher gives instructions. "Stand up. Say good morning. Sit down. Open your book." You do them one by one, from the first to the last. The order matters! If you sit down first and then stand up, it looks funny, right?

Tablets and computers need instructions too. A list of instructions in order is called a program. A person who makes programs is called a programmer. Today, you are a programmer!

Meet ScratchJr

ScratchJr is a free app for tablets. In ScratchJr, you do not need to type difficult words. You just snap colorful blocks together like a puzzle. Each block is one instruction.

• Yellow blocks start a program.
• Blue blocks make a character move.
• Purple blocks change how it looks, for example making a character talk.

Parts of the screen

1. Stage: the big white box at the top. This is where your story happens.
2. Characters: the players on the stage. The first character is an orange cat.
3. Block palette: the row of blocks under the stage. Tap the colors on its left to see other blocks.
4. Programming area: the empty space at the bottom. This is where you build with blocks.
5. Green flag: at the top of the screen. Tap it to run the program.

Example: the cat walks to the whiteboard

Imagine the cat wants to walk to the whiteboard. We give two instructions: "Start when the green flag is tapped. Then walk to the right." In ScratchJr, that means two blocks joined together. First the yellow Green Flag block. Then the blue Move Right block. Blocks are read from left to right, just like we read a sentence.

Remember: a program is a set of instructions in order. The right order gives the right result.