Starting 2026 Coding!

[00:00:00] Shanna Martin: Thanks for listening to the Tech Tools for Teachers podcast, where each week we talk about a free piece of two of technology that you can use in your classroom. I'm your host, Shanna Martin. I'm a middle school teacher, technology instructional coach for my district,

[00:00:31] Fuzz Martin: and I'm our producer and husband, Fuzz Martin, transitioning from Pumpkin Pie to Raspberry Pie as we start the new year.

[00:00:39] Shanna Martin: Oh, that's pretty good.

[00:00:39] Fuzz Martin: Thanks.

[00:00:41] Shanna Martin: I mean, there's a few other food. Puns you could add into there.

[00:00:45] Fuzz Martin: Yeah. Like, um, can't wait for Fish Fry season. Gonna go to the Coty Potty. I dunno. There's Party not Yeah. The other one. Uh, but, you know, yeah. So there's, uh, there are a few food puns that could make

[00:01:02] Shanna Martin: crunching.

[00:01:04] Fuzz Martin: Oh yeah.

[00:01:04] Fuzz Martin: Something with Crunch. Crunchy or raspberry pie. Cod

[00:01:11] Shanna Martin: chips. Okay. Yeah, so we're back

[00:01:15] Fuzz Martin: Fish and microchips.

[00:01:17] Shanna Martin: Oh, that's cute.

[00:01:18] Fuzz Martin: Yeah, there you go.

[00:01:20] Shanna Martin: It is 2026, everybody. 2026. And this is episode though, 225. This is our

[00:01:28] Fuzz Martin: eighth year doing this podcast.

[00:01:29] Shanna Martin: Craziness. That

[00:01:30] Fuzz Martin: is. Way crazy.

[00:01:32] Shanna Martin: That is crazy.

[00:01:33] Fuzz Martin: Okay.

[00:01:33] Shanna Martin: We started in our kitchen at our kitchen counter

[00:01:36] Fuzz Martin: in 2018.

[00:01:37] Fuzz Martin: Yeah.

[00:01:37] Shanna Martin: And here we are in your little tiny studio. Little

[00:01:41] Fuzz Martin: little studio. It's not that tiny.

[00:01:42] Shanna Martin: I mean, it's a good size studio at your office. Yeah. So

[00:01:46] Fuzz Martin: it's fun. 50 square feet. I'm just kidding tell you that.

[00:01:50] Shanna Martin: No,

[00:01:50] Fuzz Martin: no,

[00:01:52] Shanna Martin: that's

[00:01:52] Fuzz Martin: more than that.

[00:01:55] Shanna Martin: So anyway, we are at a slightly larger table that's not our kitchen counter.

[00:01:59] Shanna Martin: Mm-hmm. And the holidays have wrapped up. We are back at school today and. The whole inspiration for this podcast this week because we have been off for a week and a half here.

[00:02:16] Fuzz Martin: Mm-hmm.

[00:02:17] Shanna Martin: It's been a lot of quality time at home with our family.

[00:02:20] Fuzz Martin: Yes.

[00:02:21] Shanna Martin: And our youngest child. She is very much into like science and math and things, and there has been a whole lot of Crunch Labs.

[00:02:33] Fuzz Martin: Yes. Mark Rober.

[00:02:34] Shanna Martin: Mark Rober. Because now it's on Netflix, it's been on U, he's been on YouTube for a while, a long time actually. I've used him, his videos on science and NASA and stuff in my classroom before. Mm-hmm. And now that it's on Netflix, then she flipped back to YouTube and she's like, oh my gosh.

[00:02:50] Shanna Martin: So we've spent a lot of time with Mark Rober and the Crunch Labs people. Yeah. Problem solving and building. Mm-hmm. And she also got a Crunch Labs. Subscription. Subscription, yeah. For Christmas, which he

[00:03:01] Fuzz Martin: asked for for Christmas. Mark Rober is a former NASA engineer turned.

[00:03:07] Shanna Martin: YouTuber. Yeah.

[00:03:08] Fuzz Martin: YouTube personality.

[00:03:09] Fuzz Martin: These friends with Mr. Beast and all that kind of stuff. Yeah.

[00:03:12] Shanna Martin: But it's cool. I mean, it's super engaged. Yeah. Mean, honestly, all, all of us are at our house are watching it, which is funny 'cause she's into it. But I'll be cooking dinner or I was grading papers and I was doing things and also watching in the background too.

[00:03:23] Fuzz Martin: It goes on as soon as she wakes up and then we have to tell her to turn it off and then goes on again later in the day. Yeah.

[00:03:29] Shanna Martin: Yeah. And then she started building a little kitten. Aspiring little Frisbees in all of us and the dog and it's a thing. So anyway, needless to say, there's been a lot of Crunch labs in our house.

[00:03:38] Shanna Martin: So then it inspired me for this week's podcast to then talk about some stuff that goes along with. Problem solving and and coding and things like that. And I started digging for some resources for my students, for my enrichment class, besides showing a Mark Rover video or two to them. I want them to work on some coding and I was looking for sites that are different ones I've talked about in the past, and also looking at specific skill sets this time around.

[00:04:06] Shanna Martin: So for episode 2025, we are talking about coding. We're gonna talk about two different coding websites. The, and both of them fall into like teaching problem solving skills, giving students comfort and typing, which is something I started thinking about the more I started thinking about, like we do a lot of scratch coding, elementary, like learning how to code, but students so often now are used to swiping or even a lot of our Chromebooks in our school are touchscreen where.

[00:04:34] Shanna Martin: Like teaching them to code. Like there's some typing skills that go along with coding and some of our students are lacking in that area, so it's kind of a good way to make them more conscious of how they're typing or what they're typing. It's a creative space. It's on a computer, but it's a creative space for students to be able to come up with their own ideas and brainstorm.

[00:04:51] Shanna Martin: And there's. You know, a lot of safety nets built in. They're not just gonna start creating something and it's gonna be an epic fail. Like yeah, it may not work. And they can go back and make adjustments, teaches a lot of future skills that we're seeing that students are gonna need, and getting them future ready.

[00:05:04] Shanna Martin: And then there's lots of challenges. So even if students, I have quite a few students that are pretty adept at coding, but then it pushes them to the next level. So the first site we're gonna talk about is Kadi Kadi.

[00:05:18] Fuzz Martin: Coddy,

[00:05:19] Shanna Martin: it's C-O-D-D-Y. Tech is the way to get there, and you can, when you get to Coddy, you can go ahead.

[00:05:33] Shanna Martin: I have an account, so it always, of course, jumps into your account as soon as you create one. So as you go into Coddy, it says like, what is your purpose? So what are you going to be coding? Four, which is really helpful because if you're gonna have Stu students like single sign in with Google, then you can have them choose the level that they are at.

[00:05:53] Shanna Martin: So not every student in your class has to be coding at the exact same level. Mm-hmm. And you can start, like they start with, how do you wanna learn? Like, I have no idea. Like maybe they haven't been exposed to coding and maybe you have students that are way further along. I would say this would be probably fifth, sixth grade on up.

[00:06:10] Shanna Martin: It does walk you through step by step, but just understanding and making sure students, your district is good with single sign-on with Google and things like that. Sure, sure. Python, HTML, JavaScript, Java, c plus plus, CSS. They've got a whole list of all the different types of coding you can learn, which is great.

[00:06:29] Shanna Martin: So students can pick or you can guide them with, which you would like them to start with. And then like I just picked JavaScript to start with. That's where most of my students are usually starting at, and then they can say if they're a complete beginner, if they have some experience but need a refresher, they're confident in their coding skills or they're expert at coding.

[00:06:47] Shanna Martin: So it can work up through different levels. You're not just, everybody's stuck in the same place as your starting point. Mm-hmm. Then once you choose like where you're at, it sets you up with your little journey and it's basically like a little like. Button path and it teaches you each skill one at a time walks you through.

[00:07:11] Shanna Martin: So it'll like the first one, it'll say, here's your information. You can click start, and then you get your screen. It's like my next one is like variables. Teaches you how to type in the screen, type in Java, walk you through the step. Now this is not super gamey, like some of the sites we've talked about in the past.

[00:07:26] Shanna Martin: This is gonna be like teaching code. Here's the information and it walks you through each spot. It gives you challenges, it gives you the solutions. If you're stuck, like it will just walk you through the solution. It will also give you the warnings, like saying, Hey, like you messed up this part of the code.

[00:07:42] Shanna Martin: You need to fix this part. So it walks you through everything step by step. It's a great way, it would be a great way to set up a computers class or like, I have the ability to teach an enrichment class. That's where I do a lot of my coding and my robots, with my students. But even if it's just indoor recess in the winter, 'cause we all know in.

[00:08:02] Shanna Martin: January and February in Wisconsin and March, and sometimes April it gets super cold and you have indoor recess or it's raining outside. This would be a great way like tool to throw in for kids where they're learning but they're having fun, but they're engaged. They have a daily challenge built in. You set your own goals and then you earn little treasure chests.

[00:08:21] Shanna Martin: Mm-hmm. And there's a little leaderboard. And then there's like a store. So as you earn your little points while you get through your challenges, you can buy little things. They do have a pro version where you can unlock and all the extras are in there, but you can just walk your students through. And actually the program itself will walk them through a step by step the fundamentals of what they're learning for which effort type of code they're learning.

[00:08:44] Shanna Martin: Are you coding right now? Yeah, I'm learning Python. Where are you?

[00:08:48] Fuzz Martin: Python.

[00:08:49] Shanna Martin: Yeah. I already threw like lesson three. They go pretty quick because you can set goals for each day. So you can say you only wanna learn five minutes a day and that's what will set you up like for success for five minutes. Doesn't keep dragging you on.

[00:09:04] Shanna Martin: If you wanna do 10 minutes a day or half an hour a day, you will also do that too. So you do have those like flexibility and I want a five in a day lesson, even as a teacher. So that way you're brought up to speed on stuff that your students are doing. It's an easy way to learn a new skill in the new year if that's something you're interested in, but also it's a really easy way for your students to set goals and to meet them for the school year too.

[00:09:23] Shanna Martin: All with different types of coding. Yeah. So Coty Teche, ODDY Tech would be your starting point and I'll link it into. Smart wi as well. Sweet. So you can check it out and do a little coding and start your little coding journey and learning something new or the start of the school year.

[00:09:43] Fuzz Martin: Excellent.

[00:09:44] Shanna Martin: Which is super fun.

[00:09:47] Shanna Martin: So along the coding, problem solving way of life, the other site I'm gonna talk about is. Well, it starts with ra raspberry pi.org, so R-A-S-P-B-E-R-R-Y-P i.org. So a hundred years ago now about, what are we at now? She is 21, so 11 years ago. Yeah, 12 years ago. The ELT in our life was really into coding. She was, yeah.

[00:10:21] Shanna Martin: We do this sometimes in our household, and she has built. Two raspberry pies, I think. Yep. And so like that's where we started in our family with Raspberry Pie. But what's really cool is you go to raspberry pie.org. The Raspberry Pie Foundation has a whole learning section of resources. So you just click learn and is like, learn to code, join the code club.

[00:10:47] Shanna Martin: Coding at home challenges and showcases, explore the coolest projects. So if you scroll down, you can pick and choose where you wanna do coding. You don't have to have a raspberry pie in order to do so. Okay.

[00:11:00] Fuzz Martin: Okay.

[00:11:00] Shanna Martin: But what I found was if you go to projects, do raspberry pi.org. Mm-hmm. It'll take you straight to the project section that you can build on your computer, and work on any computer.

[00:11:15] Shanna Martin: It does not have to be in a home built raspberry pi, so projects dot raspberry pi.org. And you have a whole collection and it starts with what are you interested in? So if you're interested in nature, space, stories, games, art, health, music, sports and science, which I love because it ties coding in with other subject areas.

[00:11:34] Shanna Martin: Yeah. Like coding is not just, if you're gonna sit on a computer, you can learn how to code and tie into something else. So I'm gonna go with nature because it's cute. And then this, I'm sure will be happening in our house this afternoon. The. Nature connections, then go through scratch. So again, use signup or you log in.

[00:11:57] Shanna Martin: When you log in, it'll be another one of those little Google logins. And then. Like you can choose cats and then you can create a game that guides your cats to safety from falling into holes, and you can learn how to code that in scratch. So this, you'll definitely see, you can start younger for sure, first grade on up, and it will give you the different scratch levels.

[00:12:20] Shanna Martin: So if you students already have some familiarity with scratch. This will walk them through some of the basics so you can program an animation to learn about the United Nations five environmental focused, sustainable, developmental goals. And you can learn all about nature that way you can grow a dragonfly, you can make a dragonfly that grows bigger as it eats annoying mosquitoes and other insects.

[00:12:42] Shanna Martin: It gives you downloadable directions for some of them, or you could print them for your students. If they need to see the directions on one page and then type, sometimes I do that for my students, depending on their needs. Mm-hmm. Where they'll have like print directions 'cause it's easier while they're working in scratch.

[00:13:00] Shanna Martin: So you do have that option. It works you up again through different levels and different interest areas, which I love because then you have coding along with the topic that you're interested at, the level that you are. Starting to code it and your grade level. The other thing is it's not just scratch.

[00:13:19] Shanna Martin: They also have access through Raspberry Pi projects. You can use Python. They have web development, ai, physical computing, 3D and CAD projects. So they do have a breakdown for a variety of different types of technology and different types of coding that can teach your students different topics and different interesting coding pieces.

[00:13:44] Shanna Martin: The other part is if you wanna choose instead of have your students, instead of choosing by the topic they're interested and what you want them to learn, you can choose that direction. So you can sort it by scratch. Python, AI data, 3D, cad, physical computing. So you can sort projects by what type of computing you want them to do or by what interest area you want them to.

[00:14:06] Shanna Martin: And again, tons of resources. Very easy to get going in your classroom. Again, this could be an ongoing project. Maybe you could do this as a whole class as you guys are kind of learning together. You could have one kid in charge of typing each day while it's on the screen. Maybe it's five minutes a day, but also it's a great way to teach your kids these problem solving skills where it's not just handed to you.

[00:14:27] Shanna Martin: You're gonna have to try it. If it doesn't work, you're gonna have to try it again. And it's a fun way to do it. So both of these sites, while the Raspberry Pi Foundation, they're definitely more graphic and pretty,

[00:14:39] Fuzz Martin: yeah,

[00:14:39] Shanna Martin: you're gonna learn really straightforward basics, easy to understand in both places, and like setting goals and having students achieve those, which is awesome.

[00:14:49] Shanna Martin: And all through coding and problem solving.

[00:14:53] Fuzz Martin: Mm-hmm.

[00:14:53] Shanna Martin: And there's lots of fun things to do.

[00:14:56] Fuzz Martin: Yeah, it's cool site. Make sure you go to raspberry pie.org. You go to raspberry pie.com. It is the place where you buy the equipment, so

[00:15:06] Shanna Martin: Gotcha. So noted org,

[00:15:07] Fuzz Martin: but it's projects do raspberry pie.org.

[00:15:10] Shanna Martin: Yeah.

[00:15:10] Shanna Martin: That'll take you straight to the project page then you don't have to search for it. Yeah. So projects dot Raspberry Pi.

[00:15:17] Fuzz Martin: Great.

[00:15:18] Shanna Martin: Yeah, so check it out. Two very cool coding sites. Fun for kids to do, engaging for adults to do, and build some time into your day as we kick off. 2026.

[00:15:31] Fuzz Martin: Yes.

[00:15:32] Shanna Martin: Yay. Well, thanks for tuning in.

[00:15:33] Shanna Martin: This has been the Tech Tools for Teachers Podcast. If you ever have any questions, find me on Blue Sky Threads, Facebook and Instagram at smartinwi. And if you wanna get more information on the links to the technology discussing this episode of Visit Smartinwi.com. If you'd like support the show, please consider buying me a coffee or two.

[00:15:49] Shanna Martin: Visit. Buy me a coffee.com/ smartinwi or visit Smartinwi.com and click on that cute little purple coffee cup. Your donations help keep the show going. New episodes each week. Thanks for listening. Go educate and innovate.

[00:16:01] Fuzz Martin: The ideas and opinions expressed on this podcast and the smartinwi website are those of the author Shanna Martin and not a firm employer.

[00:16:07] Fuzz Martin: Prior to using any of the technologies discussed on this podcast, please consult with your employer regulations. This podcast offers no guarantee that these tools will work for you as described. But we sure hope they do.

[00:16:26] Fuzz Martin: Sh.