Once the stories have been recorded, ask students to try editing their videos using video editing software (Technologies/Arts)

Research the history of Halloween and give students the challenge of incorporating this information into their story (Literacy/Technologies/Arts)

Write a short story with a twist in the plot

Plan out a storyboard of how Marty will act out the story and consider what resources might be needed

Students will write a short story featuring Marty with the only rule that it has to be spooky with a twist somewhere in the plot. With some written stories, students will then code Marty to act out the story that can be recorded and later shared.

1. Discussion with the class about how short stories are structured (highlighting the importance of the plot of a story)

2. In small groups, students should begin to brainstorm ideas for their short stories that have a spooky twist somewhere in the plot before writing short stories

3. Students should then plan out a storyboard of their stories using the Storyboard Worksheet and gather props that they will need to help set the scene (including using Speech and Thought Bubble Worksheet to add text to their stories/videos)

4. Code Marty to act out the different scenes so that they are ready to be recorded

5. Action! 1 student should be in charge of recording the story whilst others run the code scripts and move props around

Sticks to hold up the speech and thought bubbles

Access to compatible devices connected to Marty on Scratch

Bubble Worksheet

Storyboard Worksheet

Halloween Lesson - Spooky Halloween Story

Discuss with other student groups what makes the game easy and difficult - what changes could they make to their programs to make the game more difficult? (Technologies/Literacy)

Add an additional falling sprite that the player needs to avoid, it could be another potion that is a different colour or something completely different (Technologies)

Add a timer to the game and challenge the player to catch as many potions as they can within that time (Technologies/Numeracy)

Describe the value that is returned from force sensors in Marty’s arms

Explain how hardware and software interact

Students will create a Halloween themed game where they control a sprite on the screen using Marty’s arm force sensors to catch the falling potion. They will require to use their knowledge about the force sensors, loops, functions and if statements to complete the game.

1. Discuss with the class what the sensors are on Marty’s arms and how they work (if students have not completed the handshake lesson then this will need to be introduced!)

2. Introduction that we are going to use the force sensors on Marty’s arms to move a sprite in Scratch to catch falling potion

3. In small groups, students should connect their device to Marty on Scratch 3 and add in appropriate stage background graphics and one sprite that will be moving around to catch the falling option

4. Students should begin to experiment with getting back the values from the force sensors and when this value hits the minimum value (usually 3) then the sprite should move accordingly - beware that if Marty is facing towards students they will have to code the sprite to move in the opposite direction

5. Once students have the sprite on the stage moving left and right based on the arm being pushed down on Marty, it’s time to code the falling potion

a. Add a new sprite (potion sprite is already available on Scratch but if students wish to design their own falling object then they can do this!)

b. Code the sprite to fall down the stage from a random x coordinate (students will need to explore the coordinate system on the Scratch stage to decide which values are appropriate)

6. In the students programs, they should make sure to measure both the y coordinate and whether the potion sprite has touched the sprite controlled by Marty so that they can code the potion to reset and begin falling from a different position

7. When the potion and the sprite controlled by Marty touch then that means that we have caught the falling potion, students should keep track of the number of times that we catch the potion by using a score variable

8. Encourage students to ask other groups to test out their game to make sure it fully works!

Halloween Lesson - Catch the Potion

Extend your program so that after Marty gives someone a fright, they do a small Halloween dance (Literacy/ Technologies/Arts)

Design and create a Halloween costume for Marty using different materials

Understand and explain what value is returned from Marty’s distance sensor

Get ready to show off some spooky coding skills by designing and creating a Halloween costume for Marty before coding Marty to give someone a Halloween fright when they walk by! By exploring the values returned from the distance sensor, learners can estimate when someone is near Marty to code Marty to quickly respond.

1. Class discussion of what they might dress up as for Halloween

2 Using the Design a Halloween Costume for Marty worksheet, ask students to design some Halloween costumes that they could create for Marty to wear

3. In small groups, work together to create one of the costume designs for Marty to wear using whatever resources and materials are available for them to use

4. Test your Halloween costumes by making sure that when Marty is wearing the costume, they can still walk and move around without tripping over the costume!

5. Introduce the distance sensor as a way of measuring how close or far away objects could be from Marty and explain that we will be using the distance sensor to detect when someone is nearby and code Marty to respond and give them a Halloween fright!

6. Using Scratch and some rulers, measure what the value returned from the distance sensor is by filling out the Measuring with the Distance Sensor worksheet

7. When someone is nearby, code Marty to respond by giving them a fright and saying boo!

Marty the Robot with attached distance sensor

Design a Halloween Costume for Marty worksheet

Materials to create costumes (fabric, scissors, glue)

Measuring with the Distance Sensor worksheet

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Halloween Lesson Plans & Resources

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