Storytelling and Communicating with Marty

45 Minutes

Lesson Overview

This is the first of five lessons that focus on literacy, numeracy, and social and emotional learning in the context of "THRIVING in challenging circumstances".

In this lesson, students will create a text about Marty. Students will develop character, setting, and plot then use MartyBlocks motion blocks to code Marty to move while they tell their story.

Key vocabulary:

Programming, Block coding, Plot, Character, Setting a scene, Storyboard,

Content Sections

Learning Objectives

Extensions & Challenges

Additional Reading

Storytelling and Communicating with Marty

45 Minutes

Lesson Overview

This is the first of five lessons that focus on literacy, numeracy, and social and emotional learning in the context of "THRIVING in challenging circumstances".

In this lesson, students will create a text about Marty. Students will develop character, setting, and plot then use MartyBlocks motion blocks to code Marty to move while they tell their story.

Key vocabulary:

Programming, Block coding, Plot, Character, Setting a scene, Storyboard,

Prerequisite Knowledge: Knowledge of conditional statements and loops
Device Compatibility: Tablet
Cross-curricular links: Literacy across learning
Necessary resources & equipment:

Learning Objectives

Students create a text of their choice and structure their story in a way that makes sense to the audience.
Describe events and develop ideas around characters, setting and plot using suitable vocabulary.
Convey information in different ways including text, speech and graphics.
Use blocks of code to make Marty move as needed for the story.

Use the example video and/or MartyBlocks code to brainstorm a matching storyline for Marty. Share ideas.
Ask students to decide on a setting for their own Marty story.
Students should decide on a fictional character for Marty in their story, explore how Marty might feel during the story and how Marty can be described.
Explain to students that they are going to make a storyboard to plan the scenes that make up their story and the moves that Marty will need to make.
Using their information about setting, character and plot, ask students to write their Marty story.
Students need access to MartyBlocks to put motion code blocks together to make Marty act the storyline.
Performance time! After practicing their storytelling and working out the timings for Marty, students can share their work with the class.

Extensions & Support

Encourage students to think about how they would improve their small programs and add further descriptive detail to their story and try to implement the ideas themselves.
If students have knowledge of sound blocks, explore adding sound effects to the story.
Stories could be recorded and pupils could put together a project showing the development of their Marty story from storyboard sketch through to final output.