The Tonka Codes curriculum includes computer science learning for students in grades K-12, and for sixth graders in Lisa Reed's computer science course, a project called Tonka Doodles has given coders a new purpose and audience for their work.

"In 6th grade our goals for computer science include getting kids 'hooked' on the subject, introducing and applying basic programming concepts and teaching students the importance of collaboration in computer science," shared Ms. Reed. "The Tonka Doodles project really does it all while providing students an authentic audience for their work, as well."

Similar to Google Doodles, sixth grade computer science students coded their own unique "Tonka" messages for holidays every month that are then submitted to and displayed on the Computer Science and Coding page of the Minnetonka Schools website.

In addition to practicing programming skills, the Doodle project gave students an opportunity to practice teamwork, leadership and responsibility. "Students use the Scrum method to create their doodles, which is a simple framework for effective team collaboration on complex problems," said Ms. Reed. "Distance learning has brought this project to a whole new level. Students used a combination of the Google suite, Schoology discussion boards and Trello to organize their Scrum boards. We are SO proud of what our quarter 4 distance learning students accomplished!"

To create their doodles, students agreed to a common group plan that involved sketches and a description for how they would animate the letters in their doodle. "This quarter, we also designated a Scrum master to each group," said Ms. Reed. "The Scrum masters were our go-to people for getting information out to groups and submitting work."

The Tonka Doodles are updated monthly on the district Computer Science and Coding webpage. Two of Ms. Reed's favorites from the year include the doodles for National Ski & Snowboard Day and Earth Day.