Love Letters for Computers is a ten part YouTube series intended for primary school educators, covering the basics of computer science. But what makes it a love letter?
For the last five years I’ve been traveling around the world and working with primary school teachers from Melbourne to Tokyo, from New York to Tbilisi, helping them see the world of computer science the way I see it: as something beautiful, lovable and playful. I wanted to remind teachers how much technology can be about passion, people and their big ideas. And I wanted everything to look and feel like you just fell into a Wes Anderson or Sophia Coppola film.
A new perspective to the world
Teaching computer science in primary school is not only about coding. It’s about developing a love of learning and offering widely-applicable, long-term ideas. A way of thinking that provides a new perspective to the world. And that’s what computer science does.
We shouldn’t teach computer science only because it’s useful, but because it’s interesting and intensely creative. Computer science blends intellectual pleasure of reason and logic with the practicality of engineering. It blends the beauty of arts with the change-the-world ethos of social sciences.
The big luminaries of computing like Claude Shannon and Ada Lovelace, blended together philosophy and math and crafts to create modern computers. For the future of computing, we need students to combine their interest in human brains, oboe playing or nature with computer science to take the field as well as the world forward.
And teachers, they play a huge role in changing the ideas of children around computer science.
After this series, I hope more teachers start to think about computer science as another tool they can use to express their ideas, just like crayons, posters or play-doh.
1,5 years ago I got grant funding from Dubai World Expo Live to realise this series. The videos cover things like hardware, I/O systems, networks, machine learning as well as diversity & equity. The website includes 28 classroom worksheets, a teacher journal with prompts to reflect your learning and other resources to support professional development.
Little bit of love
And here we are, ready to launch.
I hope the series finds its audience, the curious, creative primary school teachers.
I hope teachers will use it for professional development, parents for educating themselves about computer science and policymakers to get a sense of what computer science is beyond coding.
And finally. I hope for a generation of children that see computer science as playful, fun, thoughtful — a field that’s created with a little bit of, well, love. 💌
AK and Fatima, for making the world’s most beautiful series of love letters, and for insisting on changing the curtains even though no one else cares.
Aya, for the exquisite eye and joy you brought to the student and teacher materials.
Dubai Expo for setting the vision and helping me realise it.
Emma and Lilli, for making stuff happen when I froze and creating momentum by your pure presence.
Herttoniemi Elementary School, Helsinki English School and Helsinki International School for playtesting and supporting us in casting. Martta, Eva, Ebba and Ahti for art production and a fun Saturday of play.
The kids: Luna, Lamin, Pratyush, Pierce, Sarah and Eila. I’ll never forget my 33rd birthday with you, the Nyancat cake and the magical silence that fell for the last shot of the day.
Lagstad school museum for the beautiful, old premises to showcase modern technology. Marimekko and Huawei for providing props!
Lullatone, for creating a world of sound that suits us perfectly. I hope we get to work more in the future.
Otto, for getting me over a gigantic writers block.
Production team: Lauri, Tatu, Jyri and Riia for making sure the lights, sound, kids and me worked flawless. Anniina and Kai & Anssi for help with photos and electronics on set.
Saku, for early input and pushing me to the right direction (Dubai!)
Kiira, Pauli, Thomas, Severi, Mikko and Janne, for making sense of my miscellaneous drawings and doodles and turning them into call-sheets, sets, cuts and animations. You made miracles.
All the thousands of teachers I’ve met around the world in the last year or so in Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Denmark, Singapore, US, Norway, Georgia, Thailand, Mexico and Japan.
Mom & Dad, for reporting, calculating, researching and supporting your stubborn daughter through ups and downs.
We love to hear how teachers in different countries have used Hello Ruby in their classrooms. There are many creative ways to adopt Ruby in classroom and we encourage teachers to use their imagination. The Chinese Hello Ruby is published by Beijing Baby Cube.
Fuli Li’s class in Chongqing, China has been experimenting with Hello Ruby in teaching. In addition to reading the book and building a paper computer, the children have built interactive games of Ruby with Scratch and the classroom has been decorated with Hello Ruby posters.
“I’m very glad to share the happiness the adventures in coding bring to our kids. Children become active and concentrative every time we learn adventures in coding.”
“Children learn each chapter encouragingly and finish exercises according to each chapter. During the learning process, we also teach children to create their handmade computer activity. Children follow their heart to make their computer characteristic and they are satisfied with their computers.”
For Chinese speaking audience, check out the following games built around Ruby:
My class really enjoyed reading Hello Ruby: Adventures in Coding for our Computer Science program. They connected to the young girl making her way through codes and clues, while meeting new Avatars/Characters to help her on her journey.
As a response activity, I created my own “map” template like the illustration on pages 20 & 21. I let the students create their own world based on Ruby’s vision and add avatars in different parts of the map to help them along the way. It became a Computer Science/Art/Literature/Geography/Math activity that they enjoyed a great deal.
Hello Ruby: Building Your Own World
Directions: Now that you have seen Ruby’s World, you will try to create your own.
Cut out the 6 character pictures and place them anywhere inside your map border.
Make sure you spread them out.
Next, create landforms throughout your map that separate each character from each other. Define those landforms in the map key.
Lastly, create a SCALE that shows distances inside your world. Use that scale to measure the distance from one character to the next.
Finally, finally (lol) - make two sets of directions using your scale. How would you direct someone to walk from one character to another?
Task: In the book, Hello Ruby, the main character creates a map to find hidden gems. Using codes and hints, she uses her map to track down each gem with the help of “avatar” friends along the way.
While reading Hello Ruby, students start to identify coding terminology and realize that each avatar has a specific function. Ruby uses these avatar’s functions to help her solve her problems and find the hidden gems.
Students were given the task of creating their own “Worlds” based on the map Ruby made. Then, students placed their own avatars on their maps and decorated them with colored pencils. Students used each other’s maps to give directions or “program codes” to travel from one avatar to another.
Lance Ruggeri is teacher at PS58, The School of Heroes in New York City.
We are always extremely thrilled to see photos and stories about Ruby’s new adventures in social media. Ruby seems to be on this amazing and whimsical journey around the globe, and we’re more than delighted to see her meet new friends everyday as children join her to learn about computers, technology and programming.
In February we saw an extraordinary update on our Twitter feed. You see, Ruby had spent the whole week with Autumn Zaminski’s first grade class in Pennsylvania, US! We knew right away we had to ask Mrs. Zaminski if she would like to share more about their week-long journey with Ruby - and luckily, she agreed!
Thank you for having Ruby over for a week! We loved all the photos we got to see from this leg of her journey. (In fact, we were clapping hands, and our office-neighbours probably got scared by the squealing.)
Ruby and I first met on Amazon while I was surfing the Internet for my next great read aloud. (I like to think of myself as a curator of life changing children’s literature. While my husband thinks that I just like to buy A LOT of books!) But when I stumbled upon this book I knew almost instantly that this book belonged in my collection. Ruby was just the girl I was looking for to help show my students that through the power of creation they could change the world.
Ruby arrived at my doorstep a very long two days later. When it arrived I will admit, I did a happy dance. As I looked through the pages I could hear Linda’s words running through my head, “create something out of nothing with the pure power of logic” (Liukas, 2016).
As each page turned I could imagine an adventure, not just for Ruby, but also for my students. I imagined our own search for gems with lessons and wisdom along the way. My excitement was overflowing. I could not wait to reveal all of this to the student!
I sat down in my oversized chair with all 21 students sitting in front of me and I revealed to them our new class book! I gave a quick intro about our new friend Ruby who loved adventures and who also loved to ask why! We began reading all about her, and after meeting the Penguins we found a note in our book! A note that said:
In no time at all, those tiny first grade bodies were up and buzzing around the room. We quickly found a few clues and headed into the hall to continue the search! With some team work and help from a teacher, we were able to find the first red gem!
The students went WILD when we found the first gem! The first thing they wondered was when we could read more Ruby! The adventure had taken over all us more than I had ever imagined!
The Adventure Continues
Each day at 1:00 the students would rush in from specials and quietly find their place on the carpet so we could continue our journey. Each day we found new clues that led us on a new adventure.
The students found a series of clues (envelopes and pieces of corresponding paper). They discovered that there were letters in the envelopes. They worked together in groups to make words. Then they came together and put the words into sentences! They then used some visual math activities to solve part of the message. We finally found our gem in a classroom down the hall!
The students used several clues and a map to find a box in our classroom. Inside they found new tools for our classroom that would allow them to build inventions they had been writing about.
The students came in and were “programed” to move to specific spots in the room. They could only move exactly as they were directed. I used blockly coding vocabulary and numbers to prepare us for our first lesson on coding. They found clues that led them to a classmate. They also found envelopes that contained a HexBug and directions about engineering a maze or cage for their HexBug. Together they created some wonderful creations. See the video below!
On this day we read the last few chapters. As we read I began to notice that as each page turned my students became more sad. I finally had to stop and ask what was wrong. They were devastated that the story was going to be over and that they would not get to find the last gem. I reassured them and continued to read. When I got to the end, one student spoke up and said, “it is all about friendship!” It was one of those teaching moments that makes you immensely proud! I agreed with her and told them all that although our journey was over the lesson was just beginning. I had a brown paper bag sitting next to my chair. A student asked what it was for (perfect timing)! I told them that there was one last message.
It is all about the journey!
In the bag I had made a necklace with a green gem on it. I told them that I wanted them to look at their gem and remember the adventure that we all took together. I wanted them to remember that it is not always about the gem or the prize, often it is about the friendships and lessons we learn along the way!
I struggled with how to end this post. So I am going to leave it to the some of the most creative, hardworking, and sincere students that have ever walked through my classroom doors. I feel privileged to have taken this journey with them and with Ruby!
“It made me feel like we were all together because we had to work as a team.” Kali and Makaiah “When we were on our adventure it felt like we were with Ruby in all of the places she went.” Cami “We got to find the gems all together” Oscar “I loved the adventures of Hello Ruby” Ethan “It was a fun challenge to find all of the gems.” Adam G “I can’t believe we were able to solve problems and find the gems.” Adam A “It was amazing how the book came alive and it felt real.” Cami “I felt like I was in the book!” Naomi “I like when she realized it was not all about the gems. Her father sent her out to have fun and find new friends.” Nylee “We all used our imaginations and it felt like we were with Ruby!” Makaiah “I liked when Ruby and the green robots made cupcakes” Luis “I like when she bit into the cupcake she found the gem. Then when she was with Bossy Django and she let him keep the last gem.” Cadence
A very special thanks to the Hello Ruby team for making coding visible and applicable to young students all over the world! You inspire me to help mold the creators of tomorrow!
Autumn Zaminski First Grade Teacher Bermudian Springs Elementary School Pennsylvania, USA
Programming is coming to schools in a rapid pace. While it is awesome, it can also be a bit puzzling. Do you feel like you don’t know where to start? Is there too much material scattered all around the web? Or are you not sure of the school subjects that are suitable for teaching coding? We at Hello Ruby want to help.
That is why we built you a website with information and inspiration.
We spent a while researching teachers and found out that educators need a place to find concrete, hands-on resources for both learning and teaching programming. On our website’s Educator section you can now find a list of useful sites and apps to get acquainted with code.
You can also read about how other educators have used Ruby’s story in class – check out the teacher whose students built computers into lunchboxes and the teacher whose class took apart and reassembled real computing devices.
Attached to these wonderful educator stories we have built lesson plans for you. They are simple and detailed instructions on how to use Ruby’s exercises in class. Believe it or not, you can teach coding in for example sports, language and arts & crafts lessons!
This is just the beginning of our Educator site. We aim to make the website an abundant place for educators to find courage and help. If you have any feedback or wishes, please tell us at hello@helloruby.com. And if you want to tell us and other teachers your story, please share it here or on social media #helloruby.
Teacher: Samantha Teaches: 3-12-year-olds at Computational Thinkers after school program Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
“My students love using the My First Computer exercise. First, the students go on a ‘Hardware Scavenger Hunt’, where the students take apart all kinds of real computing devices. Once they feel comfortable with the names of the components they have found, they are ready to move onto building their first computer.
I give them a lunchbox for the computer case. We laminate the paper computer parts to make them ‘lunch proof’. Students then assemble their computers and apply for example music, emails and videos to their computer. We sing the phrase ‘Software tells the haaaardwaaare what to doo’, which helps them remember the basic difference between hardware and software.
After explaining to the students the different file types, one student handed a virus (made of paper) back and said: ‘I don’t want to put a virus in my computer. I’m only using my computer for good”. I was proud to take his virus back.
When the students then went to school the next day, using their computer lunch boxes, they all talked as if they were an elite group of kids that had a ‘computing power’ that was harnessed in their power lunch box. After they finished lunch, they would flip their lunch box over and pretend to type on the keyboard & create a game or a program that was, well, out of this world.”
“Ruby’s story inspired my students to go on a scavenger hunt!”
Teacher: Laura Teaches: 7-year-olds Location: Helsinki, Finland
“I read Ruby’s story to my first graders on their very first day of school. They listened and looked at the pictures carefully. After a break I told them they’ve got mail: Ruby had sent them a postcard. Ruby had hidden them a treasure that could be found by following a route drawn on a map of our school. Off we went to a scavenger hunt! We found clues and solved riddles I had left for the kids. After we had solved the whole puzzle, the last clue took us back to our class where we found the treasure in a big box: ABC books and other school utensils. At home the children told that they had had the best school day ever!
The students were eager to solve Ruby’s riddles. Ruby even stayed with us in the classroom: for many times she left something new and exciting in the treasure box.”
Teacher: Mikko Teaches: 10-12-year-olds Location: Helsinki, Finland
“We have built our own paper computers using Hello Ruby’s My First Computer exercise. I also used the exercise as a part of an activity where my students disassembled and then reassembled old PC’s. The activities helped students get acquainted with hardware vocabulary and worked as an introduction to how computers work. The children’s enthusiasm materialized as a working environment that I would compare to an anthill. The hustle and bustle was great!”
