iCodeDC Meetup

Please note location change.

iCodeDC was founded in January 2017 and is part of the global CoderDojo movement (http://coderdojo.com/) of free coding clubs for young people. It is our goal to provide both exposure and inspiration to the development and writing of software code to the young people of the Washington DC Metropolitan area. The current focus is front end development (HTML, CSS and Javascript).

Our sessions occur the 2nd Saturday of each month from 2:30p – 4:30p at the Woodridge Branch Library in Washington, DC (Corner of Rhode Island Ave and 18th St NE). Thanks to the generosity and the work of our volunteers, our Dojo is free and open to all Washington, DC area youth.

If your child wants to learn how to code or if you’d be interested in finding out more about our Dojo, please feel free email us at [masked] and follow us on twitter @icode_dc (https://twitter.com/icode_dc).

What to expect

All children must be accompanied by a parent and we encourage all parents to participate.

Each session lasts 2 hours and each follows a similar format. We start with a full group presentation or activity and then break up into sections based on programming interests. We allow the children to experiment using various programs from Swift Playground, Scratch, Twine, HTML, Minecraft modding and Python, to building hardware projects with Raspberry Pi’s. (Don’t know where to go? Don’t worry, we are here to help.). Children are welcomed to look at the projects being worked on by their fellow coders and are also encouraged to assist others. It’s all about collaboration and teamwork.

At the end of each session, we reassemble and provide each coder an opportunity to present their work to the group. As a closing activity, coders find sharing their code fun and rewarding.

What to bring

A laptop or iPad/Tablet. A creative mind, positive energy, and desire to learn something fun and new is the real requirement. Note: We have a couple of extra laptops that kids can borrow.

If the coder has programming experience and are currently working on a project, feel free to bring it with you.

Software to install (optional)

If you are able to bring a laptop, it is recommended (optional) that you install the following free software programs that may be utilized during the sessions:

Swift

http://www.apple.com/swift/playgrounds/

Scratch

https://scratch.mit.edu/

TechRocket

https://techrocket.com

Codecademy

https://codecademy.com

We have found that kids enjoy these beginner coding softwares.

More information will be provided soon in regards to other software installations.