Lesson 3: Swimming Fish with Sprite Lab
55 minutes
Overview Objectives
Students will program a simple animated underwater Students will be able to:
scene in this skill-building lesson.
Create new sprites and assign
them costumes and behaviors.
Purpose Define “sprite” as a character or
object on the screen that can be
This lesson is designed to introduce students to the core
moved and changed.
vocabulary of Sprite Lab, and allow them to apply
concepts they learned in other environments to this tool.
By creating a fish tank, students will begin to form an
understanding of the programming model of this tool,
Preparation
and explore ways they can use it to express themselves. Play through the puzzles to find
any potential problem areas for
your class.
Full Course Alignment
Standards Make sure every student has a
reflection journal.
CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards (2017)
AP - Algorithms & Programming
Links
Agenda Heads Up! Please make a copy of
Warm Up (10 minutes) any documents you plan to share
Introduction with students.
Bridging Activity (10 minutes) For the teachers
Main Activity (20 minutes) CSF - Course E - Slides 2022-
Swimming Fish with Sprite Lab 2023 - Slides (Download)
Wrap Up (15 minutes) Make a Copy
Reflection Swimming Fish Teacher Sandbox
- Programming Level
For the students
Sprite Lab Documentation -
Resource
Vocabulary
Behavior - An action that a sprite
performs continuously until it’s
told to stop.
Sprite - A graphic on the screen
with a location, size, and
appearance.
Teaching Guide
Warm Up (10 minutes)
Introduction
Display: Show "Reflect" slide
Reflect: How can we safely present ourselves online?
Do this: Ask students to reflect on previous two lessons. Students should know the difference between
personal and private information. Students should also understand how to be an upstander.
Teaching Tip
Reflection prompts like these can be completed in a variety of styles. Journaling or discussion (with
groups or partners) are great options!
Vocabulary
Display: Show "Vocabulary" slide
Before heading into the Main Activity, introduce or review today's lesson vocabulary.
Behavior - An action that a sprite performs continuously until it’s told to stop.
Sprite - A graphic on the screen with a location, size, and appearance.
Bridging Activity (10 minutes)
Today students will learn how to work with sprites in Sprite Lab.
Display: Show “Bridging Activity” slide
Discuss: Let the students know that this character on the screen is a sprite. It is a graphic that is
controlled by a program. In this lesson, students will have the opportunity to choose their own sprites to
control.
Swimming Fish Teacher Sandbox
Using a projector, show the sandbox level to your students. The goal is to make connections to the
previous lesson and show them some of the unique ways that Sprite Lab works. Model writing a few
programs and ask students to share their observations.
Teaching Tip
Sprite Lab works differently in some ways from the other online tools in the course. Most importantly,
all code runs in order and immediately unless attached to an event block. This is different from tools
where one line of code runs at a time with an observable wait in between.
What blocks would we need to connect to make the tumbleweed spin?
What would happen if we told the sprite to begin two behaviors at once?
Will the sprite ever stop these behaviors on its own?
If we want the sprite to stop a behavior when we click it, how might we do that?
Main Activity (20 minutes)
Swimming Fish with Sprite Lab
Goal: Today, students will be programming their own Fish Tank. They’ll begin by learning how to put
some sprites on the screen, then they will make them move. Finally, they’ll customize their fish tank to
add whatever creatures and objects they want.
Display: Show “Introducing Sprite Lab” video
Transition: Move students to their computers. Encourage students to follow the instructions for each
puzzle. Help them realize that this is a creative activity, intended to help them learn Sprite Lab. It is not
an assessment activity of any sort.
Teaching Tip
Encourage students with questions/challenges to start by asking their partner. Unanswered
questions can be escalated to a nearby group, who might already know the solution. Have students
describe the problem that they’re seeing:
What is it supposed to do?
What does it do?
What does that tell you?
1 Video: Introducing Sprite Lab
Display: Show “Level 2 - Predict” slide
2 Prediction
Display: Show “Level 3-5 - Skill Building” slide
3-5 Skill Building
3 4 5
Display: Show “How to Make a Sprite” video
6 Video: How to Make a Sprite
Display: Show “Level 7-8 - Practice” slide
7-8 Practice
7 8
Display: Show “Level 9 - Free Play” slide
9 Free Play
Wrap Up (15 minutes)
Reflection
Display: Show “Reflect” slide
Reflect:
What was today's lesson about?
Was it difficult to finish a lesson where there was no clear "right" and "wrong"?
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