Western Coventry Students Win Technology Grant, Participate in Coding Event

Students at Western Coventry Elementary School are gearing up for a computer coding event to be held Friday, following the school's recent win of a $10,000 technology grant from event sponsor, Computer Science Education Week.

Of 10 grants awarded by the organization, Western Coventry was the only Rhode Island school selected by way of a lottery and will participate in "The Hour of Code" along with more than 150 RI schools and organizations, including the Regional Career & Technical Center at Coventry High School.

According to Principal Amy Anzalone, all 424 Western Coventry students from kindergarten through fifth grade will participate in the worldwide event, part of Computer Science Education Week, Dec. 9-15. The campaign gives students a chance to learn basic programming activities on browsers, tablets and smartphones.

As of Monday night, the Computer Science Education Week website reported 38,141 organizers plan to host The Hour of Code for 4,870,112 students, across 168 countries. 

During the week, students will learn about careers involving computer coding, watch short video clips from the Hour of Code website and work on coding games and activities from www.code.org.

Western Coventry will hold an assembly Friday afternoon to celebrate its ongoing learning and teaching of computer science.

"Our assembly will make a strong statement that Coventry, Rhode Island is ready to teach our students critical 21st century skills," said Anzalone. "We want to ensure that our students are on the forefront of creating technology of the future, not just consuming it."

Click here to view the complete (and impressive) list of schools worldwide participating in the 2013 "Hour of Code".