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Sunday group breaking for Christmas 2 December 2018

The last session for the Sunday group in 2018 will be on 2 December as the school Christmas Fair is on Sunday 9 December.

The start of the Spring term for the Sunday sessions is expected to be on Sunday 13 January 2019, this will be confirmed at a later date and links for re-registering will be emailed out to parents.

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Countdown to Coolest Projects

Only a few more days left to Coolest Projects on Saturday May 26th.

Its shaping up to be a great day. CoderDojo Dun Laoghaire has a great representation, rumour has it the largest of all the Dojos in Ireland! Well done everyone.

On the day there’s over 14 fun filled activities for kids and parents alike – take your pick from

– ToG Soldering and Lock picking
– PiJam
– Turtle Stitching
– Wearables
– Drones
– LED Cube

And there’s some great speakers and panels covering topics such as teaching your kids good Digital Habits, the challenges of teaching technology subjects and how to keep girls interested in STEAM!

And there’s even an Experiential Area where you can do some hands-on workshops!

If you have registered a project then one Parent or Guardian is also automatically registered. Additional parents or guardians that want to come must also register. Remember to avail of your free ticket here and using the code CPFREECD

And finally don’t forget our Ninjas will be showcasing our very own Project Scorpion. Here’s a teaser – check it out at CoolestProjects!.

Hope to see you there!

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Scratch 3 is coming in August 2018!

A new version of Scratch is coming this August!

3 Things To Know About Scratch 3.0 (from the MIT Scratch Team) –

1. Scratch 3.0 will have more ways to create and share

  • Create, share, and remix projects on tablets (in addition to laptops and desktops, of course)
  • Choose from dozens of new characters, backdrops, and sounds
  • New paint and sound editors make it easier to remix and manipulate characters, music, and sounds
  • With the new extension system, children can program physical devices (like micro:bit) and web services (like Google Translate)

2. Scratch 3.0 will have new support for getting started

  • New in-editor experience for first-time users
  • New bite-sized how-to videos
  • Updated Scratch Activity Cards and Educator Guides
  • Updated Creative Computing Curriculum from our friends at Harvard ScratchEd
  • Updated tutorials from our friends at Code Club and CS First

3. Scratch 3.0 is still the Scratch you know and love

  • All existing projects and accounts will continue to work in Scratch 3.0
  • All existing programming blocks will still be there (and we’re adding some new ones!)
  • Scratch 3.0 will be translated and available in many different languages
  • The offline versions of Scratch 1.4 and Scratch 2.0 will still be available
  • Scratch will continue to be free for all!

More info here

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On Easter break!

As noted on our home page, CoderDojo Dun Laoghaire runs during term time!

So we are now on our Easter break, with Sunday sessions starting up again on 8th April, and Wednesday sessions restarting on 11th April.

Thanks to all our wonderful mentors for the time they give to our ninjas – looking forward to seeing everyone back in April.

To our fabulous ninjas, a reminder that registration for Coolest Projects closes on Sunday 25th March – make sure you’ve got your entry in before then! Register by clicking this link

Happy Easter everyone!

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Good is the Enemy of Great – Bob Rotella

Recently, at the Convention Centre in Dublin, world-famous psychologist Dr Bob Rotella gave a talk entitled “Good is the Enemy of Great“.

Some of the things he said included the following thought-provoking statements:

“… many of you decide that good is good enough for you, or is acceptable for you, or is enough for you – you’ve given up the chance of ever being great at whatever it is that you do.“

“The point is, this is your life, and what are you going to do with it?”

 “there are things other people could do, can do, are able to do, but choose not to because it is too hard”
“Are you really going to spend your life going for your dreams or are you going to give up on your dreams? Or are you going to get up every day and give it all you got?”
” If you  want to do something special you have to be an amazing optimist. Somehow you create this feeling inside yourself. You have to create a feeling that you have got something special in you.
“You have to feel like you are deserving of doing some really cool stuff in life. You have to feel like you take advantages of opportunities when they are around you or fall in your lap.”
“The greatest thing about being a human being is we are born with a free will. You get to choose every minute of every day how you are going to think about youself.“