Time for projects, limiting myself limits my kids

As I am still helping my kids get done with our first major project I have come to realization that it takes second graders a long, long time to finish a project. I guess I already knew that but had hoped I was wrong.

With only 50 minutes a week to devote to using Scratch it is hard to support 23 young learners by myself, not a complaint just a reality. With that said the first project was a unrelated project, What I mean is that we as a group had chosen to have the kids write a project that introduced themselves to others. Now that  was a good idea but didn't really relate closely to the curriculum that I have to teach. Taking the time to do the project helped introduce Scratch to my learners but didn't really help me with curriculum integration.
As I read Molly's comments that she is finding lots of ways to integrate it makes me ask myself why. One reason I suppose is she has the freedom to look at many ages groups and fit a project to the knowledge/skill  level of a group. most of the projects ideas I have seen work with older kids. But another reason is that  I have limited my perimeters to just starting with the introduce project. I guess I was trying to get all the kids finished before moving on, this is just not possible and because this project didn't directly support my learning goals I didn't feel I could have kids working on it  at other times. As I look toward the next project that does relate to my science goals, I am very excited that it is going to really motivate my kids to try to complete it.

I plan to write a rubic or check list with the kids so they have a clear understanding of what they need to do. I will also feel more open to having them work on the project during other times of the day/week (outside of the computer class's 50 minutes) because it is supporting a teaching goal in my classroom.
Lyne:)