My district has been implementing a coding project with our third graders this year utilizing Scratch.  It involves an educational fellow working with the district from LHRIC (Lower Hudson Regional Information Center).  She will come into our classrooms for ten sessions.
           The first five sessions focused either upon specifics of using Scratch (sprites, backgrounds, etc.) or upon elements of block coding (functions, loops, conditionals, etc.).  The remaining sessions will be used to allow the students to create a Scratch game.
           We decided to direct the students to make their games illustrate an aspect of our current Social Studies unit - which is the Arctic.  We hoped that they could connect an understanding of the adaptations involved in Arctic survival to their game.
          Most of the games that the students are creating center around chase games - such as a polar bear going after a seal, or an Inuit hunting a caribou - so the Arctic connection is rather loose.  However, the students are definitely learning to code.
         And what I see are the COVER dispositions in action! The students Visualize the way that they want their games to work.  They then need to Experiment with different ways to code their vision.  I feel they will better internalize the strategies they learn while coding their games, since they are in the service of their own goals.  The students Collaborate with each other to share ideas and strategies.  They have also shown Optimism in their pursuits.  The students feel that coding their game is within reach, although some parts of their plans may have to be revised.
       After the ten sessions are completed, we will see in the students' Reflections how they felt about the Arctic Scratch Project.