John Street School fifth graders were tasked with coding their Piper computers to recreate the lights and sounds of a siren on Nov. 21.

Last month, the fourth grade classes built the Piper computers – designed to be put together like a wooden puzzle – from scratch during their lessons with districtwide STEAM teacher Melissa Geiger. Now, during their lessons with districtwide coding teacher Julia Caizzo, the fifth graders are utilizing the computers to learn coding basics.

During their most recent lesson, the students were tasked with using the Piper computers and PiperCode to simulate a siren. Working in pairs, they built circuits with red and blue lights and wrote code with sounds to recreate their own version of a police car siren.

Districtwide, students engage in STEAM lessons with Ms. Geiger and coding lessons with Ms. Caizzo. The teachers spend approximately one month at each building, rotating throughout the school year.