I have done three Mondays of my little coding club. One more to go. Next time I do this it will not be 4 – 8 grades. It will be 6 – 8. Teaching 4th graders is not in my skill set. The diversity between them is too great for me to manage. Some cannot add 90 + 90 and get 180. Others do understand what 180 means in the sense of angles and turning a turtle. Some cannot understand there is no “down” turtle movement to make the turtle go towards the bottom of the screen. Others are showing the 7th and 8th graders how to do things. Last post I mentioned teaching them the x,y coordinate system. Nope, I will pass. Some will have no problems, others need to be a bit older. Their brain is not wired enough to do the task. I have high school students this way but I know how to handle the issue at that age, not at the 10 year old age.
It is necessary to do something at this level to understand the issues that building and teaching a CS curriculum K-12 presents. Anybody who says they have developed a good 4th grade curriculum has either written something to cover kids with abilities from 2nd – 8th grade, or they have no idea what they are talking about. My wife was an elementary and middle school teacher. I knew the range she dealt with in a single class. Knowing and doing are two vastly different things.