Scratch Day at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, 1-4pm

Calling all Pittsburgh Scratchers! Join us for Scratch Day on Saturday, May 19, at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (Teen Dept.) in Oakland from 1-4PM. This event, geared for total newbies to advanced Scratchers, features a Scratch introduction and how-to, game creation and play, showcases, and snacks!

Scratch Day is a worldwide network of gatherings, where people come together to meet fellow Scratchers, share projects and experiences, and learn more about Scratch—a programming language that makes it easy to create and share interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art on the web. Last year, more than 125 Scratch Day events were held in 36 countries around the globe.

Pittsburgh teenagers (grades 6-12), mentors, and educators are strongly encouraged to bring a laptop to the event. Only a limited number of laptops will be provided.

Scratch Day in Pittsburgh is presented by Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Chevron Center for STEM Education and career Development at Carnegie Science Center, The Ellis School and Girls, Math & Science Partnership a program of Carnegie Science Center. This event is sponsored by The Ellis School and Spark, Supporting the Kids+Creativity Network

Read on to find out more about our presenters and their roles for Scratch Day at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh:

This summer, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh will launch The Labs, an on-going system-wide digital learning program. The Labs will offer free formal and informal digital technology programs to Pittsburgh teens in 6th to 12th grade. From graphic design, to filmmaking, photography, computer programming, Arduino, and more, The Labs promotes hands-on learning, creativity, and fun. On May 19th we'll accomplish this by hosting Scratch Day at CLP-Main - Teen Department. CLP teen services librarians will be on-hand making Scratch buttons with our button-maker and leading a hands-on game for new Scratchers.

At The Ellis School, nearly 100 of our girls at the Middle and Upper School divisions know the programming language Scratch. Many have developed their own games using the program. On Saturday, May 19, Ellis girls will serve as peer to peer mentors for other kids who may be new to scratch. Ellis girls are known for their math and science skills and consistently win awards at events like the FIRST robotics competition, where Ellis has more girls on the Girls of Steel all-girl robotics team than any other school in the region.

Girls, Math & Science Partnership — part of Carnegie Science Center’s Chevron Center for STEM Education and Career Development—offers programs to engage, educate and inspire girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math. The winner of the 2010 Digital Media and Learning Competition, GMSP received the MacArthur grant, which led to the transformation of the popular “spy themed” summer camp, Click!, the Urban Science Adventure, into a web-based video game, Click! Spy School, with the help of Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center (ETC). Gaming continues to be an important aspect of GMSP's mission because girls can benefit greatly from both playing and programming video games. Click! Agents in Training, for example, play a Javascript game aptly called RoboJava, and then learn to use Scratch programming tools. Saturday, GMSP will contribute challenge-based activities to the Scratch Day PGH experience!