Learning Goals 3 min
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
- Name the six block families and say what each one is for.
- Explain the seven big ideas that run through the whole level.
- Use the vocabulary list to check what you know and what needs another look.
Warm-Up 7 min
Before we list anything, look at what you actually made. Seven project arcs, each one finished and saved.
Quick-fire puzzle
Which of your seven projects would be hardest to explain to someone who has never used Scratch? Why that one?
Something to notice
Most people pick the catch game, because it has the most moving parts. But it is built from exactly the same blocks as the first scene — just more of them, arranged more carefully.
Nothing you met after Lesson 20 was harder than what came before. There was only ever more of it at once.
New Concept — the seven ideas underneath 15 min
Blocks are easy to look up. The ideas behind them are what actually make you able to build things, and there are only seven of them in the whole level.
The six block families
| Family | Colour | What it controls | A block you know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Motion | Blue | Where a sprite is and which way it faces | move (10) steps |
| Looks | Purple | What a sprite looks like and says | say [Hello!] for (2) seconds |
| Sound | Pink | What the project plays and how loudly | start sound [Pop v] |
| Events | Yellow | When a script starts | when flag clicked |
| Control | Orange | Waiting, repeating and stopping | repeat (10) |
| Variables | Dark orange | Numbers the project remembers | change [score v] by (1) |
Three families are still waiting for you: Sensing, Operators and My Blocks. All three arrive in Level 2.
The reset script, one last time
The single most useful habit in the level. Every project starts with a flag script that puts everything back — position, direction, size, visibility, backdrop, volume and every variable.
when flag clicked
go to x: (0) y: (0)
point in direction (90)
set size to (100) %
show
set [score v] to (0)
switch backdrop to [Blue Sky v]
What you can now build without help
A game with a score. A story with scenes and dialogue. An animation with sound. A project that resets cleanly and explains itself to a stranger.
That is not a beginner’s list. That is most of what a small project ever needs.
What is still missing
Two things, both arriving in Level 2. Your projects cannot yet notice anything — no touching, no conditions, no reacting to what is happening. And your sprites cannot talk to each other except by counting seconds.
Every awkward workaround you met — the manual victory key, the schedule chart, the waits that drift — is a place where one of those two would have helped.
Worked Example — read the level backwards 15 min
Instead of building something new, we take one finished script apart and name every idea in it. If you can do this, you know the level.
when flag clicked
set [score v] to (0)
show variable [score v]
go to x: (0) y: (0)
set size to (100) %
show
when this sprite clicked
start sound [Pop v]
change [score v] by (1)
go to [random position v]
Step 1 — Find the triggers
Two hat blocks, two completely different reasons to run. One waits for the flag, one waits for a click on this particular sprite. Idea 2.
Step 2 — Find the reset
Five blocks after the flag, and every one of them undoes something a previous run could have changed: the score, the readout, the position, the size, the visibility. Idea 5.
Step 3 — Find the add-or-replace decision
set [score v] to (0) replaces, because a new game does not depend on the old one. change [score v] by (1) adds, because a point depends on the score you already had. Idea 4.
Step 4 — Find the order that matters
Score first, then jump. Swap those two and a fast clicker can score twice on one roti. Idea 1, and it costs real points.
Step 5 — Find what is not there
There is no way for this script to notice that the score reached ten. The game cannot end by itself, which is why Lesson 42 needed a key you press yourself.
That gap has a name, and its name is Level 2.
Step 6 — Do the same to your own project
Open any project you built and pick one script. Write the idea number beside every block in it.
Step 7 — Find the one you would explain worst
Whichever idea you struggled to point at is the one to revisit. That is more useful than re-reading things you already know.
What changed: you can now look at blocks and see the ideas behind them, which is what makes the next level easier than this one was.
Try It Yourself — three checks 12 min
Goal: Name the family of ten blocks without looking.
Write down: glide (1) secs to x: (0) y: (0), next costume, wait (1) seconds, when [space v] key pressed, change volume by (-10), set size to (100) %, forever, show variable [score v], if on edge, bounce, switch backdrop to [Farm v].
Think: the colour is a genuine hint, and remembering the colour is how experienced people find blocks quickly.
Goal: Fill in the six pairs of add-and-replace blocks from memory.
Think: once you know the pattern, a pair of blocks you have never seen is already half explained.
Mini-mission: teach one lesson. Pick the idea you understand best and prepare a three-minute explanation for someone who has never used Scratch.
You need one sentence saying what it is, one worked example on screen, and one question to check they followed.
It works if: your listener can do the thing you explained without you touching the mouse.
Think: teaching something finds the holes in your own understanding faster than any test does.
Mini-Challenge — the self-check 5 min
“Green, amber or red”
Go through the eight statements below and mark each one honestly. This is for you, not for anybody else.
It works if:
- You mark all eight without asking anyone else.
- For each amber or red, you name the lesson number that covers it.
- You go back to one of them today and prove it to yourself in Scratch.
- You change that mark to green honestly, only after it works.
Recap 2 min
Level 1 is six block families and seven ideas: order, triggers, repeating, add-or-replace, state that sticks, everyone counting time alone, and finishing properly. The reset script is the habit that matters most, and the add-or-replace question is the idea that transfers furthest. What is still missing is the ability to notice things and the ability for sprites to talk to each other — and both of those are what Level 2 is for.
The Level 1 vocabulary list
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Sprite | A character or object that can move and be programmed. |
| Stage | The area where the project happens, 480 by 360. |
| Backdrop | The picture behind everything on the Stage. |
| Costume | One of a sprite’s pictures. Switching them makes animation. |
| Script | A stack of blocks joined together under one hat. |
| Hat block | The block on top that says when a script runs. |
| Coordinates | The x and y numbers giving a spot on the Stage. |
| Direction | Which way a sprite faces, in degrees. 90 is right. |
| Rotation style | Whether a sprite turns upside down when it faces left. |
| Loop | A block that repeats what is inside it. |
| Forever | A loop with no end. Nothing attaches below it. |
| Variable | A named box holding a number the project remembers. |
| Reset script | The flag script returning everything to its starting state. |
| Schedule chart | A grid of moments and sprites used to plan timing. |
| Catch loop | Trigger, reward, reset — the shape of most simple games. |
| Version one | The smallest build that is still recognisably your idea. |
Homework 1 min
Look forward. Level 2 begins with the blocks that let a project notice things. Arrive with a reason to want them.
- Open any project you built and find one moment where you had to fake something with a wait or a key press.
- Write down what you actually wanted it to do.
- Write one sentence describing the block you wish existed.
- Keep the note. You will use it in the first lesson of Level 2.
Bring back next class:
- Your showcase project, shared and named.
- Your answer to: “What did you want to build in Level 1 that you could not, and what stopped you?”
Heads up for next class: Level 2 opens with sensing and conditionals — the blocks that let a project decide things for itself.