🌧️ If-Then Cards v0.1.0

• For: K to 2nd
• Time: about 20 minutes
• The question: What should happen when something happens?

Print the printable

The lesson, step by step

1. Start with the day

   Ask what the children do if it is raining, if the bell rings or if they are hungry. Write one on the board as "IF it is raining THEN take an umbrella". Say that the first part is the thing that happens and the second part is what we do about it.

2. Play one round together

   Turn up an IF card and read it aloud. Everyone looks for a THEN card in the pile that makes sense. Place them side by side. There may be more than one answer: that is fine, and worth discussing.

3. Match in pairs

   Pairs spread the cards out. One child reads an IF card and the other finds a THEN. Then they swap. Each good match goes on the table in a pair.

4. Make it silly

   Now match them wrongly on purpose: "IF the light is red THEN eat your soup." Children love this. After each silly match ask: "Does it make sense? Who gets hurt if a robot did this?" Put the silly pairs on the wall.

5. Add an ELSE

   Show a new card: ELSE. "IF it is raining THEN take an umbrella, ELSE wear sunglasses." Each pair writes two IF-THEN-ELSE sentences on the sheet about their day. Read some aloud.

6. Name it

   Tell the class that these are called conditionals, and programmers use them all the time: IF the player touches the star THEN add a point. The children already think like programmers.

The printable

Cut the cards apart and shuffle the IF cards and THEN cards into two piles. The sheet is for the IF-THEN-ELSE sentences.