►
From YouTube: Parent Connection - Coder Kids Club
Description
Teresa Tudor and Anne Weaver have conversations with parent, AACPS staff and business volunteers about the importance of being involved with students and schools in AACPS. This month, Teresa interviews Chrissy Rey, President of Pongos Interactive. Originally aired September 1, 2015.
A
Welcome
to
Parent
Connection
our
guest
today
is
Chrissy
ray
welcome,
chrissy,
and
thank
you
so
much
for
joining
us.
Thanks
for
having
me
now,
your
daughter
goes
to
crofton
meadows
elementary
school
right,
so
give
us
a
little
bit.
First
of
all,
let
our
audience
know
a
little
bit
about
your
background.
Well,.
B
My
background
I
originally
had
studied
zoology
in
college
and
I
actually
worked
with
animals
for
a
little
while
shortly
after
college.
But
then
one
of
my
friends
while
I
was
in
college,
taught
me
HTML
and
when
I
got
out
of
college,
the
dot-com
bubble
was
starting
to
rise
up
right,
so
I
sort
of
got
into
that
and
have
been
doing
it
ever
since
so
I
sort
of
switched
careers
right
after
college
into
web
development.
A
A
B
It's
one
of
grueling
yeah,
it's
one
of
several
languages,
so
I
do
a
lot
of
work
with
HTML,
hypertext,
markup
language,
cascading
style
sheets,
which
control
the
appearance
of
a
website
JavaScript
which
controls
a
lot
of
the
interactivity
of
a
website
and
then
a
bunch
of
other
languages
like
PHP,
which
doesn't
really
stand
for
much.
But
it
stands
for
PHP
hypertext
preprocessor,
which
is
a
language
to
handle
communication
with
a
database
on
the
back
end
of
a
website.
Okay,.
B
Daughter
has
been
asking
me
since
the
first
time
I
did
the
career
day
at
her
school
when
she
was
in
kindergarten.
I
would
go
in
and
talk
about
some
of
the
work
that
I
did
and
in
particular
some
of
the
fun
things
that
I
do
like
making
games
for
websites,
and
she
was
been
asking
me
since
then.
Can
you
teach
me
to
code?
Can
you
teach
me
to
code
and
she
every
year
she
would
ask
me,
and
so
I
told
her.
Originally,
you
have
to
learn
how
to
read.
First,
this.
B
She
didn't
know
how
to
read
so
first
grade
she'd
started.
She
was
pretty
good
with
reading,
wasn't
quite
where
she
needed
to
be
to
learn
to
code.
So
second
grade
I
started
kind
of
getting
her
a
bit
more
into
the
coding
teaching
her
to
some
very
basic
stuff,
but
she's
a
very
kinesthetic
learner.
So
she
had
a
really
hard
time
just
sitting
and
looking
at
code
on
the
Khan,
the
computer
screen.
So
we
needed
to
do
things
that
were
interactive.
B
So
one
of
the
things
that
we
do
with
the
coder
kids
club-
and
this
is
something
that
we
do
at
the
schools-
we
do
code
through
dance,
which
sounds
really
weird,
but
we
actually
get
the
kids
to
stand
up
and
they
teach
each
other
how
to
dance
through
programming.
So
they
get
a
set
of
like
six
commands.
They
get
step
forward,
step
back
turn
right,
turn
left,
step
right,
step
left
and
then
they
can
make
up
their
own
dance
moves
with
that,
but
they
use
those
moves
to
teach
all
of
the
other
kids.
B
In
the
other
robots.
We
call
it
robot
dance
language,
so
they
teach
all
of
the
other
robots
who
are
the
kids
and
the
teachers
their
own
dances.
So
they
write
out
a
program
that
has
all
of
those
different
moves
in
it,
and
then
they
have
the
other
kids
do
it
in
class
and
it
helps
to
teach
them
some
basic
programming
concepts
but
they're
not
actually
sitting
at
a
computer
just
typing
away
right.
A
Because
that's
really
very
geared
to
a
specific
child
who
has
the
ability
to
do
that
or
the
attention
span
but
I?
That's
really
I
did
not
know
about
the
dance.
That's
really
a
neat
way
to
introduce
it.
I
know
you
know
we
used
to
do
the
ABCs
and
counting
with
songs
to
mathematics
or
multiplication
tables
right
where
I
know
my
children
really
learn
their
multiplication
tables
through
a
song.
One
of
their
teachers
had
done
so.
D
A
B
I
reached
out
to
a
couple
of
the
people
in
the
PTO
and
I
heard
back
from
a
couple
of
really
lovely
ladies
Margaret,
oh
and
Becky
pluta,
and
they
talked
with
me
about
how
we
might
be
able
to
get
the
program
into
crofton
meadows,
so
they
Becca
started
margaret,
especially.
She
contacted
all
of
the
3rd
through
5th
grade
teachers,
and
she
worked
with
them
to
schedule
me
coming
in
for
an
hour
for
each
of
the
classes.
B
So
I
ended
up
doing
one
hour
with
every
single
third
through
fifth
grade
class
at
the
school,
and
we
just
would
go
in
I.
Do
about
30
minutes
of
the
robot
dance
language
initially
would
just
be
me,
standing
up
at
the
front
bringing
volunteers
up
having
them
demonstrate
the
moves
which
the
kids
love
and
then
we
would
have
them
after
that.
For
about
15
minutes
they
would
go
and
they
would
write,
they
would
get
into
groups
and
they
would
write
their
own
dances
and
then
they
would
each
come
up.
B
Each
of
the
groups
would
come
up
and
they
would
teach
the
other
kids
their
dance.
So
we'd
spent
about
45
minutes
having
the
kids.
Do
the
robot
dance
language
and
some
of
those
were
just
amazing,
because
one
of
the
things
we
one
of
the
things
that
we
would
teach
them
about
computers
and
programming
is
there
only
as
smart
computers
are
only
as
smart
as
the
programmer
that
programs
them,
which
a
lot
of
kids
don't
realize.
A
lot
of
kids.
B
Think
computers
are
super
smart
and
they
can
do
anything,
but
they
don't
realize
the
programmer
has
to
be
super
smart
and
make
the
computer
do
everything.
So
we
we
tell
them
they're
special
robots,
they're
special
computers.
The
kids
are
special
computer.
That
can
do
things
that
are
a
regular
robot
can
so
they
can
make
up
their
own
dances.
So
we
had
a
lot
of
the
kids.
They
would
add.
B
A
B
Right
and
we
teach
concepts
like
we
teach
basic
just
following
step
by
step
with
which,
which
is
basically
what
a
program
is.
We
also
teach
them
things
like
loops.
So
if
you
wanted
to
have
somebody
repeat
a
behavior,
you
have
them
do
a
loop
instead
of
staying,
for
example,
if
you
wanted
them
to
turn
around
360
degrees
completely,
you
could
say
turn
right
turn
right
turn
right
turn
right,
but
we
teach
the
kids
instead
of
doing
that,
you
could
say
loop
for
turn
right.
So
that
means
that
they're
doing
that
command
four
times
so.
B
Around
five
times
completely
turn
around
five
times,
since
the
only
command
they
know
is
turn
right,
90
degrees
they
would
actually
just,
and
they
have
to
use
math
to
figure
out
how
many
times
they
have
to
do
it.
So
they
have
to
figure
out.
They've
got
to
do
turn
right
turn
right
turn
right
turn
right
five
times,
so
it
makes
them
work
a
little
bit
on
their
math
and
learn
some
additional
programming
concepts.
Oh
it's
a
lot
of
fun
so.
B
B
An
adult
so
I'm
trying
to
get
the
kids
to
have
fun
with
it,
and
so,
when
we
do,
we
actually
do
some
of
these
classes
at
my
office
as
well,
and
when
we
do
the
longer
term
classes.
Like
the
15
our
class,
we
have
every
the
first
30
minutes
of
every
class
and
they're,
usually
three
hour
classes.
They
do
robot
dance
language,
so
they
get
up.
They
get
to
move
around
first
thing
in
the
morning
or
right
after
lunch.
When
they're,
you
know
the
blood.
C
B
A
And
I
do
think
letting
them
understand
that
how
they
do
the
games
and
all
the
games
that
they
love,
because
that's
what
most
of
them
do
that
there
there
are
somebody
programming
all
of
that
right
to
interest
them
and
to
maybe
learning
to
have
to
do
a
game
or
how
they
could
do
that.
I
think
that
would
really
catch
their
interest.
Absolutely
yeah.
D
B
A
B
I
tried
I,
try
to
use
myself
as
a
role
model.
First
of
all,
I
mean
I'm,
a
computer
scientist
I'm
a
business
owner.
Have
we
have
a
successful
web
development
company,
so
I
try
to
use
myself
as
a
role
model
and
I
try
to
get
my
daughter
and
her
friends
to
come
to
as
many
classes
as
we
can.
So
when
we
put
the
pictures
out
of
the
classes
there
you
about
half
girls
and
it
seems
to
be
working
pretty
well,
we
actually
for
our.
We
had
a
minecraft
class
and
all
kids
love
minecraft.
B
A
B
It's
it
we
use,
we
use
a
lot
of
mine
craft
activities
so
when,
when
the
kids
are
doing
the
regular
programming
classes,
their
brain
breaks
or
in
Minecraft,
so
after
they're
done
doing
their
programming,
they
get
to
go
and
play
some
games
in
Minecraft
and
even
those
are
a
lot
of
times,
educational,
but
the
the
first
minecraft
class
that
we
did
was.
It
was
actually
more
than
half
girls,
so
I.
C
D
B
A
B
Up
having
all
girls
for
that
class
and
for
some
reason,
none
of
the
boys
wanted
to
make
a
bracelet,
but
we
had
it
was
felt
bracelets
and
the
kids
would
they
sewed
on
LEDs,
which
are
just
little
light
up
things
and
battery
pack
and
a
microcontroller
which
is
just
like
a
really
really
tiny
computer
and
they
sewed
them
together
with
conductive
thread
that
will
conduct
the
electricity
and
we
didn't
program
them
in
this
class.
But
we
talked
about
how
we
could
program
them
so
that
the
patterns
for
the
lights
could
vary.
A
B
B
A
B
D
B
A
D
B
A
B
One
thing
that
we
can
do
I
and
I
actually
use
some
of
this
was
the
material
on
code
org.
It's
totally
free.
They
actually
have
an
hour
of
code
curriculum
that
you
can
use
and
they
actually
have
longer
hour
longer
than
an
hour.
So
they
have
like
you
can
you
can
actually
Institute
several
hours
worth
of
code,
but
they've
got
tons
of
resources
online
through
code.org.
D
B
And
that
kind
of
thing
you
can
do
without
computers,
but
we
yeah
the
something
like
this.
Any
parent
can
do
it.
It
does
help
if
you
have
some
programming
background,
but
they
do
make
all
the
resources
available.
So
even
if
there
isn't
a
programming
background,
you
can
do
it
plus
we're
also
trying
to
get
out
into
more
schools.
I'm
trying
to
get
involved
with
some
of
the
other
local
schools
and
do
the
hour
of
code
at
them
as
well
and.
A
I
think
the
other
thing
they
could
probably
partner
with
their
high
school,
because
some
of
the
students
that
are
taking
it
at
some
of
our
magnet
schools
or
some
of
the
regular
high
school
classes.
They
would
probably
love
to
come
over
and
get
some
of
their
service
learning
hours
doing
that
with
younger
students.
Absolutely.
B
And
that's
that's
one
of
the
things
that
we're
trying
to
do.
We,
we
haven't,
got
an
intern
from
Anne
Arundel
County
just
yet,
but
we've
got
some
from
elsewhere
and
we
are
teaching
them
how
to
do
the
robot
dance
language,
so
they
could
go
to
an
elementary
school
as
a
volunteer
and
do
something
like
this
as
well.
Oh
that's.
B
This
was
at
my
daughter's
old
school
I
would
go
in
when
she
was
in
second
grade
and
the
kids
still
remembered
me
from
kindergarten
right
from
career
day
because
they
thought
they
were
like.
Oh
hey,
you're,
the
lady
that
makes
games
and
when
my
husband
comes
in,
they
say:
oh
hey,
you're,
the
police
officer.
B
B
My
company
is
pongos
interactive.
We
mostly
do
websites
for
nonprofits
and
associations
and
some
small
businesses
as
well,
and
we
also
do
mobile
development
and
interactive
development
like
games
and
I've
been
doing
that
it's
been
around
since
2008
incorporated
since
2008.
I
was
a
freelance
developer
before
that
for
several
years
and
before
that,
I
worked
for
a
few
different
companies
doing
the
same
thing.
But
it's
it's.
A
lot
of
fun.
B
I
have
six
full-time
employees
of
several
part-time
employees
and
contractors
we're
working
on
getting
some
interns
from
Anne
Arundel
County,
because
I
hear
there's
an
awesome,
magnet
program,
these
technology,
so
we're
hoping
to
get
some
interns
from
Anne
Arundel
County
in
the
fall,
and
we
actually
just
moved
to
crofton
from
Prince
George's
County.
We
were
in
college
park
before,
but
when
my
family
moved
to
crofton
I
was
much
easier
to
just
be
in
crofton
and
I,
really
like
the
area
like
I
love,
Anne,
Arundel
County,
my
mother
was
a
teacher
in
Anne
Arundel
County
from.
B
C
C
B
A
scientist
at
one
point,
I
did
have
I,
have
a
degree
of
Bachelor
of
Science
and
zoology
from
the
University
of
Maryland
I
loved
working
with
zoology,
but
it
was.
It
was
really
hard
to
resist
moving
into
the
dot-com
stuff,
because
I
really
enjoyed
the
language
and
learning
that
when
I
moved
from
the
one
career
to
the
other,
so
it
was
lord.
A
I
think
really,
the
inspiration
part
two
is
that
you
did
love
your
job,
but
you
wanted
to
do
something
different
and
you
were
a
career
change
or
who
is
making
money
off
something
a
passion
that
you
have
right
so
I
think
that's
a
good
example
to
to
show
other
people
that
it's
so
great
if
you
can
find
a
career.
That
is
something
that
you're
passionate
about
yeah
because
it
does
make
you
want
to
do
more
with
it
get
up
every
day.
It's
round
of
that
hook.
That
gets
you
going
every
morning
right.
B
And
sometimes
I
do
say
well,
I
wish
I
was
still
in
zoology
and
I
used
to
volunteer
at
the
National
Zoo
when
I
was
in
college
and
we
actually,
we
donate
a
lot
of
money.
The
lot
of
the
profit
from
the
company
gets
donated
back
to
the
National
Zoo.
We
actually
sponsored
the
orangutang
on
the
carousel
at
the
National
Zoo
Wow.
If.
B
Look
at
the
ivy
go
with
the
black.
It
says:
Lola
pongos,
interactive
on
it
and
the
the
logo
for
the
company
actually
has
an
orangutang
in
it
and
Pongo
Pongo
pygmaeus
is
the
scientific
name
for
orangutang.
That's
where
the
name
of
the
company
came
from,
so
I
try
to
get
the
zoology
stuff
in
there
right
a
while,
and
you
know
I
I've
actually
worked
on
a
couple
of
animal
websites
and
zoo
type
websites,
so
it's
kind
of
giving
back
to
the
old
career.
So
so.
A
Tell
me
a
little
bit
more
about
the
club,
the
coder
kids
club,
what
are
some
of
the
other
things
that
they
do
or
what
are
some
other
opportunities
that
students
have
that
they
can.
You
know
when
you're
going
into
the
classroom?
That's
a
set
amount
of
time,
but
there
are
other
things
if
their
students
who
really
have
a
passion
for
that
there
are
other
opportunities
for
them.
Yeah.
B
A
B
Then,
in
addition
to
that,
we
do
summer
camps,
we
also
do
evening
and
weekend
classes.
So
we
have
a
lot
of
times,
we'll
have
like
a
parents
night
out,
it's
a
three-hour
thing.
The
kids
come
and
they
do
an
activity
or
they
just
play
minecraft
or
games,
or
something
like
that.
But
it's
computer
related
and
they're
there
for
three
hours
we
feed
them
dinner.
Parents
can
leave
them
there.
We
supervise
them
everybody's
that
background
check.
So
everybody
in
my
husband's
police
officer
he
does
security.
So.
D
B
There
are
a
couple
of
apps
that
we
have
that,
where
the
Yeah
right
they
got
to
make
their
own
platform
games
kind
of
like
Mario
Brothers,
where
they've
got
somebody
running
along
and
jumping,
they
were
making
their
own
versions
of
that
on
the
Kindles.
And
then
we
also
had
a
minecraft
night,
where
they
basically
just
came
and
played
Minecraft
and
and
just
talked
about
Minecraft,
and
that
was
a
lot
of
fun
and
the
though
class
that
we
just
did
on
Friday,
where
the
kids
made
their
bracelets.
That
was
another
parents
night
out
sort
of
thing.
A
That's
a
really
good
benefit
for
parents,
because
it
gives
them
a
safe
place,
plus
they're
learning,
like
you
said
they
are
just
there
to
have
fun,
but
they're
learning
lots
of
different
information
and
things
that
will
help
them
as
they
grow
and
right.
You
know
hopefully
get
that
computer
science
bug
and
want
to
explore
more
of
it,
because
it
is
kind
of
the
way
of
the
future
and
I
think
if
we
can
get
students
excited
about
things
like
that
early
on
catch
them
at
that
elementary
level.
B
And
and
I
know,
one
concern
that
we've
had
from
a
few
parents
is
for
Minecraft
night
they're
like
well
I,
don't
want
my
kid
playing
Minecraft
for
three
hours,
because
they're
playing
a
video
game
for
three
hours,
so
we
actually
do
try
to
make
it
educational,
so
they
are
playing
Minecraft
for
some
of
the
time.
Obviously,
it's
mine
craft
night,
but
like
we're
doing
a
week-long
minecraft
camp
and
the
kids
are
doing
things
like
in
Minecraft.
You
make
things
so
one
of
the
things
that
you
can
you
can
create
a
slime.
B
You
can
actually
spawn
a
slime
egg,
so
we're
actually
going
to
teach
the
kids
how
to
make
real
slime
during
the
Minecraft
camp.
So
we're
kind
of
trying
to
extend
it
not
just
into
computers
but
stem
and
steam
in
general
right
so
like
how
to
make
slime
we're
going
to
teach
them
how
to
make
how
to
dye
wool,
because
one
of
the
things
you
do
in
Minecraft
is
you
can
use
plants
to
die.
C
B
Then
also
how
to
make
things
like
you
can
make.
You
can
make
a
bow
and
arrow
and
minecraft.
So
we're
going
to
have
the
kids
learn
how
to
make
not
a
real
working
bow
and
arrow,
so
they
can
shoot
each
other
but
they're
going
to
make
a
bow
and
arrow.
So
they
have
the
ability
to
create
kind
of
this
kind
of
things,
and
then
we
also
incorporate
the
3d
development
in
there.
We're
also
going
to
incorporate
programming
in
the
Minecraft
classes.
B
So
you
can
create
minecraft
modifications,
they
call
a
mods
right
using
Java,
which
is
a
programming
language
and
we're
going
to
teach
the
kids
some
really
basic
java,
so
they
can
make
their
own
mods
and
incorporate
them
into
minecraft,
so
they're
actually
adding
on
to
the
game
as
well.
So
it's
not
just
playing
games
all
day.
It's
actually
learning
and.
A
Even
having
the
terminology
Java-
and
you
know
the
terminology
and
all
of
that,
so
it's
not
the
first
time
they
ever
hear
it
some
other
time.
You
know
they
are
in
a
class
and
they
can
speak
to
what
it
is
and
they've
had
hands-on
experience
and
at
an
elementary
level
doing
that
I
think
it's
so
beneficial
for
our
students.
Oh.
B
Absolutely
yeah
it
was,
it
was
really
cool
for
for
some
of
the
kids
like
when
we
did
the
class
on
set
on
Friday
I
taught
them
what
an
LED
was,
and
so
they
the
light
emitting
diode
and
the
fact
that
they
remembered
that,
and
we
talked
about
Al,
which
is
electroluminescent
wire,
and
so
they
were.
They
were
learning
all
of
these
little.
These
terms
that
are
used
in
the
in
the
industry,
and
so
they
were
showing
off
to
their
parents
when
they
came
and
picked
him
up.
A
A
I
would
like
I,
don't
know
well
Chrissy.
We
really
have
enjoyed
having
you
today
and
hearing
about
all
of
these
wonderful
things
and
really
I
want
to
thank
you
on
behalf
of
anne
arundel,
county
public
schools,
for
all
the
volunteer
hours
you
were
giving
and
all
the
things
that
you're
doing
to
helping
our
students.
We
really
appreciate
you
being
with
us
today
and
everything
that
you've
done
for
our
students.
Thank
you
thank
you
and
thank
you
for
joining
us
on
Parent
Connection.
Until
next
time,.
C
Hi
I'm
Jodie
Russi,
the
supervisor,
food
and
nutrition
services
and
the
host
of
Food
for
Thought
welcome
back
to
a
new
school
year.
I
hope
everyone
enjoyed
their
summer
break
today.
I
come
to
you
with
exciting
news
about
school
meals.
School
meals
offer
students,
milk
fruits
and
vegetables,
protein
and
whole-grain
foods
all
part
of
a
healthy
school
lunch.
This
year
we
will
continue
to
meet
and
exceed
federal
and
state
nutrition
standards
for
all
school
meals,
ensuring
that
all
meals
are
well-balanced
and
provides
students
the
nutrition
they
need
for
academic
success.
C
Every
day,
students
are
offered
unlimited
choices
of
fruits
and
vegetables.
Students
are
encouraged
to
select
up
to
two
cups
of
fresh
produce
every
day.
This
is
a
one-of-a-kind
program,
unique
to
Anne
Arundel
County.
This
program
has
been
in
place
for
the
past
few
years
and
is
another
benefit
of
having
your
child
eat
lunch
with
us
at
school.
We
also
celebrate
tasting
of
the
rainbow.
It's
a
program
offered
the
first
Friday
of
each
month.
All
students
eating
school
meals
on
this
special
day
will
sample
a
new
fresh
fruit
or
vegetable.
C
Last
year's
student,
sampled,
local
asparagus,
edamame,
pumpkin
and
yellow
grape
tomatoes
did
I
mention
local
produce.
Last
year
we
served
over
240,000
pounds
of
local
produce.
This
included
over
520,000
local
apples
all
coming
from
right
here
in
the
great
state
of
Maryland,
remember
school
meals,
taste
great.
They
exceed
nutrition
standards
and
they're
affordable
as
a
registered
dietitian
and
the
mom
of
two
students
in
Anne
Arundel
County
Public
Schools
not
only
do
I
support
school
meals,
but
I
also
enjoy
seeing
my
children
eat
school
lunch
every
day.
C
Each
year
families
have
the
ability
to
apply
for
free
or
reduced-price
meals.
The
application
to
apply
is
online
or
at
your
child's
school
parents.
You
may
log
on
to
apply
for
meal
a
acps
org.
The
process
is
fast,
easy,
convenient
and
accessible
from
any
computer.
Remember
if
receive
benefits
last
year,
you
must
complete
a
new
application
each
school
year.
Once
the
application
is
completed,
you
will
be
notified
regarding
your
status
within
10
days.
If
you
have
any
questions
regarding
the
application,
please
call
the
food
and
nutrition
services
and
we
will
assist
you.
C
The
phone
number
to
call
is
for
10
to
22
5900.
If
you
need
assistance
with
a
spanish
application,
please
contact
your
bilingual
facilitator
from
your
school.
The
last
piece
of
information
for
this
school
opening
is
the
discussion
about
monitoring
your
child's
school
meals.
My
payments
plus
is
a
convenient
tool.
C
An
erotic,
County,
Public
Schools
offers
all
parents
to
make
managing
school
meal
accounts
a
simple
process
for
you,
your
child
and
the
school
to
learn
more
about
my
payments
plus
simply
visit
WWF
immense
plus
calm
or
you
can
call
877
2370
946
registration
is
free
and
quick,
so
get
started
today.
Thank
you
for
this
opportunity
to
provide
you
the
valuable
information
pertaining
school
meals.
All
students
in
Anne,
Arundel
County,
have
access
to
a
nutritious
breakfast
and
lunch
on
a
daily
basis.
These
meals
fuel,
their
brains
and
bodies
for
academic
excellence.