Week 11 · Monday: Decomposition (Code Crew G3)

Monday: Meet the Idea

Rocket bounces on his toes. "Let's throw a party for the whole crew!" Then he stops. "Wait. Where do I even start?"

Raven opens her notebook. "That is a big problem. What smaller parts can you see?"

Nova glows. "Try making a list," she hints. Rocket writes cake, invites, games and decorations. Let's break a big job into small steps.

ROCKET said: 'I want to throw a birthday party!' RAVEN said: 'Big problem. Break it down.' Cake. Invites. Games. Decorations. Now each is a smaller problem you can solve.

Big Idea

Big problem = scary.
Small problems = easier.
Decomposition turns one big into many small.

Quick Try

BIG: Get ready for school. Break it into 5 small steps.

1. ____________________________________

2. ____________________________________

3. ____________________________________

4. ____________________________________

5. ____________________________________

Big Into Small

A big job feels hard when you look at all of it. Break it into parts you can do one at a time.

Each small part should be clear enough to start right away.

GOOD PARTS

Read the question.
Tap your answer.

Which is a good small part of clean my room?

Rocket breaks plan a picnic into food, blanket and games. How many parts?

What do you do after you decompose a big job?

Which job is too big to do as one step?

Big job: make a card. Parts: fold paper, draw a picture, write a message. How many parts?

Which part would you do first: fold, draw or write?

Breaking a big job into parts is called ____.

Statement	True or false?
Decomposing means breaking a big problem into small ones.	?
Small problems are usually easier to solve.	?
You should solve a big problem all in one step.	?
Different people can work on different small parts.	?

WHY THIS EXERCISEProgrammers often break a big program into parts first.

PLAN A FAMILY GAME NIGHT

?Set up the table
?Choose a game
?Play the game
?Pick a night
?Put the game away

WHY THIS EXERCISEAfter you decompose, you put the parts in order. That is Week 1 again!

A party has 4 parts. Each part has 3 small tasks. How many small tasks in all?

WHY THIS EXERCISECounting the tasks helps you see how big a job really is.

Try it

Pick a job at home, like tidying a shelf.
Break it into three small parts.
Do just the first part right now.

Which big job did you break apart? List the parts you made.

Quick Check

Breaking a big problem into small pieces is called ____.

Rocket's party has cake, invites, games and decorations. How many small problems is that? ____