Combining Reading and Following Instructions

Today we began a unit on reading instructions. We have some very good readers in this class, but too many times when they are given written instructions, they are unable to follow them. This is usually because they don't read the instructions carefully enough and miss out important information. We talked about all the times in our everyday lives that we (or our parents) need to be able to follow instructions. 

The children are very good at coding and they enjoy it. They competently complete tasks online, however they usually just code and create whatever takes their fancy, rather than following any set instructions. 

Today I handed out some instructions on coding - programming a sprite (a sprite is a creature used in coding).  It was really interesting to watch as half the class jumped on computers and logged on to where they thought they were going to be and the other half came up to me and asked which site to go on. NO ONE actually read the instructions which clearly stated in a box up the top which website they needed to got to!!!!  Guess this shows exactly why we are working on following instructions.....