Create and update lists
A list is an ordered shelf of values. Positions start at 0, which feels odd for about a week and then becomes second nature. append() adds, remove() takes away.
Python for Kids · Class 6 · Module 6 of 9
Lists and Collections
One variable holds one thing. A list holds the whole class.
8 sessionsSessions 41–48
4 weeksTypical pace
BeginnerLevel
Class 6Python & Coding
The big idea
Lists let a program manage many values under one name — scores, names, tasks, anything. Combined with loops, they let a handful of lines handle five items or five thousand without changing shape.
Why it matters
Almost all real data arrives as a collection. Once a student can loop through a list confidently, the door to sorting, searching and data projects opens.
Unpacked
What you will actually learn
Three core ideas, each taught with worked examples and then practised until it feels obvious.
Loop through items
Looping through a list means visiting each item in turn and doing the same work on each — total up scores, print names, count how many pass.
Simple searching
Simple searching means walking the list and checking each item against what you are hunting for. Slow but honest — and the foundation of every faster method later.
Did you know?
Counting from 0 is not a quirk. It comes from how memory addresses work: the first item sits 0 steps from the start of the list.
Common mix-up
“The last item of a 5-item list is at position 5.” It is at position 4. Off-by-one errors have their own name in the industry because they are so common.
Session by session
Your 8-session journey
Sessions 41–48 of the 72-session year, at two one-hour sessions per week.
- 1
Warm-up and big picture
Where this module fits, what you will build, and a hands-on starter that gets everyone curious about create and update lists.
- 2
Create and update lists
Guided teaching on create and update lists, worked through together with the teacher.
- 3
Create and update lists — practice lab
Independent practice, small challenges and one deliberate mistake to diagnose.
- 4
Loop through items
Guided teaching on loop through items, building directly on the previous two sessions.
- 5
Loop through items — practice lab
Applied tasks that combine create and update lists and loop through items in one piece of work.
- 6
Simple searching
Simple searching introduced and practised, completing the toolkit needed for the project.
- 7
Project build
Guided build session for the module project: Classroom task manager.
- 8
Test, present and reflect
Finish, test against the checklist, present the work and explain the decisions behind it.
Project lab
Classroom task manager
Every module ends with something the student built themselves and can demonstrate. This is the piece that goes into their portfolio and gets explained out loud at the end of session 48.
Try this at home
Make a homework tracker that lets you add tasks, tick them off, and print how many are left. Keep using it for a week and improve whatever annoys you.
It is finished when
- It works from start to finish without breaking
- You can explain every part of it in your own words
- You tested it and improved at least one thing afterwards
- Someone else used or understood it without your help
By the end of this module
Students finishing Module 6 can:
- Explain and use create and update lists without prompting
- Explain and use loop through items without prompting
- Explain and use simple searching without prompting
- Build and finish classroom task manager
- Test your own work and correct what you find
- Talk an adult through what you made and why
Word bank
The vocabulary introduced here, in plain language:
- list
- An ordered collection of values under one name.
- index
- The position number of an item, starting at 0.
- append
- To add an item to the end of a list.
Module challenge
Think you have got this?
0 XPLevel 1 · Curious Beginner
6 quick questions drawn from this module — vocabulary, the project you build, and a myth-or-fact round. Every wrong answer explains itself, so a mistake still teaches you something.
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