Pacing Calendar, 2026-27
Every B-day of the school year, mapped to its work. Built from the IBW Trivory calendar (trivory.com/ibw/calendar, read Sept 2026). The class meets on B days only; this calendar is the contract between the syllabus and the clock.
The shape: the year opens with two weeks of Scratch — a get-to-know-you starter project where you meet the building blocks (sprites, loops, events) with zero engine overhead. On Sep 14 the first Unity project begins: we build one real game — a 2D RPG that becomes a 2D platformer when you enter a cave — from the cs-curriculum-main starter repo, ending with your own boss fight and the semester final (a normal B day, Jan 21). Second semester: the CSP big ideas Unity cannot teach alone (data, systems, impact), then three game jams, with the Create performance task dueand the AP exam on at 8:00 AM (Session 1). The exam is an A-day Friday morning — you take it before school-day classes start. After it: Season 2 jams, for the love of the game.All 10 CED topic families are covered by the exam.
| Date | Type | Unit | What we do | CED topics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tue Sep 1, 2026 | Launch | 0.1 | Scratch Starter 1: Course Tour & First Sprites First B day of the year. Course tour, syllabus, Scratch accounts, first sprite. First 45 min: course tour, how this site works, lab rules. Then Scratch accounts and the first sprite of your get-to-know-you project. | CRD-1, CRD-2 |
| Thu Sep 3, 2026 | Lesson | 0.2 | Scratch Starter 2: Motion, Loops & Your Scene | CRD-2 |
| Tue Sep 8, 2026 | Lesson | 0.3 | Scratch Starter 3: Events, Sound & Iteration Two weeks of Scratch: the same building blocks as Unity, zero environment overhead. | CRD-2 |
| Thu Sep 10, 2026 | Lesson | 0.4 | Scratch Starter 4: Gallery Walk Showcase and names. Next B day the real engine starts. | CRD-1, CRD-2 |
| Mon Sep 14, 2026 | Launch | 1.1 | Unity Launch: Fork, Clone, Press Play - then Movement (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4) Unity begins: fork cs-curriculum-main, clone it, press Play. Unity begins. The teacher demos the fork, the clone and the editor tour live in about fifteen minutes; 1.1-1.3 are the written version for anyone who needs to catch up on their own. The real build today is 1.4 - getting the player moving in the overworld. | CRD-1, CRD-2 |
| Wed Sep 16, 2026 | Lesson | 1.5 | Movement II & Animation States (1.5, 1.6) Choose the movement method this game actually needs, tune it, then drive the Animator with IsWalking, WalkDir and Attack. | AAP-1, AAP-2 |
| Fri Sep 18, 2026 | Lesson | 2.1 | Coins: Triggers, Tags & Your First Stat (2.1) The physics engine switches on. Nothing in this project has a collider or a rigidbody - today you give the player a body, and find out that it changes the whole game. | AAP-3, CRD-2 |
| Tue Sep 22, 2026 | Lesson | 2.2 | Spikes: Physics, Damage & Death (2.2) The pivotal lesson of the unit. A solid spike reveals that transform.Translate has made your character a ghost - so you choose a movement method you can live with all year, then build health and death on top of it. | AAP-3, AAP-2, CRD-2 |
| Thu Sep 24, 2026 | Lesson | 2.3 | Healing Pickups & the Max-Health Cap (2.3) Your first selection rule. A value with a ceiling needs a rule, not just arithmetic. | AAP-3, AAP-2 |
| Mon Sep 28, 2026 | Lesson | 2.4 | Prefabs, Spawning & Playtesting (2.4) One working object becomes a whole level, and you run the playtest ritual that ends every jam for the rest of the year. | CRD-2 |
| Wed Sep 30, 2026 | Studio | 2.5 | Physics & Stats Studio: Catch Up and Tune (2.5) The heaviest unit gets a day to settle. Finish 2.1-2.4 if you are behind, re-tune your movement now that a physics body is doing the work, and fix the top item from your playtest notes. | AAP-2, AAP-3, CRD-2 |
| Fri Oct 2, 2026 | Studio | 2.6 | Unit 2 Review + Second Playtest (2.6) Swap seats and playtest again now that your fixes have landed. Compare the two sheets - did the fix actually work? Close the unit by demonstrating your spike, your potion and your death rule. | CRD-2, AAP-2 |
| Tue Oct 6, 2026 | Lesson | 3.1 | The Turret: Distance & the Detection Radius (3.1) | AAP-2 |
| Thu Oct 8, 2026 | Lesson | 3.2 | Projectiles: Instantiate, Fire, Destroy (3.2) | AAP-2 |
| Tue Oct 13, 2026 | Lesson | 3.3 | Fire Rate: Cooldowns & Time (3.3) | AAP-2 |
| Fri Oct 16, 2026 | Lesson | 3.4 | Projectile Damage, Tuning & Playtest (3.4) | CRD-2 |
| Tue Oct 20, 2026 | Lesson | 4.1 | The Enemy: Patrol (4.1) | AAP-2 |
| Thu Oct 22, 2026 | Lesson | 4.2 | Enemy Animation: A Different State Machine (4.2) | AAP-2, CRD-2 |
| Mon Oct 26, 2026 | Lesson | 4.3 | Chase: The Aggro Radius (4.3) | AAP-2 |
| Wed Oct 28, 2026 | Lesson | 4.4 | Attack: Close-Range Contact Damage (4.4) | AAP-2 |
| Tue Nov 3, 2026 | Lesson | 4.5 | The Full State Machine: Patrol, Chase, Attack (4.5) | AAP-2 |
| Thu Nov 5, 2026 | Lesson | 5.1 | The Axe: Item Pickups & Inventory Bools (5.1) | AAP-1, CRD-2 |
| Mon Nov 9, 2026 | Lesson | 5.2 | The Door: Opening It with Events (5.2) | AAP-2, CRD-2 |
| Thu Nov 12, 2026 | Lesson | 5.3 | Into the Cave: Scenes, Persistence & the Refactor (5.3) The architectural payoff. Leaving the overworld destroys every stat the student owns, because a scene load replaces rather than loses. They refactor stats out of PlayerController into the StatManager singleton that has been an empty stub since Unit 2, guard against duplicates, and put the HUD where the game begins. | AAP-1, CRD-2 |
| Mon Nov 16, 2026 | Lesson | 6.1 | Gravity & Jump: The First Flick (6.1) | AAP-2 |
| Wed Nov 18, 2026 | Lesson | 6.2 | Ground Checks: No Infinite Jumps (6.2) | AAP-2 |
| Fri Nov 20, 2026 | Lesson | 6.3 | Jump Feel & Double Jump (6.3, 6.4) Last class before Thanksgiving week (Nov 23-27 off). | AAP-2 |
| Tue Dec 1, 2026 | Studio | 6.5 | Platforming Studio: The Gauntlet (6.5) Back from Thanksgiving week. Studio day: build the Gauntlet. | CRD-2 |
| Thu Dec 3, 2026 | Lesson | 7.1 | Tilemaps: The Level Editor (7.1) Today you learn to build worlds. | CRD-2 |
| Mon Dec 7, 2026 | Lesson | 7.2 | Tile Collision, Layers & Sorting (7.2) | CRD-2 |
| Wed Dec 9, 2026 | Lesson | 7.3 | Ladders I: The Climbing State (7.3) | AAP-2 |
| Fri Dec 11, 2026 | Lesson | 7.4 | Ladders II: Mounts, Tops & Polish (7.4) | AAP-2 |
| Tue Dec 15, 2026 | Studio | 7.5 | Design a Big Cave + Level Studio I (7.5, 7.6) | CRD-2 |
| Thu Dec 17, 2026 | Studio | 7.7 | Level Studio II + Cross-Playtest (7.7) Last class before winter break. Boss specs are due before you go. Last class before winter break - your cave is playable before you go. | CRD-2 |
| Mon Jan 4, 2027 | Lesson | 8.1 | Boss Design: Spec It First (8.1) Back from break. Boss fight build begins. The first build that is fully yours. Design on paper before you open Unity. | CRD-2 |
| Wed Jan 6, 2027 | Lesson | 8.2 | Boss Body, Health & Phases (8.2) | AAP-1, CRD-2 |
| Fri Jan 8, 2027 | Lesson | 8.3 | Player Attack: Fight Back (8.3) | AAP-2, AAP-3 |
| Tue Jan 12, 2027 | Lesson | 8.4 | Boss Attacks: Patterns & Phases (8.4) | AAP-2 |
| Thu Jan 14, 2027 | Lesson | 8.5 | Win, Lose & the Death Loop (8.5) | CRD-2 |
| Tue Jan 19, 2027 | Studio | 8.6 | Boss Studio + Final Review (8.6) | CRD-2 |
| Thu Jan 21, 2027 | Final | T1 | Semester 1 Final (a normal B day) Semester 1 final - a normal B day on the finals-week schedule. Finals-week B day, normal bell schedule. Practical + concepts from Units 1-8. | |
| Thu Jan 28, 2027 | Lesson | 9.1 | Binary: How Numbers Live in Memory (9.1) Semester 2 begins. | DAT-1 |
| Mon Feb 1, 2027 | Lesson | 9.2 | Hex, RGB & Data Abstraction (9.2) | DAT-1 |
| Wed Feb 3, 2027 | Lesson | 9.3 | Compression: Lossy vs Lossless (9.3) | DAT-1 |
| Fri Feb 5, 2027 | Lesson | 9.4 | Your Scene Is Data: Metadata & Files (9.4) | DAT-2 |
| Tue Feb 9, 2027 | Lesson | 9.5 | Datasets: Insights from Playtest Data (9.5) | DAT-2 |
| Thu Feb 11, 2027 | Lesson | 9.6 | Bias, Filtering & Fair Data (9.6) | DAT-2, IOC-1 |
| Tue Feb 16, 2027 | Lesson | 9.7 | Computer Systems: What Runs Your Game (9.7) | CSN-1 |
| Thu Feb 18, 2027 | Lesson | 9.8 | The Internet: Packets, Routing & DNS (9.8) | CSN-2 |
| Mon Feb 22, 2027 | Lesson | 9.9 | Encryption: Keys, TLS & Public Key (9.9) | CSN-2 |
| Wed Feb 24, 2027 | Lesson | 9.10 | Impact, Ethics & Licenses (Your Fork!) (9.10) | IOC-1, CRD-1 |
| Fri Feb 26, 2027 | Jam | J1 | 2-Button Jam: Kickoff & Pitch (10.1a) Jam 1 of 3. One rule: the whole game runs on exactly two inputs. Constraints breed creativity. | CRD-2 |
| Tue Mar 2, 2027 | Jam | J1 | 2-Button Jam: Build Day 1 (10.1b) | CRD-2 |
| Fri Mar 5, 2027 | Jam | J1 | 2-Button Jam: Build Day 2 (10.1c) | CRD-2 |
| Tue Mar 9, 2027 | Jam | J1 | 2-Button Jam: Playtest (10.1d) | CRD-2 |
| Thu Mar 11, 2027 | Jam | J1 | 2-Button Jam: Polish (10.1e) | CRD-2 |
| Mon Mar 15, 2027 | Jam | J1 | 2-Button Jam: Showcase & Retro (10.1f) | CRD-2 |
| Wed Mar 17, 2027 | Lesson | 10.2 | Card Jam Kickoff: Lists & Arrays (10.2a) Jam 2 of 3. Fork the Card-Game-Template repo. Lists are the biggest idea on the CSP exam - a deck of cards is the perfect list. | AAP-1, AAP-2 |
| Fri Mar 19, 2027 | Lesson | 10.2 | ScriptableObjects: Card Data as Assets (10.2b) Last class before spring break (Mar 22-26). | AAP-1 |
| Tue Mar 30, 2027 | Lesson | 10.2 | Decks: Shuffle, Draw & Traverse (10.2c) Back from spring break. Fill in GameManager.Shuffle() - your first real traversal. | AAP-2 |
| Thu Apr 1, 2027 | Lesson | 10.2 | Turn Logic: Selection + Iteration (10.2d) | AAP-2 |
| Wed Apr 7, 2027 | Jam | 10.2 | Card Jam: Build + Playtest (10.2e) | CRD-2 |
| Fri Apr 9, 2027 | Jam | 10.2 | Card Jam: Showcase (10.2f) | CRD-2 |
| Tue Apr 13, 2027 | Create PT | CPT | Create PT Launch: Pick Your Program (11.1a) Section II: 30% of your AP score (shared with the written responses), 9 hours of in-class time, due Apr 30. Start planning today. | CRD-2 |
| Thu Apr 15, 2027 | Create PT | CPT | Create PT: Build Day 1 (11.1b) | AAP-1 |
| Mon Apr 19, 2027 | Create PT | CPT | Create PT: Build Day 2 (11.1c) | AAP-2 |
| Wed Apr 21, 2027 | Create PT | CPT | Create PT: Build Day 3 (11.1d) | AAP-3 |
| Fri Apr 23, 2027 | Create PT | CPT | Create PT: Build Day 4 + List Check (11.1e) | AAP-2 |
| Tue Apr 27, 2027 | Create PT | CPT | Create PT: Video + PPR (11.2a) | CRD-2 |
| Thu Apr 29, 2027 | Create PT | CPT | Create PT: Submit as Final (11.2b) Create PT is due TOMORROW, Apr 30, 11:59 PM ET - submit as final today. | CRD-2 |
| Mon May 3, 2027 | Clinic | E1 | Written-Response Practice (PPR in hand) (11.3) | CRD-2, AAP-2 |
| Wed May 5, 2027 | Clinic | E2 | MC Strategy + Practice Set 1 (11.4a) | AAP-1, AAP-2, AAP-3 |
| Fri May 7, 2027 | Clinic | E3 | MC Practice 2: Data & Networks (11.4b) | DAT-1, DAT-2, CSN-1, CSN-2 |
| Tue May 11, 2027 | Clinic | E4 | MC Practice 3 + Written-Response Drill (11.4c) | CRD-1, CRD-2, IOC-1 |
| Thu May 13, 2027 | Exam Eve | VE | Exam Eve: Logistics & Strategy (11.5) Exam eve - logistics, strategy, early night. The exam is tomorrow morning. | |
| Fri May 14, 2027 | EXAM | EX | THE AP CSP EXAM: 8:00 AM, Session 1 AP CSP EXAM, 8:00 AM, Session 1. Not a B day - report per IBW instructions. Not a B day - the exam is Friday morning. 70 multiple-choice questions (120 min) + 2 written-response questions (60 min) in Bluebook. You have trained for this since September. | |
| Mon May 17, 2027 | Jam | J3 | Grid/Symmetry Jam: Kickoff & Pitch (12.1a) The exam is behind you. Jam 3 of 3: build a game around a grid or around symmetry - your pick. | CRD-2 |
| Wed May 19, 2027 | Jam | J3 | Grid/Symmetry Jam: Build Day 1 (12.1b) | CRD-2 |
| Fri May 21, 2027 | Jam | J3 | Grid/Symmetry Jam: Build Day 2 (12.1c) | CRD-2 |
| Tue May 25, 2027 | Jam | J3 | Grid/Symmetry Jam: Playtest (12.1d) | CRD-2 |
| Thu May 27, 2027 | Jam | J3 | Grid/Symmetry Jam: Showcase (12.1e) | CRD-2 |
| Tue Jun 1, 2027 | Season 2 | J4 | Placeholder Jam: Day 1 (topic TBA) (12.2a) Flex jam slot - a fourth jam runs here if the year allows. Topic picked by the class. | |
| Thu Jun 3, 2027 | Season 2 | J4 | Placeholder Jam: Day 2 + Year Retro (12.2b) Last B day of the year. June finals run Jun 4-8; your final meets on your block. Last B day of the year. Compare your September commit to today - then we party (responsibly). |
Calendar sources: IBW Trivory calendar (trivory.com/ibw/calendar, read Sept 2026) — 82 regular B days plus the Jan 21 finals B day, Sep 1-Jun 3. No-school days this year: Oct 9 + Oct 14, Veterans Day (Nov 11), Thanksgiving week (Nov 23-27), winter break (Dec 21-Jan 1), MLK Day (Jan 18), semester break (Jan 25-26), Presidents Day (Feb 15), Mar 3, spring break (Mar 22-26), Memorial Day (May 31). Snow days are not modeled; if one lands on a B day, shift work forward and let the placeholder jam days (Jun 1 + Jun 3) absorb it. June finals (Jun 4-8) carry no A/B label — the semester 2 final meets on this course's block during finals week.