Thursday, February 25, 2016

Richmond Elementary Says GoodBye to Cubelets!

Students at Richmond Elementary School (RES) had a great month exploring Cubelets.  Students in Grades K -4 had a chance to explore them through after school programming as well as during school choice times and in the enrichment classroom.  We decided not to name the robot...as each time we built it, it seemed to have a different personality.  We wonder if the next school will come up with a great name?!

Here are a few helpful hints from our time with the Cubelets (we also included these on cards to travel with the robot):

*  There are some great lesson plan links at:  http://www.modrobotics.com/education/#lesson-plans

*  We used the following video (short and sweet) to give students an idea of the various ways the could manipulate the six Cubelets (and to challenge them to think beyond these seven ideas!) Students enjoyed how each robot had a name and they paused the video and tried many of the ideas:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uULIlZFD6uE

*  We found that with six Cubelets and one power source that it was challenging to have more than two students building a robot at a time.  (This was a challenge, because the building was so fun, and in high demand.....but if we added more students then no one got to follow an idea through to completion...especially the first week!)
    *  One way we addressed this was by having Legos and the Lego extenders in a different space. This allowed students to build and design add on features while they were waiting to  build with the Cubelets.
    *  We explored the idea of having students draw designs out....but the creativity was more limited than if they built and tested directly on the Cubelets!

*  We had a flashlight accessible in order to further play with light sensor.  We also had a dark space in the classroom so students could move their designs in and out of the light without disrupting other class projects!

Overall we really enjoyed our time with the Cubelets, and students were sad to see them leave.  We are very grateful to the Vermont Robot Rodeo, and our sponsor Game Theory for this opportunity to learn and explore with a new tool!  We would love to add these to our classroom in the future, and are looking for ways to fund a kit of our own.

We are also excited to watch this blog and see what great things the next school creates.Happy Trails Cubelets!!! (Perhaps we will meet up again at Dynamic Landscapes??!)



Thursday, February 11, 2016

Champlain Elementary

Hello Friends.
In this picture one of our students is using littleBits, with littleBits we have been making many things, including the tickle machine the vibrating handshake and the flashlight.
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Champlain Elementary Makey Makey

Here is a picture of a group of students at Champlain Elementary playing with Makey Makey. It is so much fun!!! :-)

Champlain elementary makey makey

Hello friends!!
This is a picture of our friends at champlain elementary school

Champlain Elementary Makey Makey

Champlain Elementary Dash and Dot

Champlain elementary

Champlain elementary/makey Makey

Champlain elementary dash and dot

Champlain elementary using dash and dot

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Champlainelm

They are using dash and dot


Champlain elementary KIDS!!!!!!!!!!

Champlain elem.

Champlain elementary

Makey makey with the drums!!! Sounds really good !

Champlain elem

Champlain elementary

Dash trying to move by the iPad's apps!!! :-)

Champlain Elem.makey Makey

Champlain elementary / dash and dot

Monday, February 8, 2016

Challenges and How We Met Them

In addition to training Outta Sight (Ollie) for the Robot Rodeo, students at Orchard School in South Burlington have been involved in a collaborative project with a couple of schools in Connecticut and Georgia. For the past five weeks, students have been learning how to program various robots, including Dash/Dot, BB8, Spheros and Finches. We now have some challenges posed by our friends. Here is the link to their Flipgrid:

This week, Orchard School students are answering the challenges in our own Flipgrid.

Be sure to check back through the week as more and more classes answer additional challenges!

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Champlain elementary school

Students work with Makey Makey

Champlain elementary school

Students play with dash and dot

Champlain elementary school

Students play with dash and dot

Champlain Elementary Makey Makey

Champlain elementary school

Students play with dash and dot

Champlain elementary school

Champlain elementary school dash and dot

Champlain elementary school dash and dot

Champlain elementary school little bits

Champlain Elementary students trying to get dash up a ramp.

Champlain Elementary School Playing With Circuits

Champlain Elementary students sending dash through a maze.

Champlain Elementary School Dash and Dot

Champlain Elementary

Champlain Elementary School Dash and Dot

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Sphero SPRK is popular after school at Mill River!


Students experimenting with programming the Sphero SPRK at Mill River Union School

Still waiting to find out which name wins!  Programming is going well!

Champlain Elementary School!!!!

Very awesome stuff going on here with dash and dot!!!!!!!!!!!!

Champlain Elementary... LittleBits

4th graders doing LittleBits in the library!

Outta Sight Fun at Orchard School

Fourth and fifth graders at Orchard School in South Burlington are continuing to learn so much about programming through using Outta Sight (AKA Ollie). Here's another challenge on the simple course:

If the smiles on their faces are any indication, I'd say that the Robot Rodeo is a HUGE success!




Makey Makey

LittleBits Champlain School