Week 7 - Catch Up, Wrap Up, and Catch My Breath

     This week in school is a partial week.  Students are in classes only Monday - Wednesday.  I was hoping to wrap up loose ends, administer a quick concept assessment with clickers, and run the robots in 5th grade.  However, now some of my classes will be off due to no school on Thursday and Friday. I will proceed as planned for the classes I have and decide what to do with the other classes during the course of this week.  I hate it when they have to miss.

Week 6 - Tricky, Tricky, Tricky

     This week 4th and 5th grade classes will be wrapping up a programming challenge and Academy of Engineering build.  I hope an hour will be enough time to tie up loose ends.  Wish my Monday classes luck.  They are my guinea pigs for the process.
     In Kindergarten I am going back to teaching the alphabet builds in alphabetic order.  I was trying to have it correspond with the letter they were working on in their classes, but they builds are harder as the alphabet progresses.

Week 5 - Tears to my Eyes

     Now I have to admit it is not always that difficult to bring tears to my eyes.  However, I experienced a special moment recently that I feel would have managed to bring tears to most anyone's eyes.  For the 3rd graders, I alternate each week with presenting them a concept and a scripted build, and then the following week providing them a challenge that is unscripted but has constraints and criteria that tie in with the previous week's concept.  Last week the 3rd graders worked on builds with inclined planes.  This week, their challenge was to build a marble track that used at least two inclined planes for the marble to travel.  I was still very unsure of what the end results of the challenge would be, but the students always seem to enter the lab with excitement and enthusiasm to learn what the challenge is.  They struggled and stumbled for the course of about 40 minutes working on some elaborate and some simple constructions.  Some students had to be reminded of the qualities of an inclined plane, while others had to be reined in to build within the time constraints.  The students are always proud and anxious to show me the final results.  What seems to have had an even greater impact on them was when we had a "walk about."  I played a song and the students walked around to take a look at the other projects.  They are usually working with at least a partner on these challenges.  So, the group members took turns staying to demonstrate their builds while the other group members visited the projects around the room.  During the building period, I had already heard numerous "Yes!" and "We did it!"  Then as I watched the students during the "walk about," I could see the pride on the faces of the builders and the viewers being awed by the contraptions before their eyes.  There are many times I feel under appreciated in my profession, but this was one of the times when I was thankful to be where I was.  Their expressive faces and gasps of awe were more than I could have ever hoped to have achieve.  This was not an outcome that was measurable on any standardized test, but some of these students will remember their marble tracks and the success they had for many years to come.

Week 5 - Building Confidence in 2nd Grade

     I had my first 2nd Grade class of the week yesterday.  For the past couple of weeks they have been able to choose if they wanted to build by themselves or with others.  This week, students had to build a simple project by themselves.  There were a handful of students who were a little nervous about this project.  After a little reassurance, they built a project entirely on their own.  Those who rarely chose to build alone received a great confidence boost in their abilities.  Then they all had time for "free build" where they can build anything with the materials.  After everyone had completed their projects, we did a walk about.  They love showcasing their projects to other students and having the opportunity to view other student's work.  I also take pictures of each of the required completed projects, so that when students have to take apart their handiwork, they are more willing knowing it has been saved for posterity in pictures.

Week 5 - Surprise Surpise

      My first Kindergarten class of the week seemed to be a complete failure.  This week, I was going to try and have a more structured build activity to teach the students the basic principles in building with the Brick Lab. The first issue I had is that there are 21 of them and only one of me.  I had directions for them to share with a partner and I was also demonstrating on the document camera.  However, it was very difficult to keep everyone at the same building point.  Many students didn't get their build completed before it was time for them to go, not to mention time to clean up.  I decided after that lesson to not require them to do a structured build until after Christmas.  Then I talked with their teacher.  She had thought it was a wonderful success.  The students were so proud of what they had done and were showing her with glee.  I am going to stay with the structured build for this week and see if I can improve the instruction.  I'll see how it goes.

Week 5 - Challenges and Wrap Ups

     This week 4th and 5th grade students will be complete the activity from last week they didn't get to yet.  They are either working on programming the LEGO NXT Mindstorms to perform sharp and curvy turns as prescribed on a mat prepared by me, or they are building with the Academy of Engineering.  Next week, we will wrap up unfinished builds, review concepts, and run robots under a timed situation to see which programs are the most efficient.  3rd grade will have a challenge of constructing a vertical marble race after working with inclined planes.  2nd will be building with K'NEX.  1st grade has a challenge of constructing bridges across a given distance after learning how to build bridges that cross a span or gap last week.  Kindergartners will be working on building things that start with the "s" sound.  I take a group picture of the class with their builds once time is up so that I can post it in the hallway with the appropriate letter above it.  It is all going well, but I have revisited some of my plans after looking at the year of planning ahead.  I'll share more about that another time.  The struggle with the Mindstorms is six robots for 300 students, 10 classes.

Obstacle Course Long Term Planning

     Ok, it may be crazy, but I am thinking of using the planter bed outside of my classroom for an obstacle course for the NXT robots.  It wouldn't be until towards the end of the school year, but I have to do some research before making that commitment because I don't want to damage the robots.  I just like the idea of a more natural terrain challenge.  I will keep the progress posted.