Welcome to to Technology or as I like to call it Our STEM LAB!
I am so excited to start off our new school year together. I have been working with other teachers around the US to find new ideas and fun things to explore. We will be learning about many areas or fields of engineering and practicing some skills that go with them. WE will learn to code robots, code video games, and even create music using code and robots. WE will also be using other materials and do "UN-Plugged" activities that require collaboration, cooperation, creativity, and critical thinking. I will along with some help of students be documenting our work together in this blog through out the school year, so stay tuned and check in often. I will add links for tools we are using in class,so that if you would like to discuss with your child what we are working on or what we have been doing, you can check them out and find out more through their websites.
*It would be very helpful if your child has their own set of headphones for my class there will be times that we will be working on things that make noise and they will want to hear but 20 plus computers or i Pads going off at the same time can be a bit distracting. They will be kept in my room in a tote with their homeroom teachers name on them so they will always be able to find them when they need them.
There are some rules and expectations for our STEM LAB:
1. RESPECT this is a big word that covers mostly everything:
~Each other
~The Tools in our LAB
~Others Ideas
~The Space
2. Focus on the Task
3. Everyone Particiaptes
4. Consider All ideas
5. Use "group work voices"
6. Materials are tools not toys
7. DON'T GIVE UP!
8. When in Doubt See #1
Coding With Scratch!
Scratch.mit.eduI first encountered Scratch with an opportunity that came through my email, it was labeled "Learning to be Creative" and it was offered through Scratch for teachers and other adults to follow a series of lessons and share what they learned or even just talk about what sparked our interest. I enjoyed all the sharing and ideas others came up with. This was lead by students and leaders at MIT Labs and the first place I ever heard the "Lifelong Kindergarten" concept.
Then I was hooked I wanted to teach my students code by using Scratch. It is not always easy but it is always fun. Some of my students have blown me away with their creativity, artistic abilities, and super coding skills!
I have even used a program called CS First with Google and Scratch in collaboration, my fifth graders are using the program and are learning Game Design. These games start off as simple and build their skills up to help them learn and understand even more complicated code to create amazingly fun games.
Here are some fun photos of my students using Scratch:
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