Week of Code

The week of October 19-25 is Digital Citizenship Week in the United States, and what better way to celebrate, than to expose the students to one of the most important parts of future digital literacy...code.

I will be the first to admit that I am far from a coding genius. But just because I'm not an expert, doesn't mean I can't help them find their way in such an important part of future jobs.

“If you close your eyes and think about the world 10 years from now, it will be completely different,” Vedati said.

We are preparing students for jobs that don't even exist yet, and many (most!) of those jobs will include some sort of coding ability.

 As stated earlier, this week is a nationwide Digital Citizenship Week, but in our room, it is all about code. Welcome to the Clarke TAG Week of Code!

First through fifth grades have been using age appropriate coding apps (Daisy the Dinosaur, Scratch Jr., Hopscotch) to learn more about what is behind those video games they play. Below is an example of one of our beginning lessons.

Graphic from IPAD 4 School

The students found out quickly that it takes several commands to make one little square. Wow! Imagine all the code behind an entire game...

If time allows, ask your fourth or fifth grader to show you their "house" or "square" in Hopscotch during conferences....but make sure to look at the code behind it too!

Straw Boat Challenge

What do you get when you combine ten straws, three inches of duct tape, and ten inches of plastic wrap? Why, a boat of course!

It isn't quite that simple, but that is what the fourth grade tried to accomplish this week. After some research on buoyancy and structure design, groups of 3-4 students tried to build a "boat" that would hold at least 25 pennies for the longest period of time.

This proved to be a much more difficult feat than the students originally imagined! We had several designs, but only one that ended up surviving the test period.

However, all of the students reflected on their learning, designs, and what they could change if we continued on the prototype path. This was a great STEM activity that we will revisit later in the year.

Group 1: Jenna, Jen, Rebecca, and Molly

Group 2: Spencer, Nate, RJ, Cal * This group came up with a design that maxed out the time at 2 minutes with 25 pennies. Way to go!

Group 3: Aiden, Dallas, Cooper

Dallas also gave it a shot on his own, but we didn't get a picture of his design.

The Happy Square: Tangrams

Check out this video by the first grade students! After learning more about tangrams, the students wrote, illustrated, and voiced stories about how the happy square (a 7 piece tangram puzzle) wanted to change into other things. I'm very proud of their work!

If you want to know more about the power of tangrams, check out this link from Parenting Science.


Thank you for the inspiration Mrs. Cotes! 

Geometry and Chair Designs

This post will touch on two grade levels: first and fourth.

The first of which, is 1st grade! First grade has had a big focus on geometry in the past week. We have used K'nex to make specific shapes, learned about new shapes (pentagon), and gained new vocabulary (congruent, edges, vertices). Tons of hands on learning has been happening. Students have also integrated reading into geometry with "Sid the Snake". Students read and then built the shapes that Sid described.

Over the last few weeks, I have also noticed that these students needed a bit more work on following steps, so we played the Read and Draw game. Read and Draw works on reading skills, shape skills, and step by step directions.

The next grade focus of the week is 4th grade! We engaged in our first design thinking project of the year for these students. The challenge was to design the idea chair for their partners.

We had some WILD ideas! Chairs were going to fly to space! Chairs were going to have rocket launchers! Chairs were going to have every electronic item in existence attached!

Wild ideas are the basis of design thinking. They are an amazing starting point! However, designers (the students) must then take those wild ideas and think, "Is idea cool AND build-able?" From this small question, discussions about supply, demand, adaptability,  profit, and what the consumer really wants sprung to life.  Students made some smart choices on how they might change those prototypes to be more consumer friendly, with price and function.

4th grade interviewing the "consumer" before prototype day

It may look like chaos, but this is how learning happens. Prototype day is the best! 

The fourth grade group is amazingly creative, and this project kept them thinking big. In our post-prototype discussion, students expressed that next time we tackle a design, they will keep the overall consumer in mind.

One students even said, "It isn't about doing exactly what your partner says they want (space launching chair), but more about figuring out what they really need and how you can build that." Talk about hitting the nail on the head!

Design thinking is...

• Human Centered - feedback from other users is fundamental to good design!
• Experimentation and Prototyping: prototyping is not a way to validate your ideas, but rather to think further and learn. 

Fifth Grade Learning Projects

John Reynoldson and Mikaela Cowley put together a trailer to share some of our learning style projects. Enjoy!

Design Thinking

We had another great week in TAG! This week, our highlighted class was the third grade group. They were engaged in an introduction to design thinking. Engaging student in hands on projects provides a rich learning experience. For design thinking, I provided scaffolding and facilitated reflection as the students designed the ideal wallet for their partner.

As we talked about in class, it is all about listening to your partner and even thinking beyond what they tell you. For instance, one student asked great questions to design the perfect wallet for her partner, but she also thought about making her wallet waterproof - something the partner had no idea they wanted until it was already done!

A few reasons to love design thinking:

•  It is human centered, so they have to talk to their neighbor and ask questions. 
• Students engage in rapid prototyping and redesign based on "consumer" feedback.
• Hands on! By the end, they are building wallets, purses, or whatever their partner suggested. 
• It get students ready for the culture of design, which will aid them greatly down the road.

We had some great wallets and happy designers!

First Two Weeks in Pictures

Our TAG theme this year is simple: Experiment. Fail. Learn. Repeat.  Sometimes gifted students have a really tough time when they do not get something right away, but failure is part of the learning process. We are digging deeper this year. We are pushing our brains to think. The truth is, the great minds of the world learned from many failed attempts before their accomplishments marked them as part of our history. As long as we learn from the ideas that didn't work and don't give up, we are being the best we can be!

First graders challenging their problem solving skills using Q-bitz.

K'NEX challenge: What are the key components of a good helmet? If it doesn't work the first time, what could you change or tweak?

"My Gifted Self" - This web-quest is forcing the students to learn more about their own learning styles and intelligence types. Each student will then present what they have learned about themselves through a choice chart project. We have students making books, building a word filled Lego building, composing songs, and many other projects.