Bell Ringer:
Lesson Frame:
Lesson:
I had six different STEAM challenges with each group having 3 students. I carefully arranged the students myself, but then each table group the a number that represented one of the activities. This allowed students to see that I didn't play favorites.
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https://frugalfun4boys.com/2015/06/11/4-engineering-challenges-kids/
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Strawbees
Strawbees is an award-winning, light-weight, construction system for all ages. It is a kit based on simple units called Strawbees, that lets you connect straws to each other and build little to huge mechanical objects from just straws and cardboard. We believe playing and having fun is the best way to learn about the world, so we tried to bring this into classrooms with Strawbees EDU.
We partner up with world class educators that share our values, to co-create quality content and curriculums for classrooms to be used along with Strawbees. Since our curriculums are available in 5 levels: easy, medium, hard, expert and legendary, there’s something for everyone. Strawbees is great stand alone, but gets even better with added technology which is why we have partnered up with some major educational electronics out there. It works as the mechanical output for LittleBits, Micro:Bit, Arduino, Quirkbot, MakeyMakey, RaspberryPi, LEGO and Vex, and greatly improves their applications.
At Strawbees EDU, we believe that making, playing, testing and retrying is the way forward to making the world a more innovative place, and we strive to do this, one classroom at a time.
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Makerspace with Pattern Blocks
At this station, students work with pattern blocks to create the challenge presented. I chose to shrink the cards and have placed 18 of them in my "Differentiated Instruction Cubes." This allowed there to be an element of suspense on what to create.
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Dash and Dot
My final rotation is having the students work with Dash the robot. We have downloaded the apps that go with the robot and students work through the the challenges learning to code as they go.
Close:
I actually used a random closure generating website to reflect on the activities. The website is: Learning In Hand with Tony Vincent. The reflection generator web address:
The question that came up was perfect for today: What did you find frustrating? I also added: How did you persevere?