Grade 1 Composite Shape Ornaments

First graders used the Pattern Shapes app by the Math Learning Center to design and create a composite shape. They also created an Apple Clip video explaining what shapes they used to create their composite shape along with a quick holiday message to their family. These videos were then attached to a QR code that was laser engraved to the back of the ornament for a festive interactive experience.

Kindergarten Sewing Activity

Kindergartners visited the lab today to practice their hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills with sewing. I created a stocking template and had the laser cutter cut them with holes wide enough to fit a thick plastic needle and yarn. Students chose a yarn color and quickly got to work weaving through their personalized stocking. It was such a fun and festive activity!

Grade 4 Animated Volcano Poem on Keynote

Fourth graders have been learning about volcanoes in social studies. Mrs. Schmitz wanted to incorporate some "techy" aspects to this assignment, so each student used Keynote to "animate" their poems. Mr. Fricano walked each class through the process of adding, duplicating, and deleting slides, drawing minor changes on each slide, adding a background and text, and including their voice. Each student thoughtfully designed each slide on their iPad, then exported their finished piece to their camera roll. I was impressed by the many incredible and creative poems our 4th graders wrote- and seeing them animated was a fantastic experience.

Hour of Code & CSEdWeek 2018!

Students in Kindergarten through 3rd grade had a busy Hour of Code Week with activities scheduled during their Tech Class and recess time!

Kindergartners and first graders have been learning to code with Code.org's Express Course over the past few weeks prior to CSEDWeek. In Tech Class they continued working on their challenging programming puzzles with Scrat and BB8!

Second graders have been learning to program with Wonder Workshop's Dash and Dot since the beginning of the year! For their Hour of Code challenge they participated in Wonder Workshop's #FunWithCode Dancing Contest. They programmed their own dance moves for Dash to Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars "Uptown Funk".

3rd graders have been creating elaborate spaces in virtual reality with CoSpaces Edu this semester! For Hour of Code, they were given a CoSpaces Edu CoBlocks Christmas themed coding challenge.

During recess time throughout the entire week students had the opportunity to visit the Tech Lab experience other activities that involved programming and robotics, including Sphero Bowling, Bloxels, The new Hour of Code Dance activity, and more!

Students are looking forward to continue their programming practice and Hour of Code 2019!

Grade 1 Manipulating Shapes in Keynote

First graders visited the Design Lab today to learn how to manipulate shapes in the Keynote app. They are learning about the qualities of composite shapes in math, so to continue that exploration process students played with the shapes in Keynote.

 This lesson did not require students to create a composite shape, so their designs were very creative!