Monthly Newsletter

February 2019

Students K-2 have been practicing engineering skills by completing building challenges with a partner and some Legos.

Students in grade 3-5 completed different coding programs, challenges and game design courses.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In grades K-2 Students SFAS have been working with a partner and with teams to complete several different design challenges based off of problems we want to solve or to learn more about the structure we are building. Students have designed play grounds for toddlers age 16 months to 3 years old for a fast food restaurant so they can have a safe place to play. They have built ultimate playgrounds for kids their own age. Students also have built pyramids after learning about the Pyramids in Egypt and all out of LEGOS!

In grade 3 IIS students completed their lessons on Code.org. Students learned to code using block commands. They learned all sorts of new skills while enhancing other skills such as reading and math. I loved watching the students work together to help each other solve challenging puzzles and debug programs.

In grade 4 IIS/ 5th SFAS students are working on completing their Build-A-Band project in Scratch. Scratch is an online free coding program where students learn how to create games, animations, and presentations using code. They are learning to use new extensions and add a controller to their band projects. This controller is called a Makey Makey. There are so many things you can do with a Makey Makey it will blow your mind. Students learn how to create a controller using a Makey Makey to play each instrument they coded either individually or play them all together. Making music is fun and noisy!

In 5th grade IIS , students are working on completing at least 6 out of 8 CS First Game Design projects. The games students are designing teach them the basics of video game design and the coding behind it all. Students begin the program with learning to code a basic racing game to creating complex multi objective games with quest like Zelda!

January 2019

Students grades 3 through 5 have been creating code, learning to design video games, and much more.

Students K-2 have been working in stations that include coding, augmented reality, and practicing our problem solving skills.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In K-2 students have been working with a partner while traveling to stations to learn new technology skills as wells as practice previously learned skills. Students have been engaging with Osmo Stations playing the application Coding with Awbie. You control Awbie, a playful character who loves delicious strawberries. With each coding command, you guide Awbie on a wondrous tree-shaking, strawberry-munching adventure! Students have also been coloring sheets that are not plain coloring sheets, this image comes to life and you can interact with it too! Students have been learning the App called Quiver. Now with Quiver children can bring their unique coloring creations to life in extraordinary 3D augmented reality. Characters literally leap off the page, entertaining both little and big minds. Students have also been creating with Legos, IO Blocks, and Tinker Toys to complete different design challenges such as building an airplane or designing a new truck for Chevy or Ford.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In Third grade students have been learning programming skills using the programs available through Code.org. Students have been learning coding skills such as basic programming blocks, debugging incorrect code, creating art by coding an artist to move around the page to create the drawing, and they are learning more than all of that. Students are collaborating, communicating, and sharing their knowledge with others so everyone can lean CODE!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In 4th grade IIS/SFAS and 5th grade SFAS have been learning programming skills also but they are learning through a program called Scratch. In Scratch students program sprites (Characters) to move, interact with each other, to share safe and fun information themselves, they are also taught a new programming skill with each lesson that they have to apply to their projects. I encourage them to show their families at home what they are learning in tech. And what better way to spend those cold days we can't go outside than creating our own animations, video games, or design than practicing code with Scratch? Students also used Flipgrid to reflect on their Scratch projects.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5th grade IIS students have been learning advanced programming skills through a program called CS First. CS First is a program created by Google in collaboration with Scratch. With Scratch, you can program your own interactive stories, games, and animations — and share your creations with others in the online community. Scratch helps young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively — essential skills for life in the 21st century. Scratch is a project of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. It is provided free of charge. In this program students are learning Game Design. They receive a passport for learning and are given 8 game design lessons they must complete before receiving a "Badge of Learning". Students are creating maze games, platform games, race games, and even escape games. Students also used Flipgrid to reflect on their CS First and Scratch Projects.