WHAT ARE STEAMaker SESSIONS?
Our STEAMaker program is a true gem of Barclay Brook. During these cyclical sessions, students are given various tasks using a variety of media. The core goal of all of these session is the same... DEVELOP GRIT! The library transforms into the "I Can Do It Myself" room and the teachers are LARGELY hands off during STEAMaker times. Help is only given when it is NEEDED. When the students simply WANT help, they are redirected to dig deep and find those self help skills which are the cornerstone of this program. All too often our students give up when a task is hard. They will look to their teachers to "solve the problem" for them instead of working to find the solution on their own. We describe it in terms of building the brain muscle. You've got to lift those heavy weights to get strong :-)
1st Grade
This STEAMaker cycle, 1st graders will be learning some coding basics with OSMO Coding! This system uses physical "blocks" of code, in conjunction with an app of the iPad, to move a character through a map of puzzles and challenges.
In the 2nd STEAMaker Cycle, the 1st graders will be practicing basic tech skills such as startup, mouse use, log in, navigation. They will also begin some keyboarding practice with EdClub's wonderful product TypingClub. All Barclay Brook 1st and 2nd graders have access to Typing Club through their Clever accounts and are encouraged to practice their typing as often as possible! As so much standardized testing is done electronically now, basic keyboarding and computer navigation skills can alleviate some of the additional stresses our students are experiencing at this time. It also prevents them from fatiguing so quickly due to unfamiliarity with a standard computer keyboard.
During the 1st STEAMaker Cycle, 1st graders will be practicing problem solving while increasing their perseverance and grit with ThinkRolls. Students will be presented with a series of puzzles which will need to be solved. They will move a character through the course, managing road blocks that arise along the way. This session is designed to show students that "failure" is temporary and to help them struggle through and figure out what to do AFTER they fail!
2nd Grade
This cycle, the 2nd graders are moving in an entirely different directions. They are learning how to design in 3 dimensions! In our STEAMaker Session, we learned about 3D design with the Tinkercad website. Students chose a shape and thought about a word or image that helps them to go from the "Red Zone" to the "Green Zone"... a calming token. I will be printing their Calming Tokens soon, but they can continue to practice your 3D design skills as often as they want!
Remember that you are signing in with BBfirst name (example- BBjohn)! Class Codes/Links for Tinkercad are:
Corona- https://www.tinkercad.com/joinclass/FCQ7EZW2E
Rosso/Crane- https://www.tinkercad.com/joinclass/G2Q96JNDYGKE
Roth/Rosciano- https://www.tinkercad.com/joinclass/WK8USH4RHWDC
Satmary- https://www.tinkercad.com/joinclass/FZJFHTKTI
Tortoriello- https://www.tinkercad.com/joinclass/U1UHEHPJ65DV
Yates/Ciaccia- https://www.tinkercad.com/joinclass/XSLRZ8MF9DFS
After you have finished a new creation and you are ready for me to print it, please let me know the name of the creation (like today we changed the name of our creations to our first name) and the color in which you'd like it printed. I will print ANYTHING you make but NOTHING THAT YOU DOWNLOAD!!
2nd Graders will be expanding their programming vocabulary with Root Robotics. They will tackle 3 challenges... trying to program Root Robot to play musical notes, write a letter of the alphabet and move through an obstacle course. Bonus challenges will be provided after the completion of the original task.
The 2nd STEAMaker Cycle had our 2nd Graders coding a very different type of robot using Blockly coding... a step above the Blockly Jr. used with Lego WeDo
In the 1st STEAMaker Cycle, 2nd graders will jump right into rudimentary coding (Blockly Jr.) with Lego Education's Lego WeDo. Here, students are challenged to build and code a replica "space rover". When the prescribed task is complete, students are challenged to see what else they can make their rover do through coding and building ingenuity.