Carmel Collaboration Center
Hexbug Maze
The 3rd graders have just finished their geometry units. As a culminating project, the students were asked to design a maze for the super fun Hexbugs!
Here was their design challenge:
Design Challenge: The hexbugs are crazy little creatures that need a place to play and exercise! They love to run around, and are pretty fast! Your job is to create a maze in which they can play and explore! You may use any of the materials available, but there is a catch…
Your maze must include the following:
- At least one pair of parallel lines
- At least one pair of perpendicular lines
- At least one triangle- either a right, isosceles, or scalene
- At least two from the following: quadrilateral, pentagon, hexagon, octagon, rhombus, or trapezoid
- No larger than 20in x 20in
Here are some pictures of the students planning and testing their mazes!
Green Screen Cell Projects
After studying plant and animal cells, the 5th graders built 3D models of cells. They then brought their models to the CCC Lab to get busy with the Green Screen! This project was completely student-led. They worked together to prepare, film, and edit!
Dash Robot Exploration
Students have loved getting to know Dash the robot! KG began with an "unplugged" activity, while older students have learned through exploration on Blockly.
Grand Opening of the Carmel Collaboration Center
October 20, 2017
Friday, October 20th was such an exciting and eventful day for our students at The Carmel School. The grand opening of our STEAM lab, The Carmel Collaboration Center, inspired our students, teachers, and parents alike!
After a short presentation in the library from one of our Upper School students, the Lower School community traveled down to the CCC for a blessing of the space. We are so thankful Dr. Ray Spence was able to give such a meaningful blessing. Finally, Mrs. Williamson, Dr. Casper, and Mrs. Wright proceeded with a ribbon cutting, and the Carmel Collaboration Center was officially open!
The day was filled with exciting, exploratory activities for PreK through the 5th grade. Every class was able to spend time in the CCC to get a sampling of some of the technology and activities that will be available.
Students explored with Dash the robot. They were challenged to code the robot through a "Pumpkin Patch" to collect points for their team.
Another station allowed students to practice coding with Ozobots. Students could contol these robots with OzoCodes by simply drawing lines and color segments. We will soon advance to our visual block-based editor OzoBlockly.
Spheros allow for students to learn computer programing in 3 ways.
- Beginners can draw paths that represent code for their robot to follow.
- Intermediate coders can utilize the block-based drag and drop interface.
- Pros can use JavaScript and write text programs like a boss.
We are so excited for the grand opening of the Carmel Collaboration Center on Friday, October 20th! The students will experience all of our new robots, the green screen, and will get their hands dirty with a few STEM activities!
We love Keva Planks! Although it is crucial for our students to become fluent in the technology that surrounds them, we find it very important to also give them time to build with their hands. Keva Planks are introduced in KG to strengthen their fine motor skills and be exposed to math principles through guided exploration. Geometry, number representation, patterns, and arithmetic are all practiced while working with Keva Planks. These students worked in teams to build the structure on their challenge card. It's so important that the students practice collaborative work throughout their day!
