September Robotics

We are having a blast in our Robotics classes at the Options School.  My younger classes are learning about simple machines and why they are important in order to build robots and my MakerSpace class is exploring the Engineering Design Cycle with POCKET ROCKETS.  What could be more fun than watching something explode in school?  Be sure to check out the short video below!

September's Junk Robots

I love that I get to teach robotics on Monday's throughout the whole school year.  In September we started off our robotics classes with Junk Robots.  This is an activity I love to do.  It gets kids right to work with a variety of materials and their imagination to create their own robot.  We learn very quickly where certain supplies are available throughout our room, we share and take turns immediately (who know 5 glue guns wasn't enough for our classes, time to order more!), and students are able to take their creations home that day.

 Nothing gets students more excited about robots than being able to take their own robot home on the first day.  We then follow up with a lesson about how all the Legos and robots in the classroom belong to the school and have to stay there - that is a bummer, but it's the way everyone can learn.

Aren't some of these robots amazing?

Options Kindergarten - Apples in September

August 31st was our first day of school at Options.  Options is the name of the school I teach at on Monday and Friday each week.  We are a homeschool enrichment program that students are registered for and attend one day a week.  On Fridays I teach Kindergarten, First Grade Robotics, and K-5 Musical Theatre.  It's such a fun day!

In September, we kicked off Kindergarten by starting our red water beads "blood experiment" in the sensory bin. We read an amazing book about apples and then got to taste test 8 different types of apples to see which we liked the best.  We cut open apples for apple stamping and practiced the numbers 1-10 with play dough.

 The next week we made applesauce, it was REALLY yummy.  We painted and labeled the parts of apples and worked on an apple life cycle.  We've had a blast so far!