Summer Robotics 3

Our Robotics 3 camp is off to a great start this week.  Robotics 3 is a coding continuation of Robotics 2.  We're exploring all the possibilities within EdBlocks (the basic coding language for Edison).  We have a mixed bag of participants in Robotics 3 this time around.  Some kids are coming right from Robotics 2 last week, others did Robotics 2 during Spring Break, and still others are jumping in for the first time.  We started off our class by drawing what we think of when we are picturing robots.  We had a fun variety of ideas come up.  After each applicable idea I was able to show a video of a real life robot that is similar to what each student shared.  We watched short video clips of a spider robot, a humanoid robot falling over, a humanoid robot walking and running successfully, and a lawn mowing robot.  We reviewed the three parts that make a machine a robot (computer, sensors, and actuators) and reviewed how coding is telling the computer one step at a time how to do something. 

 We worked through a series of challenges to program our robot to avoid obstacles.  We started with a base program that used the infrared sensor to detect an obstacle and stop the robot.  Then we tried the program with a variety of obstacles for Edison.  We explored why he didn't stop before hitting the clear Lego bricks and why he was pushed around the glass jar rather than stopping before hitting it.  Then we worked on programming Edison to back up, turn around, and repeat the code so he could drive around without hitting anything.  The final challenge was to have Edison alert us when he detects an obstacle.  We did that by adding a beeping sound.  At home you could try the same program and have Edison flash his lights to alert us instead.

We also worked on programming Edison to bounce within borders.  That means that he uses the light sensor on the bottom to detect when he runs into a black line and then backs up, turns around, and drives off again.  It's like an invisible fence - only it's a black line on a table.  Some of our group was able to start playing with making music with Edison.  This gets a little tricky for some and those kids that play the piano definitely have an advantage.  We're working with coding blocks that have 1/8th notes, 1/4 notes, half notes, and whole notes, and we have to pick out the right note from a staff picture.  It's a little challenging, but with a litter perseverance we'll get Edison to play a variety of songs.  We'll pick up with music first thing on Thursday so we'll all get the chance to make him "sing". 

K1 Prep Summer Camp

We are having such a fun time in our K1 Prep camp this summer.  I get to work with this wonderful group of kids and watch them grow a ton in a short amount of time.  We're reading and writing and jumping and singing all day long. 

 Today was super fun because we started talking about sorting and classifying objects.  I dumped out a giant container of coins on the floor and then showed the kids a penny.  We talked about it is worth one cent and is copper colored.  Then all the kids were sent on a penny hunt to gather all of the pennies out of the pile.  We continued, one coin at a time, with the nickle (fat and medium sized), dime (tiny coin), and the quarter (the biggest of the 4).  This is a FANTASTIC activity to do at home with this age group.  Pull out your pile of coins and have them sort them into 4 groups.  Use the teaching moment to talk about names and values of coins.

We also started "Guess My Secret Rule" but didn't get to play a ton yet.  It's exactly like the Sesame Street "One of these things doesn't belong" game.  Pick 4 items where 3 have a characteristic that is the same and the fourth doesn't match that characteristic.  The kids have to pick which one doesn't fit the group AND tell why.  The telling why part is super important (it doesn't match because it's a different color/shape/size/thickness/etc).  This game is really fun to do with the contents of a silverware drawer - I plan to do exactly that on Thursday morning with this group :).

Summer Robotics 2 Day 3

This afternoon the Robotics 2 camp finished up with a dance a party.  We reviewed computational thinking and how we will be more successful if we work out one piece of code at a time. Then we jumped into our challenge of using all 4 drive directions to make Edison dance.  I was impressed with how many different varieties of turns, twists, speed, and length of time were used.  The kids thought it was fantastic that they could pick a favorite song, I could play it over the speaker system, and they could have their Edison "dance" to the music.

 Our dance code was a fun adventure in creative coding. I could see the "choreography" happening in some student's minds as they thought about how they would like Edison to move to a Greatest Showman song or how would Edison do the Floss dance?

 After our break we learned how to make Edison turn on and off his lights.  We played around with the code to make Edison dance and turn on and off the lights. Our main coding focus today was on the Loop block, which makes the code repeat either a set number of times or forever.  The kids discovered the Look block on Wednesday so it was fairly easy for them to incorporate it into their dancing code. We even learned that you can put a Loop block around a few blocks, add more blocks, and put a loop block around all of it.

We had an amazing time learning together.  It was a ton of fun to watch the kids become confident in loading code onto Edison and playing around with writing the code.  It is awesome that Edison is open ended so all these kids can go home and continue creating new code challenges for their Edison.  Here are some example challenges to get your kids to do (or come up with your own!): 

• Drive around and obstacle, such as a cup or pencil case
• Drive around the border of a desk without driving off the edge
• Create a maze on a large piece of paper
• Create a maze using building blocks

Share with me what amazing challenge you can make your Edison do!  Share a video, pictures, or even just text on Facebook.com/InitiateLearning  I can't wait to see what you can accomplish! 

Summer MakerSpace Wrap Up

Summer MakerSpace camp was illuminating! I loved having the opportunity to teach our makers about circuits and how to add light to their creations.  Day 2 of summer MakerSpace camp started with the challenge to add light to a creation and these kids did not disappoint. Everyone had a different idea of a project that they wanted to make and we all got right to work.

 Some of the ideas were super challenging and after spending some time trying to create a lantern together a small group of children and I decided to shelve the idea and work on something else for a bit.  The project even stumped me.  In MakerSpace we accept that things won't always work and it's a safe place to craft and explore something new.  I was really impressed when wiring started happening that mimicked our paper circuits and resembled the simple circuits we were making during spring break.

 Overall, Makerspace was a smashing success.  Within the two day camp we saw collaboration, exploration, creative thinking, and authentic problem solving.  We saw students become masters and share their knowledge with others.  We saw students engaging in creative projects and stretching beyond their comfort zones.  In Makerspace we value creativity and love the creations.  Very well done!

K1 Prep Camp July 12

This morning as our K1 kiddos arrived I asked them to practice writing their name - the first thing they will do every day at my house.  Once I got downstairs I pulled out the trampoline and asked who would be the first one to do 20 jumps after finishing writing their name?  Would you believe that we finished writing our names about 7x faster than the last three times they've been over? (Unpictured kids were simply jumping with such fury that the blurry picture wasn't worth saving.)

 We moved next into writing in our journals about our favorite toy.  When we came to a word we didn't know how to write the whole class helped to say the word, catch it in the air, and stretch it out slowly so the writer could get the correct letters written down.

 As each child finished their writing they moved into puzzles.  It was fun to watch them work together and help each other try the harder puzzles.

 This week our math is all about shapes and location words.  We traced the basic shapes and then cut them out.  We read a fun location word book and put the hiking character in the correct location on each page.

I was really impressed with everyone's reading today.  We worked through our lessons and learned some new books.  Keep up the fantastic work at home.  I have them for such a short time that A TON of their learning is happening with your help at home.  Thank you!

Summer Robotics 2 Day 2

The kids in Robotics 2 brought some amazing passion and energy to camp today!  I am incredibly impressed with what we were able to accomplish.  They were able to recall the parts of a robot with the correct vocabulary and they were able to transition into a more independent situation where students didn't need me to remind them step-by-step how to program the Edison Robots.  This led to a fantastic situation for any classroom - Individualized Learning.  The kids who where working on mastering the decimal form of a percentage of a second were coached through that.  Students who mastered the math quickly were able to move on and challenge themselves by adding more complicated code.

 When we were ready to put Edison through a maze we spent time talking about computational thinking.  Computational thinking is the process of doing one step at a time.  First we want Edison to go forward, then turn left, then go forward, then turn right, then go forward.  Just being able to list the steps in order is a skill to master.  As we worked on the code I stressed that THE ONLY WAY anyone can be successful at writing code in the beginning is to write one step of code at a time, test it, adjust it, and make it absolutely correct before adding the next step of code.

 Then we learned how Edison can interact with drawn lines.  Edison has a line tracking sensor and can follow a black line or respond to a black line.  We learned a few more coding blocks such as "Speed" and "Turn OFF the Motors" all while playing with following our own drawn trails - a simple black marker and large sheet of paper does the trick! These are all activities that can me built upon at home after camp ends.  We spent some time today talking about how coding robots is a fairly complicated task and we will hardly ever get the math right on the first try.  

After each task we sat as a group on the sofa and reflected on what went well and not so well and why we thought that.  We also brainstormed different ideas to troubleshoot problems such as accidentally poking holes in the paper that then cause Edison to get stuck!  I am continually impressed with the enthusiasm and perseverance that is shown by kids in robotics camps - something about robots helps us be a little more brave to try, fail, and try again.  Keep up the great work!

Summer MakerSpace - Paper Circuits

These kids did some amazing work with paper circuits today.  Each child created their own paper circuits book to demonstrate a simple circuit, a parallel circuit, and a switch.  We used copper tape and LED stickers.  We'd make the circuit on a blank page and then turn back a page and draw a design that incorporated the light that was shining through the paper.

 We talked about how a simple circuit can only power one light and how a parallel circuit can have as many lights as there is space.  We talked about the positive and negative sides of a battery and how they have to match up to the correct end on the sticker lights.

 Then we dove into crafting and creating.  With all the supplies available students worked on helicopters, message delivery systems, pencil holders, cards, and art.  They all did a fantastic job!