Spaghetti and Marshmallow Towers

Students at Carpenter these past two weeks have been learning about Makerspaces. This summer I received a Iowa STEM grant called Making STEM connections. With the grant I received a large toolbox and many tools and items for the students to use during the school year that help with makerspaces. I introduced the students to the tools last week and they completed a Safety Stoplight to show what tools they feel comfortable using on their own and what tools they need to only use when a teacher is present. We also talked about safety features for each tool as I introduced them so the students would know the proper way to hold and use the tools. Some of the tools we discussed include; sewing machine, hammer, screwdriver, iron, scissors, motors, drills, and hot glue gun. Ask your child what areas they put the different tools in on their stoplight.

This week we have been learning about the Learning Design Process and making Spaghetti and Marshmallow towers. Students had to come up with a plan of how they would create a tower using only what they were given and try to make it as tall as it can be. They drew out their plan and then received 25 spaghetti noodles and 50 marshmallows. Most groups thought that making a cube would work the best but quickly learned that a pyramid has a stronger structure and stay up longer. The students worked very hard this week and enjoyed exploring how to be creative and willing to change your plan and try a new way when things do not work out the first time.

  

    

Non-fiction means true!

The Shannon students have been reading the books on the nomination list for Iowa Goldfinch Award booklist. In March they will vote for their favorite book that we have read so far this year and those votes will be added with other elementary kids from around Iowa to determine which book will win the Goldfinch Award for 2016-2017.

This week one of the books we read and focused on was Ivan the Remarkable Shopping Mall Gorilla. This book talks about the gorilla named Ivan that was purchased and lived in a shopping mall for a long time before being moved to a zoo. Students learned that some books tell us true facts and sometimes have some real photos included in the book.

After learning about nonfiction books we also discussed that we can look at magazines to find out more true facts. Students explored a variety of magazines that we have in the library and were able to see that many of them gave us pictures and information about a variety of animals.

Zoobook magazines shares lots of animal facts and pictures for the kids.

Jorja, Nevaeh, and Isla look at the National Geographic for Kids magazine. 

Maddox and Connor learn about Ranger Rick Magazine

Hour of Code

The Carpenter students participated in Hour of Code this week. Hour of Code is a nationwide movement to get students to code for an hour sometime throughout the week to give them experience learning how to code. Library class this week was 60 minutes instead of 40, students go to choose from a variety of coding games to work on during the hour. Some games included Minecraft, Disney's Moana movie, Frozen, star wars, and Angry Birds. To learn more about the Hour of Code please visit: https://hourofcode.com/us
To complete some of the coding activities click on Activities on the top of that website.

Adamari works on coding.

Karli is working on Disney's Moana coding.

         

Ethan enjoys working on Minecraft coding.

QR Codes and Coding

This week in library class the kindergarten and first grade students learned how to scan a QR code. They scanned a variety of QR codes that linked them to videos of people reading them stories. Students learned how to scan the code and watched the person reading them a story. They will be using these codes in their classroom for listen to reading centers.

  

The 2nd-4th grade students this week worked on reviewing how to use the coding website. The students have accounts on code.org and are working through each step of the course they are on. They started code.org in 1st grade and have done it each year as they get further and further into their course. All 2-4th grade students will be participating in Hour of Code next week with others around the world.

 

Makerspaces

This week at Carpenter school the second, third, and fourth grade students enjoyed creating a variety of things during Makerspace week in media class. Seven stations were setup that students could choose from during library class. One of the more popular areas was the Lego tables; one lego table was the community table that anything that was built at that table stayed up all week long and students from other classes could add onto their creations. At the other lego table students could make things but then take them apart before they left library class.

2nd graders add on to others lego creations

Another popular station was the Make It Station. At this station students are allowed to use a variety of craft supplies to create anything they can imagine. Supplies like toilet paper rolls, duct tape, colored noodles, ribbons, yarn, tissue paper, etc are used in this station. If anyone has supplies similar to this that they would like to donate to the library that would be appreciated. Feel free to send them into school with your child or drop them off at Carpenter School.

Second graders get creative at the Make-It station

Mrs. Lambert's third grade class is very creative! 

Fourth graders work together and learn how to use the Cubelets 

Station three and four used Bluebots and Cubelets. Students got to use Bluebots for the first time and learned how to program them to move around the board. They learned how to move around the board to land on the letters that are in their name or on names of their family members. Fourth grade students used Cubelets for the first time. They were given the devices and a few directions and had to figure out how they all worked. Students tested out many methods and figured out how to get them to move around the table at different speeds and how to make different cubes light up or move in a circle.

Third grader programs the bluebot around the board.

Third grader, Alexis programs the bluebot to find lots of letters.

Station five was the Osmo Station. Students could use the two Osmo devices and got to decide which game they wanted to use. The Osmo games that they could choose from helped them with their art skills on Masterpiece, learning about science with Newton, learning about math with Numbers, their spelling with the Words game, learning about being creative with the Monster game, working with shapes with Tangrams, or how to code with the Coding game. This was the first time they had tried out the coding game and many students enjoyed that one the most.

Third graders playing the Numbers game on the Osmo.

2nd graders helping one another on the Osmo devices.

Station six was the Make-Do Station. At the Make-Do Station students got to be creative with cardboard. The make-do's are plastic screws, screwdrivers, saw, and hole puncher that students can use to attach a variety of cardboard pieces together to make something. Students made things like doll houses, a house for rats and mice, instruments, and devices to hold school supplies. Every time we have this station we get new and different things created by the students.

Jordyn C works on creating with the Make-Do supplies.

2nd graders love to create with cardboard!

The last station that the kids could do was a Kindness station. Since it is Veterans Day on Friday the students could select from a bunch of Veterans Day cards, letters, posters, to decorate and give out to Veterans that they know around the community or in their family.

Fourth graders make cards for Veterans.

In the future we will be using the tool chest and tools that I received from them Iowa STEM grant called, Making STEM Connections. From this grant we have a kit at both Carpenter and Shannon that includes a sewing machine, GoPro Camera, tools, hot glue guns, legos, duct tape, batteries, and motors. We will be learning how to use these supplies safely in the classroom and in the library.

Time for laptops

Shannon students got to use laptops this week for the second time in library this year! Kindergarten students are starting to get to using the mousepad to control the computer instead of touching the screen like they do on iPads. We visited the website, www.abcya.com and worked on word games. Kindergarten students worked on the games Monster Mansion Matching Letters, Alphabet Bubbles, and Alphabet Bingo. They had to practice matching up the letters with the letter sounds and finding words that began with each letter.

The first grade students were also on abcya.com and worked on Keyboard Zoo and the Consonant Blend game. They had to find all of the letters on the keyboard and then got to work in groups to play the board game to determine which words are real words that begin with each consonant blend sound. These would be great games to practice at home as well!

Library Stations and Blue-bots

The Shannon students have been learning about working in stations and centers this week. Students rotated between four stations in library class and got to work with legos, blocks, magnet tiles, and robotics. Students worked collaboratively and helped one another to create things with legos, building blocks, or magnetic shapes. The students were very creative and had many vehicles, cities, and objects created throughout the week.

 A new station that was introduced this week was the Bluebot station. Bluebots were purchased by the PTO to be used at Shannon during the school year. A bluebot is a robotic device that works by the students programming him to move in different directions on the map. A bluebot can be programmed to move forward, backward, right, or left. Students had to use the directions cards to show which way it should travel and had to learn to adjust their directions if they did not get to their destination on the map the first time.