Week of October 13th-16th

Before reading about our week, check out this article about an awesome app that teaches kids to program using a phone! It's well worth the $2.99 price tag!
http://www.wired.com/2015/10/app-uses-kids-obsession-with-phones-to-teach-them-coding/?mbid=social_twitter

The one 3rd grade class I saw this week learned about variable puzzles and that, in addition to meaning a quantity that varies, variables can also represent a specific unknown. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of my classes next week!

In 4th grade, we completed the Move Straight Challenge. All groups were successful in making the robot move from the start to finish line and back to the start using degrees, rotations, and seconds. It was interesting to see how many different ways the students came up with to do this. Some used guess and test, others found the circumference of the robot's tire, measured the distance of the track, and divided to find the number of rotations necessary. All groups realized that one rotation equals 360 degrees, so they knew that 3 rotations would be the same as 1080 degrees. It was amazing to see so much mathematical thinking being applied to a real world challenge!

The 5th graders learned how to name values in our programming language using define statements. We talked about how good programmers write something once, define it as a shortcut in the language, and then use the shortcut wherever they want in order to save time and avoid repetition.  One class actually got to begin defining values for their own video games and created screenshots of these games!

Week of October 5-9

This week, the 3rd graders wowed me with their own number tricks.  We learned that when something in our trick is changing, that becomes the variable.  One class also solved variable puzzles and learned that variables can also represent a specific unknown. Can you solve this multiplication variable puzzle?

In 4th grade, we tackled the "Move Straight Challenge" where we programmed the robot to move from a start line to a finish line and back to the start using degrees, rotations, and seconds.  We realized that using math skills can help us be precise.  Check out some video footage below!

In 5th grade, we continued to learn about contracts and how important it is to keep track of them when writing code. We learned how to flip, rotate, and size images, and some classes started to learn how to define variables in the definitions window.  All of this knowledge will be the foundation of our video game designs!

Week of September 28-October 2

This week, my 3rd graders learned a cool number trick and how the "magic" behind it is actually algebra!

In 4th grade, we started to program our robots and learned how adjusting modes, parameters, and values in our programming blocks will change the behavior of the robot.

In 5th grade, we are continuing to learn how to use racket code to program a video game.  We learned about contracts and datatypes.  See the pictures below for a refresher.

Week of September 21-25

This week, my 3rd graders learned all about variables, expressions, and equations. They even figured out how to work backwards using inverse operations to solve for variables. One class learned how we can use algebra to play number tricks on people. I'm excited to see if anyone figures out the math behind the number trick I did in class!

In 4th grade, we built our robots and discussed how robots have a brain and a body just like humans do. We also started to learn how the programming component works. Next week, we will get our first programming challenge: getting the robot to move straight.

The 5th graders are zooming through our lessons on turning circles of evaluation into racket code. We've been learning about functions and have been entering code into wescheme in order to see what our functions evaluate to. I'm really impressed with everyone's ability to keep up with our fast pace. By the end of this unit, we're going to turn into professional programmers!

Week of September 16-18

This week, my 3rd graders were introduced to our algebra unit through the use of number games. My 4th graders began building their LEGO robots, and my 5th graders learned how to create circles of evaluation and turn them into racket code.  Even though it was a short week, we were all very busy! For hw assignments, look at grade level pages.

busy at work building robots

Week of September 8-11

It's been amazing to finally meet with my students this week!!! We viewed a video on "grit" to gain a better understanding of what it's all about, and we started to look for words and images that represent what it means to us.  Here's an image that I especially like because in order to have grit, you must have a growth mindset:

 For homework, I asked my 3rd and 4th graders to continue to research the meaning of "grit" and to come prepared with words and images to add to our classroom poster. I challenged the students to come up with their own quotes and images that have special meaning to them and can motivate us throughout the year.

In 5th grade, we will be using algebra and computer programming to create our own video games. We reverse engineered a simple game called NinjaCat to see how the individual parts work using a coordinate grid.  For homework, students were asked to draw a sketch of a game they are interested in creating making sure to include a player, a target, a danger, and a background.

Click here to play NinjaCat

September 1, 2015

I can't believe it's September already!  I hope everyone had a wonderful summer and that you're ready to embark on an exciting new school year. This year, we'll be talking a lot about the word "grit" - what it means and how it can help us be successful in all aspects of our lives.  Check out the video to get a better understanding of what grit is all about: