Sphero Olympics Hype!

In 3rd-6th Grade, we are currently doing a unit called "Sphero Olympics."

Spheros are spherical robots which can be controlled using an iPad or Computer. We started to get a taste for the Spheros by driving them around our classroom. Here's a little video from last year when we started the first time:

For the the JWP version of the Olympics, we paired up and each pair of students picked a country that participates in the Olympics from this list. Students then researched the country, learning the population, what money they use, athletes from the country, and how far they had to travel to get to Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Summer Games.

Students then designed a paper doll athlete from their country, choosing colors based on the outfits that the athletes wore in the Parade of Nations. I think they look pretty good!

Our Olympic Village is taking shape! Here are our Sphero Athletes from many nations! #mncodes #SpheroOlympics pic.twitter.com/G4TwFHEYVu

— Rachel J. Pierson (@RPiersonEdu) January 19, 2017

Our first event will be the Parade of Nations where the athletes will walk into the games, and then our first competition will be a "running" race around the track on the floor in our room. The students will have to use a block programming app called SPRK Lightning Lab to program the Sphero Robots to accomplish these tasks.  Look for the second January blog update with the results!

Computer Science at JWP (Part Two!)

This month, we have focused nearly all of our time on Computer Science. In the last post about Computer Science, I focused on what the younger students were working on, while mentioning what the older students were about to start.

I'd like to show you some of the products of our work in CS First and "Gumball's Coding Adventure!" Click the green flag to start running each program.

I think we have some budding computer science enthusiasts on our hands!

Morning Announcement Video Success!

Halfway through November, we ordered a green screen for the STEM Classroom.

Can't wait to use our new green screen for announcements! Thanks for the help with set up, @JeremyErler #isd2835 pic.twitter.com/4QKGbX1kEe

— JWP STEM Stars (@JWPSTEM) November 14, 2016

We've been having a great time every morning making video announcements for the elementary students!

The students plan the script, find the backgrounds, and use an iPad app called Touchcast to record. Touchcast allows them to use a teleprompter to read their script while they are recording.

Any 6th grader is welcome to sign up for helping with the announcements on our Google Doc that's shared with everyone in the class. We meet at 8:00 every weekday but Tuesdays.

Check out our playlist of past videos here:

Computer Science for K-6 at JWP

Hello, Bulldog family!

We've had the immense privilege the past couple weeks to start diving in to Computer Science in our STEM time.

Younger students have been focusing on sequencing, algorithms, and short programs by utilizing the websites code.org and kodable.com. Both these sites have great tools for pre-readers and emerging readers. It's been amazing seeing the way that kids help each other, support each other, and have a growth mindset! Here's a great short video featuring a couple 1st graders in action!

Power of #GrowthMindset in action with @kodable. #csk8 #isd2835 pic.twitter.com/lWyxmz1gxz

— Rachel J. Pierson (@RPiersonEdu) November 22, 2016

The middle and upper elementary students used Lightbot and Code Combat to get a taste of coding, and now we're jumping in to the CS First lesson, Gumball's Coding Adventure, which uses a tool called Scratch. (Scratch is made by the great people at MIT.) When we're done with the step by step introduction to Scratch from the lesson, students will be given the opportunity to create their own programs! I'm looking forward to seeing all the creative things that will come out of it!

Computer Science in Education Week is coming up from December 5-11. I want to make sure that all the students here at JWP get a taste of what it's like so that they may be able to take up the opportunity to learn more if it interests them. Here's some Minnesota statistics from code.org: 

Thanks for being a supporter of learning for your children! Ask them about the projects we're working on, and let them wow you! 

Excellence without excuse!

Until next time!

Edit: Sorry for forgetting to tweet the link yesterday! 

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Good evening, JWP Families!

This week is Conferences week, and I wanted to make sure that you have lots of ways to get in touch with me if you would like to discuss your child's progress in STEM, or even just to get a good idea of what we do in STEM!

Below you'll find all sorts of ways to get in touch with me. Please contact me at any time!

School Phone: 507-231-7796
School Email: rpierson@isd2835.org (You may use Google Hangouts to text or call me here)
Web conferencing (no account needed): appear.in/rachelpierson

My planned hours for in-person conferences this week are from 4-5:30 on Tuesday, and 4:00 to 8:00 on Thursday. Stop in the STEM room, check out our new green screen, and we can have a conversation!

End of First Quarter Fun!

Happy 31st Day of October! That means in less than 24 hours, October is over and we're already in to November. This Friday, November 4, is the end of the first quarter. I can't believe how quickly our first quarter went; everything is awesome--the students are all working hard to accomplish the tasks I set before them, and they are rising to the challenge!

For some fun today, we're going to be working in Google Drawings with "magnetic poetry." The words are easily dragged around the image, and kids can create their own holiday-themed poems! Here's my example:

As I mentioned above, the end of the quarter is Friday, so please go through Google Classroom with your children and make sure they have each assignment turned in. If all students have their work turned in by Thursday and Friday this week, we'll do a BreakoutEDU.  What is Breakout, you may ask? It's inspired by "escape rooms," and give students chances to solve puzzle to unlock a box. Here's a video by the official Breakout people on what it's all about:

Hope we can get to that point by the end of the week!

As always, if there are any questions, clarifications, or things with which I can help you, do not hesitate to contact me!

Have a great week!

Digital Citizenship Week

Happy October, friends and family of JWP STEM!

First, let me apologize for not updating the first post this month earlier - I got to spend some time learning with other people! Over MEA weekend, I got to spend two days up in the Twin Cities: one day at the Target Headquarters learning more about computer science education, and another day at a Math and Science EdCamp. Both situations really helped solidify that we are doing awesome things here at JWP. The weekend prior to that, I was again in the Twin Cities learning from the great educators at ITEM - Information and Technology Educators of Minnesota. While mostly geared toward librarians, there are a lot of great STEM items that were shared there. Again, it was good to realize that JWP is on the forefront of helping our students get the most opportunities for learning.

One of the ways that we have been learning this week is using a tool called Nearpod, which is a hyped-up way to present slides to students. Nearpod teamed up with Common Sense Media to create lessons about Digital Citizenship and online safety, and gave them away free to media specialists. (We love that word!) 4th through 6th graders worked through a Hyperdoc that had media resources on Oversharing, Strong Passwords, Cyberbullying, and thinking before they post on social media. The culminating project was a poster or digital item that helped people hear the message of positive digital behavior. There were lots of great submissions! Come through the hallway by the STEM room to see lots of them, or enjoy a snippet in the examples below.

Our younger students are working through a hyperdoc of their own teaching them to "Pause & Think" before they do anything online. The video and song also remind students to help others have a positive attitude, to stand up to cyberbullying, and to balance their time between online and offline activities. We then used a tool called Buncee to create graphics of some of our online safety rules. Enjoy a sample below! Click the arrows to look through a few slides.