We had some great experiences with the grade 1 and 2 students this week.
When I asked our grade 2 students to recall what they knew about some parts this week for their first robotics class of the year, we were amazed by how much they recalled from first grade. One student, who often struggles in school in some ways, gave the most amazing and accurate explanation of gears and teeth. You could tell that he really got it and retained it from last year. He was so excited to share his knowledge too!
We did some of the Lego WeDo Getting Started activities with two grade 1 classes this year. The students were so enthusiastic! They loved using laptops, building some simple motorized gears and pulleys in a circle together. We explored basic concepts of gears, motors, pulleys, and programming. This really seems to pay off when students build the robots from the activity pack such as Dancing Birds, which we will do next in first grade.
Some of the boys, in particular, were absolutely beaming when they got their first robots to work. It was very rewarding. We happened to have a reporter and photographer from the Daily Hampshire Gazette this week for an upcoming photo essay. So I hope they will be able to capture, in words and photos, the magic of this activity. They also visited grade 5 this week.
