4th Grade: Idea Lab Update

Fourth graders have been hard at work in Idea Lab! We're competing with the other 4th grade Idea Lab classes around the district this year-- so we have kept our projects a little under wraps. We hope you will be pleasantly surprised when you see our presentations on Saturday, December 9th at Old Bonhomme Elementary School. Please SAVE THE DATE!

          

This year's theme is First Lego League Unit-- Masterpiece!

The First Lego League Competition in 4th grade involves 4 parts.
Innovation Project: How can you use technology and the arts to help engage others and create participation in what you love to do? Teams will develop an idea together, create a prototype, design a display board, and deliver a 5 minute presentation to an audience & judges.

Robot Design & Robot Game: ​Teams must complete ​successful robot missions in a 2 1/2 minute match at the robot table with a robot that they design. Teams score points based on the difficulty level of the missions.  ​Robots must be coded to move around the mat on their own. ​

Core Values: Teams must show excellent teamwork, discovery, impact, inclusion, and have fun!

Teams have been working well together.  We are excited about our project ideas! 

More details will be coming about this event!
Please mark your calendars for December 9th from 8:30-11:00 a.m. 
You won't want to miss it! 

Idea Lab: 3rd Grade Update

Third graders have been hard at work this quarter! We got our creative juices flowing right off the bat!

We jumped right into our First Lego League Unit-- Masterpiece! 

First Lego League involves a bit of convergent thinking-- building models exactly as shown in images to try out robotic programming as well as divergent thinking-- building models and creating robotic programming using our creativity and imagination.  

Students are designing creative ways to share their creative hobbies and interests with the world.  We spent some time researching careers in the arts. Students presented their research to their classmates.  Careers like shoe designers, cake decorators, cartoonists, interior designers, animators, theatre managers, graphic designers, curators, fashion designers, art therapists, and more were discussed.

We've asked parents to come to our classroom to share their creative hobbies and interests with us.  

Addie's dad talked to us about his creative hobby: flying helicopters.  He showed students how one of the helicopters worked.  Since he was young, he had always had a dream of flying and found that helicopters gave him that feeling, unlike airplanes.  I told Addie's dad that if my high school physics teacher had allowed us to use something like model helicopters-- I think I would have had a waaaay better understanding of the physics principles!

Bode's mom has wanted to be an artist since she was a little girl.  When she was Bode's age, she taught her first art class to neighborhood kids who signed up to take her class from an advertisement that she created. She saved enough money to buy all of the supplies that were needed for the kids' class. She learned that she had a passion for teaching as she got older, and now she can combine her passion for art and teaching as an elementary art teacher! She brought many of her own masterpieces to share using different media, including a beautiful portrait of Bode. 

I think the students are LOVING having our parents come to our classroom, and they will be inspired to try many new hobbies.  Please let us know if you have a creative hobby or interest that you would like to share.

The goal for the FLL Masterpiece season is for students to create a Team Model that showcases their team's passion and interests.  The Team Model must include a robotic component, show innovation, and have an impact on the world.  
Team members must work effectively together and of course, have fun! 

Some teams have picked a team name and are beginning to design a team logo. 

After our Team Models are complete, we will work on a display board and produce a presentation for judges and an audience. We are excited to show you all of our learning and discoveries on Saturday, November 18th.  More details will be coming about this event!
Please save the date. You won't want to miss it!