Richmond ES Hour of Code 2018 Success

I had a great week learning and coding with students.  I watched students think, create, collaborate and share. All the tenets of my enrichment programming wrapped into one!

Here is a video hilighting some of the FUN!

**The 'Hour of Code™' is a nationwide initiative by Computer Science Education Week and Code.org to introduce millions of students to one hour of computer science and computer programming.”

Maker Mondays in 2019--Forms Coming Home Soon!

I am preparing the flyer to announce Maker Mondays for January and February 2019.

Here is the information that will be coming home soon!

The Enrichment Program at RES is excited to support a winter session of:

MAKER MONDAYS!

When: Monday Afternoons January 14th, 28th , February 4th, 11th, and 18th

Time: Immediately After School until 4PM

Where: The RES Makerspace

The Details:   Mrs. Rankin will work with students to design, create and make in the makerspace.  
During our time together we will have an opportunity to do guided tinkering projects as well as the
freedom to create from our own imaginations! If you are a student who loves to make and take apart
things, or wants to learn something new in a fun and exploratory environment, then this is the after
school program for you!

Cost:  This five week session will be $35 per student (Part 2 students are welcome to attend,
provided they pay this additional fee). Partial and full scholarships are available.

Students: All students in Grades K-4 are invited to attend, but class size is limited to 20.  Slots will be filled on a first come, first serve basis (with a lottery if I receive more than the amount on the same day). *Note last year I had over 75 applicants in the first two days!*

RES Cougar Cub Inventor's Workshop Success

The Thursday before November break RES families came together for the fourth year in a row to celebrate creativity and engineering at the RES Cougar Cub Inventor's Workshop.
What is an Inventor’s Workshop? The workshop was a family-friendly event to MAKE, create, learn, invent, craft, recycle, think, play and be inspired by celebrating arts, crafts, engineering, science and technology.  Students worked with their families to create. Activities were facilitated by engineers and teachers. Families had an opportunity to learn together as they experienced the fun of making / building / constructing / designing and more.

I am so thankful for all of the school and community volunteers that made this evening possible. Volunteers from the Society of Women Engineers ran stations to build jitterbots, create rockets and lead our youngest makers in building marble mazes and floating objects for the wind tunnel. ECHO brought an amazing 34 foot Lego car racing tack and a 10 foot high wind wall that had students laughing and cheering all evening. Radiate Art Space brought a variety of spin art machines and created amazing art with students. CHMS educator, Quinn Keating brought a 3D printer and taught families how to use software that drives this tool. RES educators were on hand to support learning and challenge students as they learned to code in Scratch and build with various materials. Cardboard Tek donated some PinBox 3000s for the evening so students could get excited by the design possibilities they will get to have later in the school year.

Here is a video that captures some of the fun of the evening:

Celebrating Light in Grade 2 Enrichment

How does light travel?

How does light interact with other objects?

These are the questions that we investigated in our science study into light in second grade enrichment.  In our first meeting, students came into a dark enrichment space, and were challenged to think about light.  It is all around us, yet we found that we had not spent much time thinking about its properties.  If students closed their eyes, could they feel when a flashlight was shone on them?  What are some sources of light? What questions do we have about light?  We had a great discussion and then spent the rest of class using flashlights to develop observations and questions.  

Next we used our great science thinking to consider sources of light.  Students created tables to compare objects that produced light, and ones that did not.  I observed many great discussions as students considered what light really is.  

Next we investigated how light travels.  We used questions, observations, and careful note taking to share our results. 

Lastly, we studied various materials and how light interacts with them.  We tested many materials and discovered through investigation that  depending on the type of material light will interact differently. This realization led us to an engineering problem in which students had to select the best material to design a bike helmet.  Students used experiments to test out their hypothesis and did a great job showing and sharing their thinking.

Last week we wrapped our unit with a 'celebration of light'.  We made our own flashlights with LEDs and batteries and we built light mazes and forts.  Second graders learned a lot about light and did a great job connecting real life ideas and problems to their discoveries.

Maker Mondays

Maker Mondays at Richmond Elementary school is an after school program that gives students an opportunity to design, create and make in our makerspace.  During our time together students do guided tinkering projects, such as lighting up their creations with LEDs (as shown in this video) as well as the freedom to create from their own imaginations!  Students also enjoy using our Take-Apart station to understand how things work as they dismantle and investigate broken keyboards, computers and more!  The makerspace offers an exploratory environment where students can make and learn through hands on discovery. Students of all ages work side by side--learning from each other--supported by their teacher-- and independently driving their own learning through choice.

Cougar Cub Inventor's Workshop 2017 Success!

On Thursday November 30th the RES community gathered with volunteers from the Society of Women Engineers, ECHO Science Museum, Radiate Art Studio, and CHMS and JES educators to celebrate making, creating, building and learning.  Students and their families had an opportunity to try a range of hands on activities that encouraged them to Make, Create and Share!  The evening was a true celebration of collaborative learning and FUN. 
Here is a video that gives you a small peak into the great events of the evening.

This event could not happen without the help of volunteers inside and outside of our school community.  I am so grateful to be surrounded by people that believe in student hands on learning and are willing to give time to create this type of experience.

Special Thanks for all of their time and talent to:
Chef James-Awesome Farm to School Dinner
Chris Whitaker--ECHO Science Center, STEM Education Coordinator
Rebecca Garavan and Heather Drury--Radiate Art Space Founders and Marble Painting Artists
Basak Simal,Joan Hathaway (and family), Pam Gillis--Society of Women Engineer's Engineers and Rocket and Jitterbot Inspirations
Willie Lee-- BRMS Technology Educator and Vinyl Cutter Extraordinaire
Quinn Keating--CHMS Technology Educator and 3D Printing Master
Dave Bouchard--JES Enrichment Teacher and Little Bits Synthesizer Sound Enthusiast
Beth Redford--RES Library Media Specialist and Coding Guru
Tonya Darby- RES Third Grade Teacher and Lead Learner in all things Electronic
Katie Lefrancois--RES Fourth Grade Teacher and and All Around Student Creativity Supporter

Hour of Code 2017 at RES This Week!

The week of December 4 -8th, 2017, all RES students in grades kindergarten through four will have a hands on introduction to computer programming with Hour of Code activities during their enrichment classes! 

Computer programming helps nurture problem-solving skills, logic and creativity in people of all ages. Kindergarten, first and second graders will use  Scratch Jr. app for iPads, while third and fourth graders will choose from a variety of tutorials on Code.org.

Introducing Hour of Code! Watch this quick video to see some celebrities learning to code alongside students just like you!



STUDENTS:  Here are the links for Hour of Code at school this week:

Some great choices:
Code Crazy Creatures:  https://hourofcode.com/cacrazy
Animate your name: https://hourofcode.com/scratchanim
Moana: https://hourofcode.com/moana
Monster Maker: https://hourofcode.com/grokmonster
Lego Robot: https://hourofcode.com/bits
Minecraft: https://hourofcode.com/mchoc
Star Wars: https://hourofcode.com/star-wars
Flappy Bird: https://hourofcode.com/flap
Frozen: https://hourofcode.com/frzn

Choose your own Coding (but check the grade level and how hard it is):
https://hourofcode.com/us/learn

FAMILIES and TEACHERS: Here are links to continue the learning beyond this week at school!  ALL of the included links and recommendations are FREE!
Scratch Jr. iPad app
Scratch Jr. Android app 
More ways to learn from Code.org
Scratch  

Need more motivation to keep kids coding? Watch this short film encouraging coding!




Do you have questions about coding?  Do you want to figure out ways to help your kids use computers and tablets to create things versus consume content?  I would be happy to chat with you about this...just reach out to Darcie Rankin at darcie.rankin@cesuvt.org.

Grade4 Makerspace Movies-Monday Class

Students in fourth grade enrichment have spent time this fall creating movies that share their favorite things about the RES makerspace.  This project has allowed students to dive into the makerspace, utilize movie making software as well as to use the equipment to teach others what is possible!  I love the diversity of makerspace choices and the way in which the students chose to share their info.  All of the created movies are students designed, filmed and edited.

Here is the fourth grade Monday class movies!

Green Screen

CD People "Come to the Makerspace!"

Take Apart Center

Take Apart Safety

Take Apart a Drone
**Coming Soon**
Make a Puppet

Take Apart a Printer

Grade4 Makerspace Movies-Friday Class

Students in fourth grade enrichment have spent time this fall creating movies that share their favorite things about the RES makerspace.  This project has allowed students to dive into the makerspace, utilize movie making software as well as to use the equipment to teach others what is possible!  I love the diversity of makerspace choices and the way in which the students chose to share their info.  All of the created movies are students designed, filmed and edited.

Here is the fourth grade Friday class movies!

Lego Wall Marble Run

Recycled Dudes

 

Marble Mazes

Green Screen

 

Green Screen Expectations

 

Yogurt Cup Babies

Coming Soon: Lego Stop Motion Video!

Grade4 Makerspace Movies: Wednesday Class

Students in fourth grade enrichment have spent time this fall creating movies that share their favorite things about the RES makerspace.  This project has allowed students to dive into the makerspace, utilize movie making software as well as to use the equipment to teach others what is possible!  I love the diversity of makerspace choices and the way in which the students chose to share their info.  All of the created movies are students designed, filmed and edited.

Here is the fourth grade Wednesday class movies!

Taking Apart a Computer:




Stop Motion Legos and the Green Screen



The RES Makerspace with Harry Potter





Marble Mazes

Rainsticks in the Makerspace

VCR Take Apart


Homemade Fidget Spinners


CD Player Take Apart

Cougar Cub Inventor's Workshop--Save the Date!

Richmond Elementary School , in conjunction with

the Society of Women Engineers, ECHO Science Museum, Radiate Art Space and  MMUSD Educators is proud to present the third annual:

COUGAR CUB INVENTOR’S WORKSHOP

Thursday November 30th, 2017

5:30 – 7:30pm

RES Gym, Library and Art Room

Cost: 2$ per project (to cover cost of disposable resources, scholarships available)

 

Join Us Before for a Farm to School Dinner !

5-6pm, RES Cafeteria

Chili, Mac-n-Cheese, Salad and a Sweet Treat

Donations to benefit RES Farm to School Programming

What is an Inventor’s Workshop?

This workshop is a family-friendly event to MAKE, create, learn, invent, craft, recycle, think, play and be inspired by celebrating arts, crafts, engineering, science and technology.  Students will work with their families to create!  Activities will be facilitated by engineers and teachers, but tasks will be open ended and creative.  Families will have an opportunity to learn together as they experience the fun of making / building / constructing / designing and more! A variety of activities will be available to challenge students from Grades K – 8.

Activities planned for our workshop include:

Cardboard Challenge:  Create with cardboard! The possibilities are endless!

Making a keyboard with bananas!  MaKey MaKey Boards are electronic devices that convert many regular objects into keys on your computer to control programs like Scratch or videos games.  Objects that are conductive, even slightly, like fruit or people, can be used with the MaKey. 

*New this year*Build and Launch a Rocket!  Using makerspaces materials we will build rockets that reach for the stars as they travel several stories into the night sky.

Creating lighted artwork with throwies!  LED Throwies are LEDs connected to coin batteries to create artwork with light.  They can be added to greeting cards or origami, or used to create nightlights or glowing badges. We will have a station to add LEDs to our rockets

Creating interactive circuits with littleBits!  littleBits are electronic modules that snap together with magnets to make circuits.  Each bit has a specific function (light, sound, sensors, buttons, motors, etc), and modules snap together to make larger circuits. We will have a teacher on hand to use synthesizer Little Bits to create awesome sounds.

Checking out a 3D printer in action!  CHMS and RES students have been using a 3D printer during technology/enrichment classes. Come and watch a 3D printer in action and explore the Tinkercad software we use to make our designs.

Make it Fly!: Create objects to fly in the wind tunnel and fly gliders with BRMS middle schoolers and staff.

Creating abstract art with a digital microscope!  DinoXcope Art is artwork created using a digital microscope to photograph intentional arrangements of materials.  

Programming interactive games with Scratch!  Scratch is a visual programming language.  Use colorful interlocking building blocks of code like legos to build interactive games and programs.

Green Screen! Green screen technology is used to create background scenes for pictures in films and photographs.  Come and create your own awesome photo.

JitterBots!  Back due to popularity, you can create your very own jittery robot!

      SNAP Circuits, Art Creation with Radiate Art Space, ECHO Engineering Challenge, Keva Planks, Robots…and more!!!!

Please contact Darcie Rankin, RES Enrichment Teacher at darcie.rankin@cesuvt.org with questions.

We hope to see you there!

An Engineering Challenge: Design a PaperClip

This week in enrichment students in Grades 1-3 spent time participating in an engineering design challenge. At the beginning of the year I like to use these challenges to build teamwork as well as to have students use their creativity!  This is the first year I have done this challenge, and it is  a lot of fun.  First we watched a film about how paperclips are made. Next we looked at other student paperclip designs...and then the challenge:  Build a unique paperclip that holds five pieces of paper.  

I know that RES students are creative, but their ideas and creativity really blossomed.  It was also cool to watch students iterate their designs through the class period if one strategy did not hold paper, OR to create another type if one worked.
Students brought their paperclips home, but here are a few pictures of their work:



My idea for this challenge came from:  http://stemactivitiesforkids.com/2017/06/27/quick-stem-challenge-kids-engineer-new-paper-clip/