Carpenter's students (and teachers) have been having fun while learning to use TinkerCAD and our new Dremel 3D45 Idea Builder printer. Mrs. Bianchi's 4th and 5th grade art students are designing vehicles and modes of transportation inspired by the sketches of Leonardo Da Vinci. Mr. Toren's 4th graders are creating a stop-motion film using figurines found on TinkerCAD (with student-designed heads) and student-designed mummies and props. I'll link the finished video, as well as photos of some of the art projects, in a future post.
Students and teachers have been finding fun and creative ways to use our newly repurposed Imagine Lab at Carpenter School. In addition to weekly Maker Club meetings, students have engaged in STEAM projects, Explorer Project presentations in front of the greenscreen, Hour of Code activities, and cross-grade-level projects.
Feedback has been positive, and we are very grateful to our PTO for helping in the acquisition of new furniture, supplies, storage solutions, and robotics/coding kits. I'm looking forward to seeing what our students will create next! If you work in a school you're probably familiar with PBIS, or Second Step, or Responsive Classroom, or any of the various programs and approaches that districts use to promote and reinforce positive behaviors and interactions among students. Our district uses Second Step, and this year my school has decided to choose a monthly theme. Students choose a personal or class goal for each month, and at the month they self-assess their success in reaching those goals.
This month at my school is "Understanding October", with an emphasis on understanding and embracing the difference of others. My fellow instructional technology coach, Beth Rihtar, recently brought an interesting article to my attention, and it fits in perfectly with my school's "Understanding October" theme. Teachers in my district who attended any of my Maker Movement presentations over the past two years (or those who attended my half-day workshop at the 2017 ICE Conference) might remember my mention of Super Awesome Sylvia, who started hosting a YouTube channel and authoring books on Maker projects at the age of 11. After becoming famous among kid and adult maker fans, traveling the world and speaking at EdTech conferences, and even visiting the White House, Sylvia came to the realization that he is transgender. He now goes by Zephyrus and has left his Super Awesome Maker Show days behind him. This Washington Post article is a moving and fascinating summary of his discovery, transition, and courage in coming out to his family and friends. It's a great read for older students and adults seeking to better understand others. Third grade students Audrey and Charlie represented Carpenter Elementary School and District 64 at Tech 2017 in Springfield, Illinois. On May 9, 2017, students and teachers from 93 school across Illinois presented projects that demonstrated learning and creativity with technology. Audrey and Charlie, along with Channels of Challenge teacher Pam Johnson and myself, presented on STEMQuests: inquiry-based engineering and design projects devised by Mrs. Johnson and co-taught by Mr. Michael. The three projects completed this year by 3rd and 4th grade math CofC classes were Gravity Racers, Take Flight, and Whatever Floats Your Boat. In each challenge, the students worked in teams to design, build, test, revise, and retest (repeat as needed) vehicles built to perform their best under different circumstances. The most recent activity tasked the children to build a boat capable of holding 25 pennies and staying afloat for at least 10 seconds, using only drinking straws, plastic wrap, and adhesive. The students are engaged, creative, and passionate about these projects, which incorporate Common Core State Standards for mathematics and English language arts, and the Next Generation Science Standards for engineering. Illinois State Senator Laura Murphy visited the Carpenter students and asked them questions about Carpenter School and about their STEMQuest projects. She also revealed that she attended Kindergarten at Carpenter School! In addition to presenting to a variety of adults and other students at the event, we also had the opportunity to explore and visit the presentations and students from the other 92 Illinois schools and districts participating in Tech 2017.
Among the highlights from other projects on display were models of Future Cities created from LED lights, circuits, and found objects; hybrid art/music composition projects using MaKeyMaKeys and Garage Band; and students who completed story engineering projects using research skills, 3d modeling software, and a 3D printer. Mrs. Johnson and I were very proud of Audrey and Charlie, and all of the Carpenter students who completed STEMQuest projects this year. Over the weekend I had the pleasure of co-presenting in the Student Innovation Playground space at the NICE Mini-Conference at Niles North High School. NICE (Northern Illinois Computing Educators) organizes and hosts this event each winter. I’ve attended several times before, but this was my first time as a presenter. Most presentations are held in a classroom with a traditional, formal presentation model. The Student Innovation Playground, on the other hand, is set up as more of a “Technology Faire” at which educators observe students’ creations and demonstrations of instructional technology. Pam Johnson and I invited four students from the Channels of Challenge math program to participate and demonstrate many of the robots, apps, tools, and inventions they’ve used and created in math class this year. (These students are also enrolled in Carpenter’s Maker Club.) It was exhilarating to watch Carpenter students teaching adult attendees about Sphero robots, MaKeyMaKeys, Osmo, and other educational technology tools. The students proudly represented Carpenter School and District 64 at this regional event.
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Mr. MichaelInstructional Technology Coach and Google Certified Educator at Carpenter Elementary School, Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 Archives
December 2017
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