Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Knee Deep!

It's almost the end of September in the Schumacher LMC and we are knee deep into so many different projects!  Here's a quick recap of what each grade level is working on this month.

Kindergarten
Our Kindergarten friends are busy learning so many different things!  We have practiced using shelf markers to help us choose library books off the shelf and we're starting to really get the hang of it!  We have also been exploring the very basic elements of computer programming so that next week we can begin using our brand new ROBOTS! We are so excited to have access to a class set of Blue Bots thanks to the Liberty School District Foundation.  We are so lucky! I can't wait until we can share some photos of kids programming robots.  It's going to be amazing!

First Grade
First graders have already begun programming our Blue Bots and they are LOVING it.  It's not always easy to get a robot to follow our directions, but we're building up our stamina and perseverance.  We're learning that problems with our coding are called "bugs" and that when we work on fixing those problems, we're actually "debugging."  Try using these terms at home!

Second Grade
Second graders have been using their powerful research skills to find out lots of information about insect and spider body parts.  It's so fun to watch kids get excited about what they read.  Even though bugs can be gross in person, kids love finding out all of their super powers while reading in books and on our iPads.  Soon, we'll be choosing our favorite bug body parts to combine into our very own SUPER bugs.  The most exciting part will be when we take our new ideas into Shark Studio to build real life examples.  Watch out world!

Third Grade
All year long in third grade we focus on the power of inventors and inventions.  Right now, each student has chosen a famous inventor and we used a group questioning protocol to ask really great questions about our inventor.  Soon, we'll be heading into the MakerSpace to begin building some artifacts and we'll have our own live inventor museum.  It will be so fun to dress as our inventors and share what we've learned!

Fourth Grade
Fourth grade students have been digging deep into Natural Disasters.  Currently, students are researching different disasters and soon, we'll be headed into Shark Studio to build models of our disasters that we can use in a stop-motion movie!  Combining high-interest research with fun experiences in our MakerSpace and with technology is what library is all about!

Fifth Grade
Fifth grade library students are putting their problem-solving skills to the test.  We've learned a little bit about famous cartoonist Rube Goldberg and now we're hard at work as a class trying to build our very own Monster Traps.  Rube Goldberg machines are a series of complicated chain reactions that accomplish a simple task.  They're challenging to make, but so fun to watch!  We're working with low-tech chain reactions this quarter, but we'll revisit our Rube Goldberg machine at the end of the year when we have some robots in our arsenal and see how complicated we can make things!