Today was a little scary as we experienced a brief moment of terror as our time machine continue slipping and tumbling further into the “between world.” However, spy kids quickly realized that the Recon Rover had collected extremely valuable data on its night surveillance mission last week, which put them one step closer to being able to successfully program the rover to repair the time machine damage and return us safely to 2017.
Video of Patrol Mission: Download Patrol 2
Our task today was a security patrol mission where spy kids programmed their rovers to secure the time machine door and make sure no cosmic galactic rays were entering the interior of machine. This was our final basic training mission, and it included using what we have learned about looping programs to code for, directional control and distance, lights, and sound commands. After successfully completing their mission, all spy kids were awarded their Advanced Technical Operations Badges and they are now ready to move into the more complex and challenging advanced programming missions.
We also continued moving forward in coding as we worked on lessons 7-8. These lessons focused on more advanced uses for looping and students learned to do the following:
- Count the number of times an action should be repeated and represent it as a loop
- Decompose a shape into its smallest repeatable sequence
- Create a program that draws complex shapes by repeating simple sequences
- Write a program for a given task which loops a single command
- Identify when a loop can be used to simplify a repetitive action
- Employ a combination of sequential and looped commands to move and perform actions
In Hands On Equations, students continued working some very simple word problems and were introduced to an HOE triangle puzzle. These word problems and puzzles will help our spy kids extend their algebraic thinking and reasoning. Students are doing a great job mastering legal moves and learning the Hands On Equation system, but I want to make sure they are able to apply the skills they are learning to real life situations.
Finally, in our affective curriculum, we discussed the traits or self-discipline and self-control. We performed a little experiment with some M&Ms to see who could use self control and delayed gratification to earn a few extra chocolate treats. It was a fun way to experience the benefits of self control :)
Target Tally- Download Target Tally-2-10