Well, we thought we were safe……. But that was before Ms. Garvin stepped out to grab the i-Pads and we heard the fateful words! “ I’m baaaaack!” Yes, it was the crazy X-terminator wreaking havoc in our classroom once again. This time, not only did x’s go flying everywhere, but number cubes did as well. Swatting and swinging, huffing and puffing, and threatening that we better not tell Ms. Garvin about the secret method for solving these Hands on Equation Problems, the X-terminator was in full force. We learned a second legal move that allowed us to remove the same value of number cubes from either side of the equation. It really made solving equations much simpler. The X-terminator was able to sneak out right before Ms. Garvin returned with i-pads in hand. Poor Ms. Garvin- she thinks we are still guessing and checking; she has no idea!
Robotics was particularly exciting today as we started working in Advanced Technical Operations. No longer were step by step directions provided to help us accomplish our mission. Instead, we were given the final goal and some hints, but we had to figure out the programming on our own. Today’s task was to simulate artificial intelligence by having our robot “interact” with humans by telling a knock knock joke.
In coding, we worked on a couple different activities. In the first, we raced against the clock, as we broke into teams and worked together to create a program, one instruction at a time. The following links have some video footage of our relay race programming :
The objectives for this activity included:
- Practicing how to communicate ideas through codes and symbols
- Using teamwork to complete a task
- Verifying the work of their teammates to ensure a successful outcome
The second activity was an introduction to debugging programs. Debugging is an essential element of learning to program. In this lesson, we encountered puzzles that had been solved incorrectly. Our task was to revisit the existing code to identify errors, including incorrect loops, missing blocks, extra blocks, and misordered blocks. As part of this activity we learned to:
- Predict where a program will fail
- Modify an existing program to solve errors
- Identify an algorithm that is unsuccessful when the steps are out of order
- Reflect on the debugging process in an age-appropriate way
In addition to coding, programming, and Hands On Equations, we also enjoyed learning about courage today. After listening to the story of “The Lion’s Whisker” we discussed bravery, perseverance, honor and zest. We learned that there are different ways to demonstrate courage and we participated in an activity called “My Face of Courage.”
Information is coming home today about a field trip on Friday, March 10th. We have a quick turn around on permission forms, so please make sure to ask your child for his or her field trip information. I have also posted all the details about the trip on the field trip section of the blog.
Target Tally- Download Target Tally-2-17
Hope you all have a wonderful winter break!