3D printing at DBS

Thanks to a generous grant from the Hope Foundation at Hypertherm, we were able to get a 3D printer for the library! It has been a real learning experience for the students and for me! 

Last summer my son purchased a Prusa 3D printer for our home, so I was expecting our school Dremel printer to be the same. It turns out there are a few big differences! Although I wish I had all the answers, it's good to model the learning process for the students too. The 4th and 5th graders are enjoying using Tinkercad to create designs for printing. I'm learning how to print fast and reliably. 

Sometimes the prints turn out really good...

Other times.... 

Sometimes they just come out silly. :) 

We are having fun experimenting with this new technology. Once I get the hang of consistent, reliable printing, I'll find some fun ways to bring the younger kids into the mix too. I'm looking forward to that!

More real-world STEM

These kiddos finished two bookshelves and a book display!  Now they are moving on to an even trickier project -- creating shelves without instructions.  I love their enthusiasm!

Practical Learning

I used my Scholastic Book Fair dollars to get some new shelving units for the library.  They've been sitting around, unbuilt, for awhile now, so this week I decided to have my 5th grade STEM class put them together.  What a great decision!!  The kids are having a great time and I am amazed with the collaboration I'm seeing.  Talk about real life skills!  They self-selected groups and are working remarkably well together.  Today I heard one kid explaining a cam screw to another, who listened attentively then replied with, "Wow, cool." They are following directions, some of which are minimal at best and one set is written in Portuguese!  Fortunately it's also illustrated.  The kids have come across some problems, they've had to redo parts, and one group even had to take it all apart and start from scratch.  I've heard some frustrations, but no one has quit.  One girl, upon finding out they had to go backwards several steps, again, said, "I'M NOT DOING THIS AGAIN. I'M DONE!" but even as she was saying it, she started undoing her work and she proceeded to work with the rest of her group to fix the problem and carry on.  I didn't even have to intervene.  At the end of each class I ask if I should finish it for them or if they want to keep working on it, and I always get a resounding "We want to do it!"  So we tuck things out of the way and leave it until they come back again for their next STEM class.  I'm in no hurry to get them done.  In fact, with the effort I'm seeing from these kiddos, I'm tempted to buy more furniture!!  :)

Testing out Santa's Sphero sleighs

In library class 5th grade has been working on building Santa Sleighs out of recycled materials. Today they got to test them out with Spheros for reindeer! We learned that running on the carpet causes friction which slows things down, that it's good to have your reindeer closer to the sleigh, that a smaller sleigh is easier to pull but carries less presents, and that it's hard for ONE Santa to drive many sleighs!

Sphero Sleighs

This month 5th grade has been working on a STEM project, building a sleigh for Santa out of recycled materials.  It has to carry Santa and some presents, and it will be pulled by a Sphero reindeer!  The kids are having a great time! You have to consider the strength of your Sphero, the size of your sleigh, and the friction of the carpet. 

VT Fest: Day 2

Day two at Vita-Learn's VT Fest started with a session by Rushton Hurley talking about taking your teaching to the next level.  In his presentation, Defining Amazing: Taking What You Do to the Next Level, Rushton talked about the value of increasing student engagement and authentic learning experiences. "When kids know others will see it, they want it to be good," he said."When they know just the teacher will see it, they want it to be good enough."  Rushton also pointed out that one way to increase greatness is to allow more time for teachers to creatively brainstorm together.  Wouldn't that be awesome?!  He is a very engaging speaker.  I signed up for his newsletter.  If you're interested in learning more about him and the projects he's involved in, check out his website. 

Rushton Hurley

I bought his books!  They will be in the DBS Professional Lending Library. Stop by to check them out for yourself. 

Next up: Google Tour Builder!  This is a cool tool that I've never played with before.  It's quick and easy to use and the presenter gave us several good ideas how to use it in school, such as creating a list of places you've been, or a 'tour" of the major battles in a war.  I made a quick tour of the Hartford School District.

I had a nice chat with a vendor there who had a 3D printer.  I've been fascinated by them for awhile now, so I was excited to see a session devoted to using 3D printers with elementary students.  The presenter showed us Tinkercad and talked about several projects she's done with elementary students, including an awesome collaboration project between kindergartners and 3rd graders.  Now I want a 3D printer!!  :)  Even without the printer I think we can put Tindercad to good use. Just the other day a 5th grade teacher came to me looking for such a project, and I know it will be helpful for my First Lego League team project as well.

Then it was time for lunch and a lunchtime keynote speech from Dan French, Vermont Secretary of Education.  He talked about the state of education in Vermont and urged creative collaboration throughout the state.

Thank goodness it's vegetarian!

VT Secretary of Education, Dan French

 After lunch I went to a super fun session called Using AR in the Classroom with Merge Cubes.  Merge Cubes were all the rage awhile back when Walmart was selling them for $1 each.  People were buying them by the shopping cart full!  I was not one of those people.  Oh well.  The presenter brought several Merge Cubes, including a DIY one, and he introduced us to a bunch of apps.  AR is pretty cool, but I wonder how long it will hold a student's attention.  I made a quick DIY one when I got home to show my kids and they were interested in the wow factor, but moved on quickly.  I'm curious to do more experimenting on how it can be used to extend learning.

Galactic Explorer shows you the whole galaxy in your hand. 

HoloGlobe shows you the Earth, in real time!

I spent some time in the Extended Learning area, playing with a Cricut vinyl cutter.  Check out this cool vinyl Karen put on her laptop!  When she opens the lid, the bulb "lights up."  I made a little decoration for my own laptop as well.

Laptop bling

Karen's bling is cooler, but I like my pink shiny too. 

We ended the day with big thanks all around, more raffle prizes awarded, and SNOW!  Eek!

I'm enjoying my weekend now, but looking forward to bringing some great ideas and cool tech to school next week.

The Three Little Pigs

Kindergarten and 1st grade this week watched the story of The Three Little Pigs, then got a chance to try building houses of out straw, sticks, and bricks.  Then the Big Bad Wolf came along and tried to blow them down.  The kids loved it!  We had some great Big Bad Wolves as well.  :)

Some kids knew the story, but others did not. 

After watching the video we retold the story as a group, discussing the various building materials they used and which worked better than the others.  Everyone knew that bricks were strongest and straw was weakest.  Then I challenged them to make their own houses that could not be blown down.

"Bricks" were Legos and clearly the strongest building material.

This Big Bad Wolf was very dramatic and had amazing lung strength! 

The kids LOVED calling over the Big Bad Wolf to see if he could blow down their houses.  

We were pretty loose with the concept of "house."  It often ended up more of a pile. :)

That house went right off the table!

You have to try blowing down your own house before you can call over the Big Bad Wolf.

This house survived the first test.

For "straw" we used small plastic coffee stir straws.  The kids definitely had to use their imaginations building houses with these materials.  They did a great job with it.

We kept a tall on the white board to analyze which building material was strongest.

 In the end the brick houses always prevailed!

Can't go wrong with Legos!

STEM Stations

The upper grades are finishing out the year in library with STEM stations.  Each week they will rotate through four stations: Spheros, Dash & Dot, Hour of Code, and Snap Circuits.  They get a full 30 minutes at each station and it's great to see what they can do.