Full STEAM Ahead: 2nd Grade Builds Lego Campus Model

STEAM 2nd Grade

Lego Campus Model Lesson Plan

Teacher: Mrs. Yandell

Date: 11/21/16

Overview & Purpose

In this activity, students across three 2nd grade classrooms were challenged to design and build the buildings here at CCS.  Students will investigate the properties of building sturdy structures by constructing lego walls.  Good communication and collaboration are necessary to complete this project.

Education Standards

1. 21st Century Communication and Collaboration
2. Engineering Design Engineers typically work together to solve the problems that face society. Engineering design is the process of creating solutions to human problems through creativity and the application of math and science knowledge. The basic steps within the design process include:
1. Identifying a problem – Observing a problem and seeing a need for a solution.
2. Researching possible solutions – Coming up with ideas to address the problem.
3. Picking the best solution – Determining which idea best addresses the problem. This decision may involve monetary, practicality, material, and property concerns.
4. Building a prototype – Build a working model of the chosen design v. Testing the prototype – Be sure the working model solves the problem and holds up to any important material property tests.
5. Repeating any steps needed to improve the design – The engineering design process is not always a step-by-step

Objectives

1. Determine the best design for a sturdy structure
2. Define engineering design as the process of creating solutions to human problems through creativity and the application of math and science knowledge.

Materials Needed

1. Legos
2. Building board

Verification

Steps to check for student understanding

1. Did your group work well together?
2. Was your building structurally strong, or did it fall apart?
3. What is something that your group could have done better?
4. Was your group able to complete the project?

Activity

Describe activity that will reinforce the lesson

The goal of this project is to build the CCS campus using lego bricks.  Students will work in groups of four to five students and be assigned to build one of the buildings here at CCS.  Students must address the critical steps to a design process, and they must build structurally strong walls.  When all classes have completed their buildings, we will put them all together on a poster board to represent our campus.  We will display this projects at grandparents day!

Overall, I want this projects to represent how God created us all differently. Each person has unique God given talents.  Let this project be a representation of how when we come together, united under Christ, we can do great things!

Romans 12:4-8

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Recap written by Jessica Yandell:

The goal of this project was to build the CCS campus using lego bricks.  Students worked in groups of four to five students and assigned to build one of the buildings here at CCS.  Students addressed the critical steps to a design process, and build structurally strong walls. Engineering design is the process of creating solutions to human problems through creativity and the application of math and science knowledge. The basic steps within the design process include:

1. Identifying a problem – Observing a problem and seeing a need for a solution.
2. Researching possible solutions – Coming up with ideas to address the problem.
3. Picking the best solution – Determining which idea best addresses the problem. This decision may involve monetary, practicality, material, and property concerns.
4. Building a prototype – Build a working model of the chosen design v. Testing the prototype – Be sure the working model solves the problem and holds up to any important material property tests.
5. Repeating any steps needed to improve the design – The engineering design process is not always a step-by-step

Excitement filled the room during this project; each students was eager to participate and accomplish the task.  If there was conflict among any of the groups, I reminded the students to revert back to conflict resolution contract, such as a game of rock paper scissors to settle the conflict.

Prior to the project, I reminded the students to take into consideration the height of the buildings here at CCS.  I asked the students, “is the highschool gym shorter or taller than their classroom building?” I wanted them to build strong structures, but also accurate representations.  However, by the second week we were running low on legos, so I asked the groups to build the outline of the exterior walls, and then build the walls taller if there were remaining legos.  During the project,  I provided a poster board with a simple sketch showing where each building would be placed, as well as rough dimensions.  This was used as a guide to for each group to know the size and shape of their buildings.

Once all of the classes completed their buildings, I placed their structures on a poster board to display the CCS campus.

**Overall, I want this projects to represent how God created us all differently. Each person has unique God given talents.  Let this project be a representation of how when we come together, united under Christ, we can do great things!

Romans 12:4-8 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Full STEAM Ahead: Dash's World Adventure with 5th Graders

Dash’s World Adventure

Lesson Plan for Grade 5

Prepared by Ms. Yandell

OVERVIEW & PURPOSE

Dash criss-crosses the map in this fun lesson on geography, creative writing, and mathematics. Students will create or finish a creative story telling of Dot and Dash’s adventures in traveling the world. Students will measure distances and estimate angles in order to program the robots to move, flash, and make sounds to act out their story.

EDUCATION STANDARDS

Geography:

• Identify the major physical components of the world (e.g. oceans, equator, continents, and hemispheres).
• Find a specific location on a school or community map.
• Identify and use key geographical features on maps (e.g. mountains, rivers, plains, valleys, and forests).
• Use latitude and longitude to identify major North American cities on a map (e.g. Boston, Mexico City, Toronto, Charleston, Savannah, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Sante Fe, and Los Angeles).

English:

• RL.3.10, 4.10, 5.10: By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the appropriate grade levels.
• RI.3.3: Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.
• W.3.3, 4.3, 5.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
• SL.3.4, 4.4, 5.4: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.

Mathematics:

• 3.NBT.A.2: Fluently add and subtract within 1000 using strategies and algorithms based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationships between addition and subtraction.
• 4.NBT.B.4 Fluently add and subtract multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm.
• 5.NBT.B.5 Fluently multiply multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm.
• 3.MD.B.4 Generate measurement data by measuring lengths using rulers marked with halves and fourths of an inch. Show the data by making a line plot, where the horizontal scale is marked off in appropriate units— whole numbers, halves, or quarters (in extension).
• 4.NF.B.3.C Add and subtract mixed numbers with like denominators, e.g., by replacing each mixed number with an equivalent fraction, and/or by using properties of operations and the relationship between addition and subtraction (in extension).
• 4.NF.B.4.C Solve word problems involving multiplication of a fraction by a whole number, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem (in extension).

OBJECTIVES

1. Create a short piece of creative writing

2. Take measurements of angles and distances between points on a map.

3. Identify major physical components of the world (i.e. oceans, continents, and equator), locating them on the map visually and using longitude and latitude.

4. Present a piece of writing to the class.

5. Learn how programming can be an avenue for creative expression.

6. Use a map key to find the real distances between points on a map.

MATERIALS NEEDED

1. Dash
2. Ipad
3. Make wonder apps

ACTIVITY

Three part lesson..

Class 1: Issue a challenge to students: Write a story about Dash going on a world adventure. The story must include Dash or Dot travelling (or being on) each continent and crossing the equator.

• Extension for grade 4 - 5: challenge students to reference longitude and latitude and geographical features (such as rivers, forests, and mountains) in their stories.

Write the prompt on the board and conduct a review of the geographical content.

• Hang a copy of the world map on a wall or the whiteboard.
• Have the world map labels cut out and folded inside a hat.
• Have students come up and draw a label from the hat. They then read the label out loud and place the label at the location/geographical feature on the map.
• Conduct a discussion with the class as labels are placed on the map:
• What is a country they know in a placed continent?
• What is special about the equator?
• How do you find geographical features on a map?
• Once all labels are placed, quickly review the positions of each of the continents, different lines of longitude and latitude, and how to identify geographical features on the map.

Review of the capabilities of Dash and Dot that they can use in their story. Below is a list of capabilities and some example Blockly code that can be used to demonstrate all of these

Class 2:

Students are challenged to write a program to act out their story.

Do a quick review of Blockly programming. Use the sample code above as a help, projecting it for students to see, if possible.

• Start with the When block, explaining that it is used to trigger the start of the story. The example code gives two different types of start triggers (button, clapping).
• Everything students want Dash to do is attached below the When block, in order. Dash will start at the top and read to the bottom, executing each instruction (and only those instructions).
• Drive blocks control how Dash moves. Look blocks control where Dash looks. Light blocks control the color of each light. Sound blocks control the sounds Dash makes. Control blocks can cause Dash to wait for a set time or for some event to happen. They can also make Dash repeat an action on a loop, or have it react if something specific happens. Loops and if statements won’t be necessary for this activity so only “wait” Control blocks need to be shown.

Students will read their stories or the story prompt to extract Dash actions from the story. Students will fill these actions into the Dash Action Recording Table to help them lay out a plan for programming. This stage will require students to measure distances between points on the graph and estimate the angles Dash will need to turn.

• Students may program as they fill out the table, to test their measurements and angle choices, sharing the robot between group members to do this.

Students will code the program from their story worksheet.

Math/Geography Extension: Challenge students to find the total distance that Dash will travel (in cm), and then use the map key to find the distance in kilometers (or miles, as appropriate) using multiplication.

• For example, say the students have calculated that Dash moved 100 cm in his journey. If the map has a scale 1 cm = 400 mi, then Dash moves 100 cm400 mi/cm = 40,000 miles in its journey.
• For an extra challenge, have students measure the exact distances between city markers on the map (to the ¼ in., instead of 10 cm chunks) and add them together by hand before using the map key to find the total distance. This will challenge students to add mixed numbers and multiply fractions by a whole number.

Class 3:

Students will present their stories as their robots act it out. Students could present to the entire class, or the class could be divided into two or three groups for presentations to save time.

Debrief with students by asking a series of discussion questions.

Discussion questions:

1. What problems did you have getting Dash to follow your story? How did you solve them?
• Problems could include not turning the right amount, or falling off the edge of the map. Measurement inaccuracy could cause problems, so it is good to have a classmate double-check.
2. How did you measure the distances that Dash should move? Did other students in the class use different methods? Which method worked best?
• Students could use a ruler to measure the total distance, and then figure out how many multiples of 10 cm that distance makes. Or they could use a string, piece of paper, or other object that is 10 cm long, and count how many copies of that object make up the distance. Point out that as long as the result works, there are no wrong methods, but some might take less time than others.
3. How did you measure the angles that Dash should turn? Did other students in the class use different methods? Which method worked best?
• Most students will use estimation to decide how much Dash turns. Older students should use a protractor.

(This lesson was adapted from makewonder.com by Terri Eichholz)

Creative Writing Story

Dash the Treasure Hunter Story Prompt

Dash, the world-renowned treasure hunter, is seeking the famous Shoe of Honesty, which has the power to make anyone who wears it tell the truth. While in North America, Dash gets a secret message. He only knows one person who can help him decode it: Dot the Decoder. Dot is currently in South America. Dash drives to South America to get Dot’s advice. When Dash sees Dot he gives her the secret turkey goat greeting.

Dot decodes the message and tells Dash that it is a phone number. He must now take a boat to Africa to find the Nile Crocodile, who is in Zimbabwe. The crocodile swallowed a phone, and its ringtone will reveal the location of the Shoe of Honesty on the map.

Dash finds the Exiled Crocodile in Zimbabwe, greets him with a proper crocodile hello, and then dials the phone number. Dash hears an elephant sound from the crocodile's stomach, and he realizes that this sound tells him that he must now visit the Elephant Whisperer who is currently taking a vacation in Antarctica.

Dash easily finds the Elephant Whisperer in Antarctica because he is the only man who answers when Dash yells out an elephant greeting. The Elephant Whisperer informs Dash that he must go to the Sydney Opera House in Australia, to see the greatest opera singer of all time.

Dash heads to Australia, but his plane crashes in the Indian Ocean. An emergency boat sounds the alarm and rescues Dash, taking him the rest of the way to Australia. He speaks to the great opera singer in goat language, so she knows that Dash can be trusted with the map.

Dash receives the map from the opera singer, and learns that he must now climb Mount Everest in Asia to find the key that is at the top of the mountain. Dash goes to Asia, and after being the first treasure hunter ever to climb Mount Everest in one day, he sighs with relief when he discovers the key right where he expected.

With the key is a set of coordinates. Using his smartphone, Dash realizes that the key is for a locker in the Underground in London, England. Dash goes straight to London. He opens the locker and says, “Ta Da” because he has finally found the Shoe of Honesty. But there is something wrong! Dash says, “Uh Oh!”

What did Dash find? Finish the story of Dash’s treasure hunt across the world.

Lesson adapted from Makewonder.com

Answer Key: 21 block total

Start, Forward 30cm, Say North America, Turn Left 90, Forward 20cm, Say South America, Turn Left 45, Forward 30, Say Africa, Turn Right 135, Forward 40, Say Antartica, Turn Left 120, Forward 40cm, Say Australia, Turn Left 90, Forward 30 cm, Say Asia ,Turn Left 30, Forward 20cm, Say Europe

Over the past two weeks, our CCS fifth grade students have been working on their geography PBL units.  They have been working on a lesson called Dash’s World Adventure, which is a three part project.  

The first part of the lesson, students were instructed to think creatively and write an ending to a short story about Dash going on a world adventure. The story must include Dash travelling (or being on) each continent and crossing the equators.

The second part of the lesson,  I had the opportunity to come into each of their geography classes and help students program their Dash robots to travel to each continent as it is sequenced in the short story.  For this activity, we used the Blockly app, and students worked in groups to measure distance in cm and degrees of angles to write their programs.  This activity took two 45 minute class periods to complete; the second class time was spent “debugging” and correcting any mistakes in their programs.  If there were groups that finished early, they were allowed to voice record the naming the continents, as well as add light pattern blocks into their programs

The final part of the lesson was spent with the students presenting their stories as their robots acted it out.  

Path App Using Cardinal Directions

Designing a Path Using Cardinal Direction

Lesson Plan for 2nd Grade

Prepared by Mrs. Yandell

OVERVIEW & PURPOSE

Continuing from last week's lesson… Students will learn the importance of cardinal direction, and explore means of navigation in the classroom by coding Dash to move N,S,E, & W by using the Path app.  This lesson will introduce the basics of coding, and creating algorithms.  

EDUCATION STANDARDS

1. SS:G:2.1 The student will identify and locate his/her city, county, state, nation, and continent on a simple map or a globe.
2. SS:G:2.6 The students will use legends, map keys, cardinal directions,intermediate directions, compass rose, and letter/number grids to determine locations on different types of maps.
3. SS:CH:2.1 The students will be able to locate Chattanooga on an US and Tennessee state map.
4. 21 Century Communication
5. 21 Century Collaboration skills
6. CSTA Computer Science Standards/ ISTE Standards

OBJECTIVES

1. Use standard cardinal points to design path for Dash to drive
2. Code Dash to follow the path
3. Map out correct sequence of direction using cardinal points
4. Write an algorithm using cardinal direction

MATERIALS NEEDED

Pencils
Paper
Dash
Ipad / Path app

VERIFICATION Steps to check for student understanding

Did your group work well together?
Were you able to design a path, Dash could follow, using cardinal direction?
Did your code work? Did Dash follow the path you designed properly?
What was the sequence of steps that Dash was supposed to follow

ACTIVITY

In this lesson, each student will be able to design & draw out a path for Dash to maneuver using cardinal direction.  Each student will draw on a piece of paper a path, and they will write out the correct sequence of the cardinal points used in their path.  Students will split into groups of three and take turns coding Dash through their path.  

Recap written by Mrs. Yandell:

Check out the awesome learning opportunities we have at Chattanooga Christian School!

Our second graders have been learning about the compass rose and cardinal direction, so last week during STEAM, students had the opportunity to create a map using cardinal direction and then program their robots to drive the path they designed.  The goal for this activity was to design a map that would take their robot to “lost treasure”.  

The first part of the activity, students worked individually to create a map.  On their papers, they were instructed to have drawn the compass rose, a path, and label each line in their path with the correct cardinal direction.  Once students completed this part, they were able to work in groups of four to program their robots.  
Groups were to take turns programming the robot.  For this activity, we used the Path app, which allows students to draw a program for the robot.  Students were able to transfer the path (map) they had drawn on their papers to the Path app, which programmed their robot to get the lost treasure!  

I am so glad our students have the opportunity to experience new methods of learning!