What's Happening in Action?
Creative Days and Limeades for Learning
Limeades for Learning
We currently have a project on Limeades for Learning called, “Build A Bot!” Limeades for Learning is a school project funding initiative by Sonic that is hosted by Donor’s Choose. Teachers can request materials for the classroom and individuals can vote on the Limeades for Learning website for their favorite projects. Each person is allowed one vote per day unless they sign up with the Google+ or Facebook accounts which earns them more. Also when you make certain purchases at Sonic, you can get a vote code that counts for two votes. Every week, the projects with the most votes are funded by Sonic.
We are asking for a Lego Mindstorm Programmable Robot to use for our Independent Projects. Every year we have several students that are interested in engineering and/or programming and this kit would allow them to have some hands on time with starter technology. Even the students not using it for their projects would be exposed to the process of working with programming and robotics.
The seventh grade Action class has been in charge of the project this year. They voted to determine what our request would be. They have completed all the writing on our teacher profile page and the request page as well designing an image for our profile page. Throughout the project our focus has been on writing and creating images to catch attention and persuade. Now they are in charge of promoting our project to help us get votes!
Friday, September 19 was a creative day in our Action classroom. Creative days are one of my favorite days. This Friday our creative day was entitled, “Marbles in the Air.” Students were given a partner, 20 index cards, and a marble. The goal was to build a tower to raise the marble off the table as far as possible. Tape was available, but each inch of tape took ½” off the tower’s height. Students had the whole class period to work on the structure and could also trade in index cards that were ruined for new cards. It was also possible to measure their towers multiple times as they built them to greater heights. The top towers measured 25 3/4” tall and 25 ½” tall. You can check out pictures of the students working on my classroom website and the Action Parents Tab.
Creative days are one of most students favorite days in Action, but the reason for having creative days is not about the fun. It is about thinking on their feet, thinking creatively, problem solving (trying and failing and trying again), working with a partner, and verbal communication.