Geometry + Coding = Fun Learning

Friday afternoon, during our Create Time, we had a short introduction to the coding app Hopscotch.  This app uses a "drag and drop" format for kids to create their own projects.  We made our cartoon character draw a square together and then I challenged the kids to make another program to draw a different geometric shape.  I gave them some examples of the number of degrees to use for different angles since we don't study that in 1st grade.  The kids had to think about how many sides their shape has so they could program the repeat command to draw that many sides.  They also experimented with different lengths of sides and some fun extras for their character at the end of the shape.  Everyone had a complete project to share at the end of our work time!  Students can share their creations with you on their iPads.  In addition to applying what we are learning about shapes and their attributes, coding gives students practice in logical thinking, sequencing commands, and the STEM design process of testing and improving.

In our 2 dimensional geometry, we have learned several shapes and their most important attributes.  You can help your child practice this vocabulary at home.  Look for examples of these shapes in everyday objects!

Triangles have 3 sides and 3 corners (vertices).  

Rectangles are 4 sided shapes with all square corners.  (We have talked about the terms right angles and 90° angles, but students don't need to know those yet.  We have compared a square corner to the corner on a normal piece of paper.)  Notice that squares belong in the group rectangles because they have 4 square corners.  All squares are rectangles.  And some rectangles are also squares...

A rhombus is a 4 sided shape with 4 equal sides.  Notice that squares are also rhombuses because their sides are the same length.  All squares are rhombuses.  And some rhombuses are also squares...  (We have also talked about the word quadrilateral for any shape with 4 sides and 4 corners, but it isn't something 1st graders have to know yet.)

Students don't need to know that a pentagon is a 5 sided shape yet, but they do need to know that hexagons are shapes with 6 sides and 6 corners.

It is really important that students know the most specific name for a shape, but they also need to know that many shapes can be called more than one name - just like your dog might also be a beagle and it is also your pet and a mammal and an animal...  So a square is also a rectangle and a rhombus and a quadrilateral and 2 dimensional and a closed shape...

Other important vocabulary for 2D geometry in 1st grade includes circle, straight sides, curves, and open or closed shapes.  All the shapes drawn above are closed shapes.  Circles, ovals, and the letter D are also closed.  Open shapes have lines that don't go all the way around like C, L, or S.  You couldn't color in an open shape because you wouldn't know where to stop coloring.

Next week we will also learn about 3D shapes!  

First Grade Excitement

We have had an exciting couple of days in 1st grade! On Thursday we  got a betta fish for our class.  We reviewed the needs of living things and how we would provide for those needs as we got his aquarium set up.  We did a bit of research to learn more about betta fish.  Many names were suggested, and after a vote the winning name was Penny.  Penny is currently enjoying his new home in our class.  He will be one of our references as we learn more about living things in science.

Friday morning in math students enjoyed a math treasure hunt.  They used their iPads to scan QR codes, solved math problems, and found that answer to scan the next QR code.  When they had solved all their math problems, the last QR code led to a fun music video as a reward.  In our next math units we will be learning about geometry and fractions!  More math fun lies ahead.

Then Friday afternoon during our Create Time, we went to the media lab for our first robotics lesson.  Students worked in pairs to follow the directions on the laptops and build a Lego lion.  Then they practiced some coding skills to program it to stand up and lie down.  This was a very popular activity and we will definitely go back for more robotics!  Here is a short video of how it moved and some more photos of hard working engineers:

Coding in 1st Grade

Now that our nest building project is finished, we have been working on computer coding in class in several different ways.  Students are learning to think through a task logically and put the steps in the correct sequence.  They have to test their program and fix errors, then test again.  With so many electronic devices in the world, from our computers, iPads, and smartphones to microwaves, thermostats, and cars, coding is a skill that will be required in many future careers!  We have several great iPad apps that teach coding in a fun gamified way.  Kids love to play Kodable especially.  We also recently used a website called learn.code.org and another app called Hopscotch to write some more complex code.  

This week the kids designed roads and then programmed the robot roamers to follow the path and stay on their road.  Here are some robot programmers in action.  Notice the code they were writing down on their iPads in many of the pictures - the arrows that tell the robot which way to go.  Isaiah even invented his own shortcut way of writing the code.  Instead of writing 4 forward arrows, he just wrote one arrow and put a 4 under it to show how many times to repeat that command!