Lego Candy Machine Anyone?

Yesterday, we reflected on why we made our ScratchJr creations and what inspired us.  We shared how we would make them different next time.  All of my classmates did really well.

Today, we are discovering a new type of design.  We are building a machine of our choice out of Legos.  All of the groups are cooperating together. My group is building a Lego candy machine. Tomorrow, we are going to program our Lego candy machine.   This is going to be a fun project!!!

Reflections by Mrs. Brown

I am looking forward to a great day of sharing and reflecting.  We will be doing a review of each of our ScratchJr. projects as they have now been set to music.  Then, using Padlet.com, we will be sharing our challenges, inspirations, and hopes for those who are interested in our inventions.   Click on this Padlet link to learn from our experiences.

SCRATCH JR. by Brooke

We are learning to program with Scratch Jr.  We each have an iPad to create a project using drag and drop programming.  In the beginning of class, we all start with a warm-up challenge and then share our creations.  Then, we get to program a project of our choice.  Because I love the way the ocean background appears, I am inspired to create a guy diving into the ocean at night.  All of the ocean creatures are trying to find him.  I am really enjoying this. I think everyone is enjoying this too.

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Design Squad by Jessie

Today in class we are making our own inventions with the help of PBSkids design squad. We are creating  inventions and we are learning about different people who have been successful inventors in the world of technology. Yesterday we played charades in class focusing on  these famous inventors. We learned about the inspiration for  their  ideas.                

Did you know that Steve Jobs was as obsessed with design as he was with how the device worked?

Welcome Back! by Mrs. Brown

Are you ready for the best year ever?  I hope so because that is what the year ahead promises to be!  This year, you will become an entrepreneur, a change agent, a creative genius.  This is the year of YOU.  How do I know, you ask?  Because I've got big plans.  Before I get to that, however, a few housekeeping topics that you should know about:

• This year we will be so busy building our dreams that we will no longer have time for in-class typing.  Therefore, please follow the directions below in order to practice your typing at home:
• Type to Learn Students can access the Type to Learn program from home in order to practice their typing skills. To install Type to Learn on your home computer, simply download it from the following link: http://ttl4.sunburst.com/downloads/
• The students use their last name and first two initials for their username the password is davis.
• Once the program has been downloaded onto your home computer, the account code to log in is 135321.
• We will continue with our iHelp job chart.  I will go over a refresher of the jobs on the first day of class. 

As for the year ahead, we will be building our own Tech start-ups!  There are many ways to become an entrepreneur.  My goal for this class is that it will inspire you to think about the many paths on which creating a business can take you.  Together, we will learn how to create a business model centered around an invention of your choice inspired by wanting to create a solution for a problem that has not yet been solved.  

Where do we start?  Well, we will start by reviewing successful entrepreneurs and their innovations.  By exploring what they have in common, we can begin to understand what it means to invest in yourself and take such a giant leap of faith in creating something of your own invention.  I look forward to creative brainstorming activities where we will discover our own passions that we want to devote our time to building and sharing.  

You may be wondering how technology plays a role in all of this.  We will explore different tech tools that will help us develop our "brand", stay within our set budget, invent a prototype and very importantly, market our brand.  With the help of technology tools, we will pitch our ideas to investors. Finally, we will reflect on our hard work and support each other through a peer critique process. Shark Tank anyone?

 I hope you are excited because it is sure to be an adventure!

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/504262489496854167/