Day 1 Tinkering and Frolycing

We had a bumpy start to the first day. Half of my class is in gifted art and were out during part of science centers. The other half of the students began taking some of the objects apart. A few things got broken out of excitement and we had to stop and review expectations.

The students were expected to reflect using Frolyc. I made a mistake and it did not allow the students to respond to one out of the three questions, but other than that, it went very well. The students had an easy time reflecting.

I began collecting the responses from the students as they were saving their work! The example below was asking the students to draw a diagram or a sketch of what they could create from the materials they used.

I took charge of organizing the materials back in place, but the students will began taking on more responsibility with this in the near future.

Student Motivation

On Monday, I introduced the idea of tinkering and how we would use the Frolyc app. The students excitement was clear right away. They started talking about all these tools their parents use at home. I love that they want to explore, but of course safety is my number one priority. I told my students that, as long as their parents signed a letter letting the child bring in objects from home, they could add them to the tools I brought.

Unfortunately, we did not make it to the tinkering center this morning because I was called out for a few meetings all morning :( When I did return from my meeting in the afternoon, I realized that the kids are just as excited to dissect these old machines and other gadgets as I am.

 There were letters piled on my desk assigning persimmon to use the different tools and gadgets.

 There were also boxes of old electronics and parts around the room.

We had so much to work with, we decided to designate a special area in the classroom to store our materials!

I will make sure to screenshot some of their responses on Frolyc on Wednesday. I am excited to see what designs they will come up with and how they will use their materials collected!

Learning to Frolyc

I love learning new things along with my students. Frolyc, in general, is completely new to me. I have assigned their first reflective response for tomorrow's science lab center 4.

Intro page includes some examples from the book The Art of Tinkering.

I include a video (which was really easy!) to start them on some ideas of how to spend this 20 minute rotation.

The first slide will ask them to fill in the blank with a list of materials they will use that day.

I made sure to have a slide for the students to respond with any questions they have while working. This is all about inquiry and making hypotheses.

Lastly, I wanted to see some sort of plan or diagram from the students in a drawing/sketch. I know the students are able to build simple circuits, because this was a focus in fourth grade, and I hope they will include some circuits in their varied designs!

Hopefully the next few posts on this blog will be from my students! I am excited to see what they learn tomorrow, how they respond to failure and hopefully preserver to great outcomes!

Frolyc Beta Test

My students are testing out the application called Frolyc. I did not tell the students how to use the app. I gave them the login code as well as a student number. Over the weekend I asked them to play around with the app and find out what works and what doesn't. This is what they found so far:

We are in the process of learning the basics and loving the new app!

The Art of Tinkering

We are concluding our 5th grade year and there are many things that we are working on. My students are completing their Genius Hour projects, Beta testing the student creating tool for Frolyc, and understanding the art of tinkering!

I began reading The Art of Tinkering by Karen Wilkinson and Mike Petrich. We have center work for science and this week we will begin a "tinkering" center. I have old computers, remotes, felt, parts to a circuit, and more. My goal is to collect parts as we go. My goal is that my students will post comments and knew understandings as well.

Check out this video: Hack This Book!
What an inspiration!