Kids Who Code: Tinkering Today for Success Tomorrow
My students need Osmo Coding and Sphero Robot Balls to be successful 21st century learners. They also need Dash and Dot Learn to Code cards and Robot Mouse to venture and structure other STEM/CODING activities.
I am a third-grade teacher in a high poverty and low-income community on the island of Hawaii. My class is a mix of third grade English Language Learners and General Education learners who are excited about school. To see these kids in their element, having fun, and learning is a truly gratifying experience.
These students face many challenges every day most out of their control but still manage to come to school with open hearts, minds, and the excitement for learning.
A mix of my students are performing at a third-grade level and struggle with reading, writing, and math skills. Having these materials donated will help our kids to achieve their educational goals and to make learning a fun and exciting experience for our young learners.
My Project
Coding or "programming" is a skill set that is not all about playing with wires or tablets. Coding can help students in their other subjects, too. Coding is said to improve soft skills like perseverance and problem-solving that we educators emphasize. Having students who struggle with reading, writing, and math in school, it is imperative that we as educators provide students with these skills. Incorporating coding into the day or the curriculum helps students gain skills such as sequencing, problem-solving, math concepts, as well as perseverance so that they will become better readers, writers, and mathematicians.
In addition, students often feel empowered when they can create digital media and share it with others instead of just being consumers.
Having a variety of technology readily available in my classroom will allow me to give students at ALL learning levels the tools they need in order to learn and adventure. Robots like Dash and the Sphero robot ball are a perfect way to do that. These robots allow students to work through levels and activities which challenge them but also are very engaging. Along with programming, these robots lend themselves very nicely to the engineering process as you can alter these robots to have them carry out functions, but also do things like write their name and launch items across the room. Talk about engaging!
The additional robotic items that I am requesting the Learning Resources Code and Go Robot Mouse are to differentiate learning for the students who are building up their coding skills.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Okimoto and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
