Submitted by Mrs. Kathy Pavoncello
The kindergarten Discovery & Design students have been busy as bees the last few cycles. They recently read the story The Three Bears and decided to make a new bed for Goldilocks! The requirements were to make a bed to fit Goldilocks that was also strong enough to hold her. The students first designed a bed, deciding which materials to use. After designing the bed, they worked collaboratively (see if your child can tell you what collaboration means!!) to construct the new bed. Designs were tested by putting Goldilocks in the bed to check if it was both sturdy and big enough to hold her. If the beds didn’t work, the students engaged in problem solving Ask your child what materials were used and if their bed design successfully supported Goldilocks.
In second grade, students have the opportunity to learn an assortment of techniques and skills related to the use of their Chromebooks. As part of this course, students use a program called Typing Club that teaches proper keyboarding techniques. This program helps build efficient keyboarding skills through evaluating the students accuracy and speed of typing. In addition to learning how to type properly, the students have a variety of opportunities to apply new skills using many different Google-based applications.
Discovery and Design also allows the students the opportunity to explore the beginning phases of computer programming. Students recently took part in the Hour of Code through code.org. Other applications for younger students interested in beginning coding skills include: ScratchJr (an app that can be added to tablets) and Scratch (a web-based program).
