Here's the latest news on our DoSeum project in 5th grade G/T class. The students were so excited when the OSMO iPad kits were funded through Donors Choose! We were amazed at how quickly they arrived! We were also thrilled when our principal agreed to purchase a classroom set of Cubelets for our school!
The class has enjoyed doing some hands-on testing of these materials and we will finalize exactly how they will be presented and managed in our mini-museum. We know that the TECH TOWN room (one of three classrooms we will be using) will house the LittleBits station, the Cubelets station, and the Osmo iPad station. At least two 5th graders will be monitors at each station at all times, so that they can demonstrate use of these tech tools, and also to assure proper handling by our 4th grade visitors.
The class has enjoyed doing some hands-on testing of these materials and we will finalize exactly how they will be presented and managed in our mini-museum. We know that the TECH TOWN room (one of three classrooms we will be using) will house the LittleBits station, the Cubelets station, and the Osmo iPad station. At least two 5th graders will be monitors at each station at all times, so that they can demonstrate use of these tech tools, and also to assure proper handling by our 4th grade visitors.
The students are excited about their display projects for the SEEKER SPACE room, but some are nervous about completing them in time. We will devote much of our class time the next two weeks to completing these and adding interest to them. Some students want to have "lift-the-flap" cards, some will add QR codes linking visitors to videos or websites related to the display, and others will have items placed in front of their displays. As the teacher, I'm thrilled with the learning going on, and I am learning as well!
We've had discussion about the third room in our museum, PUZZLE PARLOR, and are now considering having many more types of puzzles available to the visitors, rather than just three stations. Some students have written their own logic puzzles, and we thought it would be fun to blow these up and laminate to make giant wall puzzles! We may allow more freedom of movement in this room, rather than rotating students from station to station, as we plan to in the TECH TOWN area. The puzzles we will showcase all involve logical thinking and/or visual-spatial thinking. This week, we will discuss how to be a "station master" or docent in this room. The students may be tempted to work the puzzles for visitors, rather than explain how to work the puzzles!
In May, our final task will be to decorate and prepare our classrooms! Thank goodness, we have some wonderful parent volunteers who have agreed to help! This is going to come together and really happen....we hope!