Dash & Dot
Week 1 - Introductions and Getting Started
- Teambuilding activity - an important part of our after school program involves learning how to work together with one or two other students. Each week we will begin with a team building activity to promote working together, listening to another person's ideas and how to problem solve when something gets hard.
- Winnie the Pooh challenge (http://stemactivitiesforkids.com/2015/12/10/team-building-for-stem-challenges/#more-502)
- Materials (string, large book ring, tennis ball)
- Let's GO
- Introduce Dash and Dot Robots and discuss rules for using the robots (have someone write these down as students suggest the rules (markers, paper)
- Talk about rules for using the iPads (what rules do you follow in your classroom? - clean hands, carry with two hands, no dropping, follow directions, hands off the iPads when getting directions)
- Model basic features in the Go app (how to make the robot go forward, backward, turn right and turn left)
- After a while introduce sounds (pre-made and recorded)
- Point out how the lights can be changed
- Practice driving Dash, taking turns
- Can you drive Dash from the fire hydrant to Rosie's dog house without getting in a mud puddle? Can you drive Dash to pick up a bone? Can you drive Dash from one colored tile to another? (PLTW cards and round mats)
- Reflection
- What was the easiest thing to do with our Robots? (thumbs up, sideways, or down)
- What was the hardest thing to do with our Robots? (thumbs up, sideways, or down)
- How well did you work with your partner(s) (thumbs up, sideways, or down)
- Did you treat your robots with respect? (thumbs up, sideways, or down)
Week 2
- Teambuilding activity
- First-Review charts and agreements from last week
- Circle Sit (from http://online.brescia.edu/social-work-news/team-building-exercises/)This simple but effective activity is fun for children and adults. It teaches teamwork as well as a little bit of physics. First, have everyone stand in a circle facing inward. Then, each person rotates a quarter turn in the same direction. If everyone is standing close enough together, they can sit on the lap of the person behind them, all at the same time, and remain supported.
- Break the group into two groups (Kindergarten, First Grade)
- Kindergarten will continue working with Go to move their robot from one area to another. Add obstacles.
- First grade will be introduced to Blockly (connect iPad to TV to demonstrate)
- Reflection
- What was the easiest thing to do with our Robots? (thumbs up, sideways, or down)
- What was the hardest thing to do with our Robots? (thumbs up, sideways, or down)
- How well did you work with your partner(s) (thumbs up, sideways, or down)
- Did you treat your robots with respect? (thumbs up, sideways, or down)
Week 3
- Teambuilding activity
- Review charts for teamwork agreements
- Telephone game - Sit in a quiet circle. First person whispers a word into the ear of the person sitting next to them. That person turns and whispers the same word in the ear of the person sitting on the other side. Do this until you reach the end of the circle and the last person will speak the word out loud. Compare ending word to the starting word. What could we do to be more accurate with our communicating?
- Break the group into two groups (Kindergarten, First Grade)
- Kindergarten will search for site words using their Dash bots
- First grade will explore Blockly - moving robot to match the taped outline on the floor.
- Reflection
- What was the easiest thing to do with our Robots? (thumbs up, sideways, or down)
- What was the hardest thing to do with our Robots? (thumbs up, sideways, or down)
- How well did you work with your partner(s) (thumbs up, sideways, or down)
- Did you treat your robots with respect? (thumbs up, sideways, or down)
Week 4
Teambuilding activity
Teambuilding activity
- Review charts for teamwork agreements
- Rosie - can you work together to move Rosie through a maze? (PLTW cards, circles, doghouse, bones, mud, fire hydrant)
- Break the group into two groups (Kindergarten, First Grade)
- Kindergarten will search for site words using their Dash bots
- Dash Programming challenge with shapes (2 squares, 2 triangles, one driver, programmer lays out cards to tell dash where to go)
- Dash Driving challenges - Literacy (drive to the first letter ofyour name, last letter, drive to sound, spell sight words)
- Dash Driving challenges - Numeracy (drive to a number -cubes and numbers- ,largest/smallest quantity -mix cubes and numbers
- First grade will explore Blockly - moving robot to match the taped outline on the floor.
- Kindergarten will search for site words using their Dash bots
- Reflection
- What was the easiest thing to do with our Robots? (thumbs up, sideways, or down)
- What was the hardest thing to do with our Robots? (thumbs up, sideways, or down)
- How well did you work with your partner(s) (thumbs up, sideways, or down)
- Did you treat your robots with respect? (thumbs up, sideways, or down)
Week 5 -
Teambuilding activity
Teambuilding activity
- Review charts for teamwork agreements
- Rosie - can you work together to move Rosie through a maze? (PLTW cards, circles, doghouse, bones, mud, fire hydrant)
- Break the group into two groups (Kindergarten, First Grade)
- Kindergarten will search for site words using their Dash bots
- Introduce the Path app
- Plan a path on a grid (need to show how to shrink the grid for our iPads)
- 1st puzzles to move Dash through a grid adding commands to the path
- Introduce the Path app
- First grade will explore Blockly - moving robot to match the taped outline on the floor.
- Introduce Dot
- Kindergarten will search for site words using their Dash bots
- Reflection
- What was the easiest thing to do with our Robots? (thumbs up, sideways, or down)
- What was the hardest thing to do with our Robots? (thumbs up, sideways, or down)
- How well did you work with your partner(s) (thumbs up, sideways, or down)
- Did you treat your robots with respect? (thumbs up, sideways, or down)
Week 6 - During week 6 we continued working with what we introduced in week 5. The first graders also began working with Wonder.