"Trendsetting" with KIBO's!

Thought it was time to give an update about our KIBO project. Last June I submitted a grant to the amazing Medfield Coalition for Public Education (MCPE) for two KIBO's. The grant was approved! We started using them in the fall with three kindergarten and three grade 1 classes. You can read about our 1st experience using KIBO's here.

In the meantime, something most unexpected happened. The Tufts DevTech Lab (which provides 'resources to teachers, parents  and anyone interested in using robotics in early education classrooms') asked if I would like to be featured as one of their "Teaching Trailblazers." Whoa, what an honor! 

Click here to read the entire Early Childhood Robotics Network interview

Back to planning our KIBO curriculum...We were very pleased with our first KIBO lesson but realized quickly that it would be a much better experience for our students if we had more KIBO's. Julie Colantoni, Meredith Teany and I wrote a new grant requesting eight more. We are so grateful that the MCPE approved this request. We now have 10 KIBO's at Memorial School!

We've been using our 10 KIBO's for the past two weeks and I can say for sure that this is the way to go. The whole class can now use the KIBO's at the same time and work in groups of 2-3 students per KIBO, which is how they are meant to be used. The kids loved having another opportunity to use KIBO and learn about more of the sensors and blocks. Each student had the opportunity to try out all of the jobs: planner/programmer, checker, scanner, and the very important, push the start button.

Mrs.McAvoy sharing the How to Make KIBO Work How-To Book, which her students wrote. It was the perfect way to begin our 2nd KIBO lesson.

Going forward, we will dig deeper into what our students can do with our KIBO's and learn from using robotics. We can't wait to use our KIBO's with more students this spring. 

Many, many thanks to the strong support from our principal, Dr. Melissa Bilsborough and to the MCPE.