BeckyEmily

=__INTRODUCTIONS:__= = =

Becky Herl
Hi, I work for [|USD #369] in [|Burrton] as the Technology Integration Specialist, Prek-5 Tech Teacher & and I am district's Curriculum Director. Yes, working in small districts often means you get to wear many different hats! This is my 2nd year working in the district.

Emily Schmidt
Hi, I am the 3rd grade teacher at Burrton Elementary. This is my second year working here. I am very excited about using the Bee-Bots in my classroom, my students have really enjoyed using them so far!

=__ACTIVITY IDEAS__= Is It Alive? Parts of a computer Treasure Hunt

=__JOURNAL__= Monday, August 20th: (Becky) I have not done much with the Bee-Bots yet except to fill Emily in on what she missed at our Training. Emily has introduced the Bee-Bots to her class and has done a lesson with her class. I plan on trying to do a lesson with the preschool on Monday.

Thursday, August 29th (Becky) I still have not done a Bee-Bot lesson with the students. (We did not do the lesson this week since this is the first week of preschool.) I am hoping that Tuesday of next week will work out. The preschoolers are beginning to learn their color, so I thought we would do something with that. I did watch Emily conduct a lesson and took pictures for her. Emily and her students are very excited about using the Bee-Bots.

Thursday, September 6th (Becky)I introduced the Bee-Bots to the preschool today. I wish I would have had a camera for when I pulled the first bee-bot out of its case. The excitement was to cute from one of the girls! The preschoolers are trying to learn their colors. So I printed the color cards off of the the [|Sparklebox website]and lamented them. I knew the preschoolers could not count yet. So we just used the "listen to me button" (clear) and the forward arrow. I placed the cards in a straight line on the floor and placed the students in groups of 2 or three. Each student took a turn programming the bee-bot and telling the others in his/her group what color the bee-bot landed on. Other than having trouble with the cards staying in place, I thought the activity went rather well. The preschool teacher stopped by later in the day to tell me that the preschoolers loved the bee-bots and kept talking about them. I will share a few of our pictures from today.

Tuesday, September 11th (Becky) I used the Bee-bots with the Kindergarten and First Graders yesterday. I had two different groups going. Two Bee-Bots were using the color cards and 2 other Bee-Bots were doing shape cards. I put the students into groups at each bee-bot station. One person would hold up a color or shape card and have the controller program the bee-bot and take it to the correct card. After users mastered the bee-bots on a straight line, I started laying the cards out in something like 4 rows of 4. The students of course, enjoyed the bee-bots but they did need almost constant supervision as their were some that decided to do their own things with the bee-bots!

Wednesday, December 12th (Becky) I just uploaded some pictures of my 1st and 2nd graders using the bee-bots. The younger kids are still learning to navigate the bee-bots in order to make the bee-bots move to the intended stopping place. I enjoy stopping the students and asking them what they learned and how they can fix their errors. Some of the students still forget to clear out the previous settings. The bee-bots have been a great bonus to our district. I know Emily has used the bee-bots quite a bit with her third graders. I am thankful that we were selected to participate in the grant.

I introduced the Bee-Bots into my classroom last week and the students absolutely loved them! I introduced them as class pets that we are going to be having in our room this year, and that we need to take good care of. We then named each Bee-Bot; Queen Bee, Lucky, Jr. Bee, Bee-Bop Buzzer, and Fiji. The students were then able to practice using them on the Bee-Bot road. I had several pictures printed of houses, restaurants and community building that they could take the Bee-Bot to. Another lesson that I did last week was to have the students play a matching game with vocabulary words and their definitions. I broke the students up into five groups so that each student would have a chance to try using the Bee-bot. I hope to have pictures up sometime next week. I need to have Becky show me how to integrate them into the website.

Friday, September 6th (Emily) We have been using the Bee-bots in the classroom several times a week. This week I have been using the bee-bots in reading and in social studies. We are doing a unit in reading on cause and effect. I made cause and effect cards and had them laminated. Then I had the students match causes with effects using the bee-bots. They worked in 5 groups of 4. I found that it is a lot easier to get my students into a lesson if we use the bee-bots. In social studies we are studying maps. The bee-bots are perfect for this. I have had the students take the bee-bots to different places on a map. Today we worked with a grid map. I made a grid and placed different buildings for the students to take the bee-bot to on the grid. I would then have them go to a place on the grid, 3A, and they would have to decide how they needed to get there. I only had the one grid that came with the bee-bots so I plan on trying to make a few more grids for Becky and I to use out of a shower curtain.

Sunday, September 16th (Emily) A couple of weeks ago I ordered a trailer for one of our Bee-Bots and it came in the mail last week. I showed it to my students and I let them take the Bee-Bot around the room with the trailer attached. They were really excited that they could now pull things with the Bee-Bot. I also started using the Bee-Bots in one of my centers. The students practiced their subtraction facts with them. I had them line up subtraction problems and answers. They then drove the Bee-Bots from the subtraction problem to the answer. They have enjoyed practicing their facts this way much more than with just flashcards.

=__RESOURCES__= http://bee-bots-downunder.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html