Then this weekend I had an epiphany. Why did it have to be a large VHS case. If we put over the ear earbuds (from Dollar Tree) in the cases, they could be a lot smaller. That was when I noticed a sale on plastic storage at a craft store and decided to see what I could find. There it was, staring me in the face, 5x7 photo and craft keepers. They were compact, easy to organize, and fit the items perfectly. They just needed a good label. Enter my go to for creating signs, posters, etc. Canva. I was trying to decide what I wanted to do and started out with several attempts that included different techie looking backgrounds but none of them were right. The layouts were just not helping, until I looked at the CD cover layouts. One of them was black with goldenrod piano keys. I was stuck at how much that resembled the colors of a Micro:Bit so I started fiddling with it. I flipped and stretched, erased white keys and added black lines. A few circles and some numbers had it coming together so I had an interesting label. In the end I ended up constructing two images, one for the front and one for the back that included a space to write a student name with vis-a-vis so they would know which case contains their programs. I love when things come out so much better than I plan.
Schall Coding Club is very grateful to be able to utilize items purchased through other grants done by That's Elementary and the STEM Sisters. These two Exchange Club Mini Grants are just an example. Coders will be able to use the Sphero Minis as well as the Kano Pixel and Motions. We look forward to students demonstrating these items at the Spring Technology Showcase.
We were excited and somewhat saddened to have given out a record number of applications for the Coding Club this fall. Excited that there are so many of our students interested in joining us (more than 1/4 of our student population) but saddened as that meant that we would have to put almost a 1/3 of the students applying on the waitlist. It was a mix of emotions for many as some were overjoyed and others were upset. As always we will continue to try to work with as many students as possible within our means of both supplies and time.
With another start of the school year is another open house and process of signing up a new group of students. Without even doing our fall sign up, we are already 2/3 full for this school year. We look forward to a new year with new students to teach as well as some of our "veterans" returning to help them along. We have some new technology we will be trying out and a variety of things already planned. The DIY Technology Showcase was quite an event with approximately 500 students, staff members, community members, and special guests. The students were excited to show what they had done. There were areas for students and adults to try things. The middle school robotics team demonstrated the robot they had built and even allowed some of our students to attempt driving it. Our shout out wall was filled with positive notes and students who are interested in joining next year. |
AuthorThe Coding Club was started and is currently run by two of the STEM Sisters after school two nights a week. Archives
June 2021
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