The students will learn coding skills with Colby, the programmable robot mouse. The students build a maze with the 16 maze grids, a 20" x 20" maze board, 22 maze wall and three tunnels that are provided in the kit. The students will program the sequence of steps and Colby will race to find the cheese. There are also 30 double-sided coding cards, 10 double-sided activity cards, a cheese wedge, and an activity guide to provide the perfect hands-on introduction to coding concepts. You can even add Jack the programmable robot mouse to race Colby!

Students enjoy teaching others. In fact, research says that when students teach others their own learning increases. QR codes are a way for students to teach community members about their local community.

So you have robots...now what? How do you manage them? These coding punch cards can be customized and used to offer students activity choices while managing your learning environment.

Dash and Dot are robots that can sense, act and think! Coding with robots is great fun!! Students use block coding iPad apps to control their robots. Students will have a ball designing, testing theories and refining their code to create paths for the robots to follow.

Code Monkey is an engaging coding program for students starting at preschool. Students will help an adorable monkey get his bananas back from a greedy gorilla who stole them. As students progress, they will meet other characters like a trusty turtle, who will help them with challenging problems. Each answer students submit will be graded automatically giving students instant feedback.

Coding is a skill that all students need for 21st century careers. There are many neat new programs that teach the foundation for programming. The programs use blocks with commands that students connect together to achieve the goal.

Scratch Jr. is an app where children can program their own stories and games. They learn to solve problems, design projects, and express themselves creatively.

In this online game, Coin Bubble by Greg Tang Math, students make a given monetary figure using a ten frame of coins. Students work with higher value denominations as the game progresses. In addition, students can use exchanges to get to their figure faster.

Google Sites are a great platform to communicate both locally & globally. They are easy to set up for your students and easy to link information both individually for your students as well as setting up a group or classroom page. Our classrooms are busy places of learning and we feel strong about giving back to our Community & teaching our students at a young age the feeling of giving. We begin teaching the Core Democratic Value of common good in early elementary BUT until we DO it, the meaning can get lost. Google Sites is a great tech tool to implement for your Community Service projects & beyond!

Bloomz is a communication platform that helps students succeed in the classroom and at home. It is a great tool to use to stay connected in the school community and send real-time messages to a class or person. Parents and students can view a calendar, view behavior, sign up for conferences or volunteer work, and view photos from both the website or an app. Students will enjoy seeing the petals bloom as they watch behavior points blossom into a flower.

Klassroom is an app that teachers and parents can download to their phones to easily communicate and engage with each other. Teachers can post assignments, add events, schedule conferences, and upload pictures. This is very similar to Facebook. It can be used with all grade levels for communication.

Students will connect virtually with one or more community members such as police chief, city manager, librarian, or mayor in order to discuss their roles and responsibilities. Students will keep track of what they learn in order to create a poster describing the person and everything he/she does to help the community.

In first grade students begin learning about basic nutrition and how to grow plants in a cup or small planter. In this lesson, the students will take it a step further and students will learn how to create a community garden and share the food. The students will use brainstorming apps to plan the garden and create a poster to advertise the garden.

The Starfall Compose & Decompose numbers game is a great option for practicing adding, place value for ones and tens, and number identification in a steady, consistent format. This game is a great option for independent center practice, whole group instruction or small group instruction.

A Google Slide Deck introduction to the MITECS competency Computational Thinker - Students develop and employ strategies for understanding and solving problems in ways that leverage the power of technological methods to develop and test solutions.

Example: In a high school physics class, students designed catapults that could hit measured distances at two different points. Prior to mapping designs, students used calculators and computer-based scenario software to practice and apply formulas based on data to test hypothesis. Once they had a working theory that the team agreed on, the students created prototypes for initial testing. They shared the recordings with scientists and engineers from the local university, who posted feedback on the comment feature of a video channel. Student teams used the feedback to make changes to their designs and built their miniature catapults. They then conducted their final tests.

Questions for Reflection:
- How do the MITECS compliment core content?
- How might you and your colleagues develop cross-curricular experiences to support the MITECS?
- Which of the competencies are you most familiar with?
- Which competency is an area of growth for you, as an educator?

ClassDojo connects teachers with students and parents to build amazing classroom communities by creating a positive culture. Teachers can encourage students for any skill or value — whether it is working hard, being kind, helping others, or something else.

Students will be able to learn about conjunctions by watching a Schoolhouse Rock video, Conjunction Junction, with its catchy tune, then see instructional videos on the definition of conjunctions and how they are used in sentences. Finally, students will be able to check their knowledge of conjunctions through games and online quizzes and apply their knowledge in their own writing.

Padlet is an online post-it-like board that you can use as an easy collaboration platform for students. Padlets can be created by you or students. Once created, student can share ideas and comment on other students as well.

Using the Website, www.empatico.org to facilitate, students in the classroom will connect with another classroom in a different part of the country or world. They will follow the suggested activities on the website to collaborate with another classroom. The website matches students ages 6-11 to learn about the weather, culture, play and festivals around the world.