Lego Challenge – 5/6 ETC

We ended class today with a few questions…

1) How many of you were frustrated (even for just a second) today? 10/20 students raised hands

2) How many of you felt like you failed today? 20/20 students raised hands

3) How many of you felt like you had success today, even if just a little bit? 17/20 students raised hands

4) How many of you had fun today? 20/20 students raised hands

The Lego challenge today proved, yet again, that your kids are incredible. They brainstormed, planned, collaborated, failed, tried again, failed, tried again, failed, ran out of time and asked for more!

Please take a look at the slideshow from today as well as the photos below — they can be great conversation starters to use while asking your kiddos about school.

Stay tuned for student blogs later in the week!

ETC Pringles Challenge

Posted on September 13 by Gev. Kimmel

We had another amazing ETC class today. The kids had a blast problem solving together to try to create a standing circle using only one can of Pringles. They had the even harder challenge of not eating any of the materials!

Image result for pringles ring challenge

We took them through the same process as the Make it Move Challenge- brainstorm on your own, brainstorm as a group, create a plan and execute. The implementation was amazing to watch unfold as most plans failed and new plans had to be drawn up and tested.

I literally did a happy dance as I watched one group collaborate. I noticed that one group member was on his Chromebook so I asked him to show me what he was doing. He was actually typing to his Israeli classmate, “you’re a genius” on Google Translate. He had just figured out a new way to stack the chips. When I told him I was worried he was looking up a solution on the internet, he responded by saying:

“If we looked it up online it would be cheating, that’s not fun. The reason I love ETC is because when we fail it’s fun!”

I couldn’t say it better. Our kids get it. This is what ETC is all about. It is what MJDS is all about. Your kids were asked to blog about their experiences this week on their individual pages- due Monday. Please don’t forget to check their pages as their view point is more important than ours!

Please, please, please take the time to watch the videos below. They really show our kids working together so beautifully. They are embracing the concept of FAIL (first attempt in learning) and having a growth mindset way faster than we anticipated!

Gev. Kimmel, Gev. Noorlander & Gev. McAdams

Video 1 – Team Work in Action

Video 2- Compromise/Communication in Action

Video 3 – FAIL and Growth Mindset in Action

Make it Move Challenge- ETC

Posted on September 12 by Gev. Kimmel

On Wednesday, we dove into our first team challenge of the year. The Make it Move Challenge— can you move a matchbox car across a table without using your body to propel it and without lifting the table? How will you do it using only the materials provided?

(We encourage you to look at the presentation we used in class {linked above} as it will give you an insight into the process we take the kids through.)

The kids were asked to work in groups for the first time this year. We purposefully didn’t give many directions or go over teamwork expectations. Are we crazy? Maybe! But, it all worked out how we wanted it to!

The kids got started. As expected, a few groups had come up with quick solutions that ended up failing. They didn’t meet the requirements, or their plan didn’t work out. What did the kids do? They planned again! They tested again and again until they were successful, or ran out of time!

At the end of class, we reflected together. Many students expressed that there were a wide range of emotions felt in class- excitement to get started, frustration with themselves of others, annoyance with materials, and the one we heard over and over- aggravation for not getting more direction.

This led us to the most perfect conversation. Our intent. EtC is a low stakes class, with unlimited potential, where students will be able to develop teamwork skills, showcase creativity and innovation, and most importantly, fail over and over again. We explained that if we had given TOO many directions or parameters, it would have limited their thinking and willingness to experiment. Instead, we had 5 groups all trying out different plans. We had groups communicating beautifully and other teams struggling to share responsibility. It was sensational. And, it was the perfect segue, as next week we will start examining our teamwork rubric and practicing teamwork expectations in class. We can’t wait!

Check out the pictures and videos below that show the different stages of the challenge!

Gev. Kimmel, Gev. McAdams & Gev. Noorlander

Individual Planning

Team Sharing/Planning

Creating/Executing Plans

Testing

Video 2

Video 1

Moving from Me to We in ETC

Posted on September 6 by Gev. Kimmel

All I have wanted to do since ETC class ended was to get on my blog and share my excitement with you!

Class today was absolute perfection.

At our last class we asked the kids to think about their learning needs– Are you a visual learner? Auditory? Do you like music on in the background or do you need silence? Do you prefer to sit or stand? The list goes on. Each student was handed a piece to a puzzle and asked to represent their learning needs on the piece.

Today, the kids shared in small groups before coming together on the rug. We gave the instructions: Figure out how all of our pieces fit together WITHOUT talking and only one person can work on it at a time. What happened next blew us away! The kids asked clarifying questions to make sure they understood the directions. They asked if they could support each other if they did it without talking. They communicated through eye contact and giving each other a “thumbs up.” They smiled and clapped when they were successful and they were patient and empathetic as others took thinking time and made mistakes. At one point a student whispered, “Yes! He did it!” It was beautiful and magical and everything we wanted it to be! When the kids needed a clue from us to get the final puzzle, no one felt defeated. They continued to work hard and stick through it to get to the completed puzzle- a car.

Afterward, we talked about the activity and asked, “Why? How does this car connect to our learning together this year?”

Two students responded:

“Because we each have unique parts like a car”

“And just like a car can’t work without the tires or mirrors, we can’t work together without each of us. The different parts support each other and we need to do the same.”

The end message was clear: We all have to work together to drive our learning. We are each unique individuals with different learning styles and needs. In order to find collective success this year, we are going to have to work really hard to compromise, empathize, and support each another.

What a beautiful start to ETC, we can’t wait to watch the year unfold!

Gev. Kimmel, Gev. Noorlander & Gev. McAdams

Growth Mindset and Process in ETC

Posted on May 8 by Gev. Kimmel

The 5th and 6th grade invention convention projects are in full swing! Today we were impressed by their ability to take feedback with a growth mindset, accept the need to make changes and their willingness to document project progress along the way. Students can articulate the importance of process over product – though some of the products are pretty cool too! We can’t wait for you to hear about their work at the showcase in June!

“To create something exceptional, your mindset must be relentlessly focused on the smallest detail.”

Posted on April 15 by Gev. Kimmel

Invention Convention Update!

We are making some awesome progress in our Invention Convention journals. Today students were asked to confer one-on-one with myself, Gev. Noorlander and Gev. McAdams. The focus of the conference was to discuss plans for getting started in the creation phase of their invention.

Last week students were asked to sketch at least three possible solutions to the problem they’ve identified that they want to solve. The next step was to reflect on their designs, choose one and write a step-by-step procedure of how they will execute the creation of their invention. The creation may end up just being a sketch or a prototype made from less expensive materials. Our focus is the design process, not the end product.

In our conferences today we challenged the students to add more detail. We assured them that engineers in practice must include specific measurements, materials and plans before getting their projects approved. It was fun to question your children and watch them work through their frustrations of being challenged! Instead of giving up or saying it was impossible, all of the groups I met with took my questioning seriously and got even more excited about improving their invention!

We can’t wait to share our inventions with you in June! Please ask your child about his/her progress so far.

Shoemakers in ETC

Posted on October 31 by Gev. Kimmel

Today’s ETC shoe building challenge was a blast! Check out the Google Slides presentation from class and ask your child to share more details about our teamwork rubric and blogging checklist.

Some skills practiced in class today:

adaptability

creativity

collaboration

prioritizing

interactive communication

and even more!!

We are loving watching your children grow in ETC and observing the carry over of skills into core content classes!

Gev. Kimmel, McAdams and Noorlander

Blogging Expectations in ETC…slow and steady wins the race!

Posted on October 24 by Gev. Kimmel

Today’s ETC class was all about growing our expectations for the quality of work we are producing on the blogs. Blog posts in ETC are an incredible way for students to document their process, learning, and thinking. The idea is that this type of thinking and learning will carry into their other classes.

While we do not expect your children to be perfect, we do expect them to put forth their best effort on all assignments and to show growth through feedback and experience. Today we passed out a variety of samples of student work. We asked the students to evaluate the work- was it meeting expectations, approaching or not yet? Not surprisingly, the students were spot on with their observations and feedback. They recognized the characteristics of work that was meeting expectations and just as important, they were able to recognize what was missing from the “not yet” work.

We shared a blog expectation checklist with the students that, moving forward, should be referenced by all students before publishing work. This checklist will eventually expand and possibly grow into a rubric. We explained that at this point we are looking for growth. We understand that the type of thinking we are asking them to do and document is new and complex. We will continue to provide feedback and also have opportunities for peer feedback. The expectation is that the quality of their work will slowly increase to meet fifth and sixth grade expectations.

As always, please feel free to leave comments and feedback on your child’s posts. We hope you’ll start to see a shift in the quality of their work as we move forward!

Gev. Kimmel, Gev. McAdams & Gev. Noorlander

Building Teamwork in ETC

Posted on October 4 by Gev. Kimmel

Despite our short weeks of school, we have been having a ton of fun while learning in our 5/6 ETC class! Our primary focus so far has been on building our capacity to work as a team. Class discussions were centered around the importance of being able to collaborate and communicate effectively as part of a team- something that does not come easily to many 10 and 11 year old students- let alone adults!

The class participated in two Lego challenges- one of which was to build a duck and the second was to solve a logic puzzle. Through these challenges the class was able to reflect and come up with some pretty deep thoughts surrounding group work:

” We all had the same problem to solve but each of us came up with our own solutions. I think this means that there are often many ways to tackle the same problem”

” The first challenge was more comfortable. The second challenge forced us to decide who would be responsible for different jobs within our group. The problem solving wasn’t just about figuring out the logic puzzle, it was problem solving about how we would work together”

Our next step was to create a class rubric that we would utilize while working as teams. The kids generated the categories and expectations first as individuals, then as small groups. They drove the learning and the actual creation of the rubric. We will revisit the rubric next week as we tackle more mini- challenges. They agreed that being part of the process helped them understand the expectations more deeply and also made them realize that they all know what they want from each other as a teammate- but that they weren’t always living and breathing their own expectations.

You can read more about these last few ETC classes on your own child’s blog! Students were asked to reflect on these experiences. We know they would love to read your comments!

-Gev. Kimmel, McAdams & Noorlander

Shark Tank Here We Come!

Posted on June 7 by Gev. Kimmel

After working diligently with Gev. Clyde throughout all of fourth quarter, and wrapping up with me over the past two weeks, the 5th graders were able to share their inventions and presentations! Kindergarten through Sixth grade visited our classroom as we proudly shared weeks of handwork and creativity.

The best part was what the fifth graders shared about their experience…

” I learned that patience is really hard. This project taught me how to persevere and have grit.”

” I learned that it is OK to have multiple drafts. My project failed several times. I asked for help, even though I didn’t want to, and it was worth it.”

” This project pushed me to have a growth mindset and be patient with myself and others.”

Inventions came home today and presentations can easily be shared at home!