Teaching science to 450 students a week takes a lot of STUFF. We use recycled materials and wash and reuse normally disposable materials. I want to get the best science tools in to my students' hands and I have found Donor's Choose to be invaluable. It takes work but it is worth it. I always put my due dates as far out as I can to give myself a cushion. I don't even get close to my due dates but it takes some pressure off. I work to get my thank you letters and pictures in as quickly as possible.
My latest project was called "Engineering with Makey Makey Invention Kits and Magnet Cars." I have usually done one project a year but last year I did two. I would stick to one project a year. With all of the fundraisers at school, I worry about overwhelming the parents with yet another fundraiser.
I had five Makey Makey Invention Kits I had gotten with Donor's Choose but it wasn't enough for each group of kids to each have a kit during class. With my lastest project, I got 8 more kits. This will be amazing! I only have each class for 35 min. so it was difficult to only let a group have a kit for 10-15 min. It will be wonderful to have each group have a kit.
This year I am planning Makey Makey Engineering Projects for grades 3-5 tied the NGSS DCI's in addition to the ETS. I have been making a Scratch weather soundboard for students to make a pencil drawing about weather Makey Makey project.
Last year my 4th and 5th graders both made game controllers. It was a great project but I look forward to having different projects for each grade level that I can replicate each year. The game controllers were great. We have Simon Says, X box contollers, joysticks, driving games made of tin foil, guitar hero paper guitars, drawn Galaga games, and more.
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| Mini drum set made of bottle caps covered in foil and glued to toothpicks and to a shoe box. The drums actually play when the Makey Makey is hooked to a Scratch drum game. Amazing! |
