Guest Post: Miss MacLaughlin, Student Teacher

Hello! This is Mrs. Mann’s student teacher, Miss MacLaughlin. I have been in the library since the end of February and I will be concluding my student teaching this week. I wanted to share some of the things we’ve been working on in library for the past couple of months.

Second and fourth grade have been working on coding using code.org. We collaborated with the second grade teachers on this unit; we did two “unplugged” activities to help students build coding skills without using a computer. The first lesson was a perseverance experiment--build a structure at least 6 inches high that can hold the weight of a notebook for ten seconds. The catch was that they could only use toothpicks, craft sticks, and gumdrops!

Our second unplugged lesson was building paper airplanes using a set of picture instructions. This was to introduce the concept of algorithms, which is following a set of steps in a certain order to complete a process. We got many successful paper airplanes, collaborated with classmates in groups, and had a lot of fun!

 Fourth grade explored algorithms by playing a dice game and recreating the step-by-step instructions in their own words. This was an introduction to looping, which is a difficult concept, but our coding curriculum emphasizes persistence and I was very impressed by their efforts.

First grade has been working on algorithms as well. We read Audrey Wood’s Sweet Dream Pie, then wrote and shared our own step-by-step recipes to reinforce the concept of steps needing to be in the right sequence in order to achieve a goal.

Kindergarten has been working on ways to show friendship and be a good classmate. We read The Adventures of Beekle, the Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat and wrote about all the kind and fun activities we can do with our own (real or imaginary) friends!

Third grade has been learning about call numbers, Dewey Decimal, and using our Destiny Quest catalog. Soon they’ll be able to search the catalog independently to satisfy their own information needs.

I have had such a wonderful time working with Mrs. Mann and the students of Ashaway Elementary. I’m going to miss you all!