It is hard to believe that our quarter is ending so soon! My superstar 6th grade classes have worked so hard since the beginning of the school year. From coding to food trucks, we have been through so many different technologies over the past 10 weeks!
We started out the quarter learning about Canva, a graphic design program that you can use to create fun and innovative designs. While learning about Digital Citizenship, we learned about Prezi and Powtoons. While coding, we learned about the Circuit Playground Express, an external circuit that has lights, sounds and so much more! We used Makecode to create a code for Harry Potter's Sorting Hat, Digital Literacy style. We also learned how to code using MIT App Inventor. As a group, we struggled with this technology, and learned that sometimes troubleshooting a technology can be very frustrating! We also completed some very fun coding projects in Code.org.
Our quarter is ending on a Food Truck Design Challenge. In groups, we are working on completing the concept of a Food Truck. The students are currently working in groups to create a concept, logo, truck design wrap, menu, slogan and presentation. We learned a new vector-based software called Vectr. Vectr allowed the students to create logos. We also learned about a great resource for finding colorful and interesting templates for Google Slides called Slides Carnival. All of these software programs are accessible to students here at school, and may help your student create some really impressive projects in classes throughout middle school!
Finally, encourage your students to keep exploring technology and working on those great fundamental skills we have been practicing all quarter. Typing Club, Newsela and Readworks, Quizlet and Code.org are all available to your student through their Google Classroom and Clever, and they can certainly keep practicing! Thank you for sharing your students with me! If any of your students are interested in continuing to explore technology, you are welcome to check out the after school clubs. I will be running a Robotics club for four sessions. The first one starts this evening, but there will be opportunities to join in January, March and May. Please feel free to email or call to get more information!
