Have you met the Rainbow Eggheads yet? They are a grade 5/6 class at Churchill Alternative PS who are very comfortable working with technology. They have a blog where they write about their learning adventures. And they tweet as a class from @churchill209 . I met their teacher, Shauna Pollack, at Ottawa EdCamp 2013, and we set up a visit to their classroom to make Electro-cards . Electro-cards are light-up greeting cards made with a battery, LED, construction paper switch and conductive paint.
Big and little buddies have started building their circuit cards! #makerjunior
— Churchill Room 209 (@churchill209) December 12, 2013
The class works closely with a Grade 1/2 class down the hall. Each student is paired with buddy. I visited the class over 2 days to give everyone a chance to make a card.
#makerjunior pic.twitter.com/lwWijFjjQR
— Churchill Room 209 (@churchill209) December 12, 2013
First we covered some basics - batteries, simple circuits, open vs. closed circuits (ie. switches), and positive to negative electron flow. We started by making sure we could each light up an LED with a battery.
We are doing #makerjunior this is so fun — Churchill Room 209 (@churchill209) December 12, 2013
Everyone was give a card with a very basic schematic on it. Their card designs all took advantage of the light. I enjoyed the creativity of the designs that were created!
Cool, it lights up!! #makerjr #makerjunior pic.twitter.com/dbdGjd1YMG — Churchill Room 209 (@churchill209) December 13, 2013
As the cards were drying, I set out some of the other projects I work with. They were well received.
#makerjunior this lights up cool hunh pic.twitter.com/GC293upsHW — Churchill Room 209 (@churchill209) December 12, 2013
#makerjunior this is the best !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/3Bh0JsO2Ec — Churchill Room 209 (@churchill209) December 12, 2013
The Rainbow Eggheads and their little buddies were great to work with. It was fun helping them build their cards. And when I was able to check the twitter feed after the event, I felt good knowing that they had enjoyed themselves.
So thank you, @churchill209, I had a good time too!