Students had an opportunity to investigate incredibox.com and were able to create their own music! Incredibox allows students to create custom beat-box tracks by changing beats, effects, and melodies. Students create their song easily by dragging and dropping musical effects onto avatar characters. Each character can be muted or changed allowing an unlimited amount of musical compositions possible. Overall, it allows students to become composers gaining confidence in musical studies. Try it out! Its super fun and totally addictive!
A few composers and their music are listed below :)
This is not at all what I expected when I said "Build the tallest tower possible".
This group collaborated well and definitely thought outside the box.
Congrats 8th graders!
We did a LOT this week! Our students conducted investigations into :
STEM bridge building
Students were asked to create the longest bridge possible with a few catches:
1. They must use every supply
2. It must resemble a bridge as much as possible.
3. Students must collaborate with all partners at the station.
Robot making
The DEF grant helped GATE purchase a couple of robotic arms. Students worked collaboratively to put them together at the Robotics station.
Tristan shows how he made a gear for the robot.
3D Doodler Pen Artwork
Most students this week focused on 2D art, with a few students moving up to 3D art. Students were allowed to follow stencils to help them create their artwork.
Literacy challenges
This is a silent challenge. Students can only express themselves with their marker... with one catch. They are responsible for only one word at a time. Students must think outside the box as they react to their partner's changes to the story. They had a great time!
Computer Programming challenge
Students logged into their coding accounts and began working through challenges. Several students are high enough on their accounts where they can begin designing basic coding-block games.
With the move of our GATE classroom, last week we focused on finding where everything had moved with a scavenger hunt. This week we focused on our classroom theme 212 degrees (video below). We will focus on the concept behind 212 degrees through our curriculum, STEAMmaker investigations, and character trait discussions. Classroom prezi here:
We also discussed classroom procedures and how to get the most out of our weekly time together.
This week, I arranged stations where students could investigate different skills they have not "touched" in a while including: Computer programming, STEM challenges, 3D art, engineering/ designing, and iPad presentation apps. Students who were in the GATE program last year were involved in lessons covering these station investigations throughout the year.
For the first month of GATE class students will engage in Level 1 stations allowing them to "remember" how our technology works before we dig in deeper into new Level 2 challenges. Students had the opportunity to choose the area they are most interested in. Check out our video below to see their work in progress!
As you can see, we had a great time! I will update the blog with week 3 soon!
--Mrs. Henley
