Working with our Curriculum Director, Shannon Lessley, I applied for and was awarded a grant to purchase equipment for Moretown Elementary School’s LEAD - LEGO Engineering and Applied Design Program.
The goal of LEAD is to provide students with additional opportunities to develop holistic skills, such as communication, collaboration, problem-solving and critical thinking through engaging learning experiences. Students will use BeeBots and the LEGO Learning System to learn and practice design and computer science skills. As a culminating experience, sixth graders will have the option of participating in the FIRST LEGO League. In addition to being aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Common Core standards, the LEAD program will have a strong foundation of social-emotional learning, aligned with the CASEL Framework. Students will practice skills integral to lifelong learning and healthy social-emotional development, including self awareness, self management, social awareness, relationship skills and decision making. Students will also learn about a growth mindset and how it relates to learning and the core stances: empathy, flexibility, persistence, resilience and optimism. 3rd and 4th graders have been working on goal setting. We began with the book Salt in His Shoes, about NBA all-star Michael Jordan. From there we explored our interests, or sparks, and our strengths. Students learned about long-term and short-term goals and how identifying smaller goals can help them reach the larger ones. Next, we will identify our challenges, or areas for growth, and how we can use this as another starting point for goal setting.
Another growth mindset stance is flexibility. Flexibile thinking is the ability to quickly switch gears and find new approaches to solve problems. It is giving people a chance to have it their way instead of having it our way all of the time. It means working together to solve a problem. When kids are flexible, they tend to do better in social situations. It makes other people feel good and other kids want to be around a kid who is flexible. To teach flexibility to your child, check out suggestions from Encourage Play (click image): As your child faces problems, challenge them to consider multiple solutions. Get them to think about the consequences of each and how others might think and feel. What is the best solution that would meet the needs of others? I would suggest using the "flexible" language: "Are you being flexible?" "What could you do to demonstrate a flexible mind?"
|
Jason StevensonSchool Counselor - Avid Hiker - Reader - Lego Enthusiast Archives
January 2024
Categories
All
|