From the Teacher

I wish that I could have captured the moment that my students laid eyes on Dash Bot. They were so amazed by him and so thankful that donors like you contributed to this project. Leading up to the reveal, we had been working on growth mindset and what it means to problem solve. So, once I explained how Dash Bot was going to be used in the classroom, they quickly made the connection. They were eager to work with him the moment I introduced him. 

Since Dash Bot has entered our classroom we have been thrilled and eagerly working with him during our guided reading rotations. When they are with Dash Bot they are given a mission. A mission can be anything from write a code to make Dash Bot complete a square to write a code to make Dash Bot line dance. Within the group they are to first write the code in their notebooks, then test the code within the program. Students are then required to go back, look at their original code, make changes, and then test it again. As the missions gets harder, they can become frustrated, but they keep working at it until they are able to get the correct code. At the end of the week, we have a debrief on the challenges they faced and what they did to overcome them. 

Dash Bot has allowed us to explore different avenues of coding. Next we are working with CS First through Google. CS First uses coding to teach a variety of different topics. We have recently begun working on storytelling using lines of code. Dash bot has given us the coding foundation to begin working on more complex projects. Just like with Dash Bot CS First starts simple and then progressively gets harder, causing the students to problem solve and become more creative. 

We cannot express our gratitude enough as we continue to work with coding to build our determination, problem solving skills, and perseverance.

With gratitude,
Ms. McCoy

From the Students