Thursday, September 1, 2016

What I Like About Me: Robotics and 1st Grade

What I Like About Me
Lesson Plan for 1st Grade
Prepared by Ms. Yandell
Psalm 139:14 I praise you, because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.


The theme of this lesson is to teach that God created us all differently, and that we all  have unique talents that make us great.  The students will use their creativity and gear up to think like an engineer, by designing an obstacle course for their group.  Using the Dash & Dot smart robots and programming software, students will maneuver their robot through the obstacle course to each of the children in their group.  Group members will take turns programming the robot, and will ask questions to their team that relates how God made them all unique.   


  1. 21st Communication
  2. 21st Collaboration
  3. Language Arts
  4. Math


  1. Discovering what characteristics makes you unique
  2. Understanding that God created us all differently, and our unique characteristics make us awesome!
  3. Discovering the CCS community
  4. Understanding the good of a team, and listening to others viewpoints
  5. How to encourage others
  6. Think like engineers, how to follow the rules and build a specified obstacle course Learn the basics to computer programming, using the Dash and Dot smart robots

  1. Cups
  2. 4-5 Dash Robots
  3. 5 Ipads
  4. Story


Steps to check for student understanding
  1. Did your group work well together?
  2. Did you think like engineers when designing the obstacle course?
  3. How did your group decide how to build the obstacle course?
  4. What characteristics makes you unique!
  5. Was it fun being able to use the Dash robots?
  6. Did you listen and follow the rules for maneuvering the obstacle course?


The lesson will begin with a story about the benefits of being unique.  The goal of this project is to integrate engineering and technology into a fun atmosphere, where the students can learn more about themselves and their unique characteristics.  Students will be grouped into teams of four, and will be given cups, dash, and an iPad.  The will begin by building an obstacle course with the cups. Once they have completed this task, they are asked to stand in a circle around their obstacle course.  They will take turns programming and guiding dash to each student in their group; then they will ask each of their teammates a question about themselves.  The questions will be related to understanding their traits and characteristics that make them unique.
  1. What is something you are really good at?
  2. What is something that makes you happy?
  3. What is something that you think is scary?
  4. What is something that smells good to you?
  5. What is your favorite thing to do?

Recap for the lesson written by Jessica Yandell:
In first grade, the first quarter theme is centered around the idea “all about me,” discovering their identity and stewardship.  Students are learning that God gave us all special and different traits that makes us all unique! Psalm 139:14 says "I praise you, because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."

Last week in the first grade I had the opportunity to introduce the students to our new Dash smart robots.  It was crucial for me to introduce the app that we would be using with the robots before starting the lesson.  We used the Go app, which is very friendly and age appropriate for pre-K and up!

I totally changed the lesson last minute, when I was going over the instructions to the lesson.  Instead of having the students program their robots through the obstacle course and answer five questions about themselves with their friends; I told the class that when you reach the end of the obstacle course, you are going to record your voice and program your robot to say one thing that you love about yourself.  

This was an awesome lesson which integrated many ideas the first graders are learning this year.  Students were able to collaborate and use technology to express their unique identity!

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