West Hartford Retired Educators Association Grant: Flying with BeeBots
- School Year: 2018-2019
- Applicants: Claudine Lavoie, Lead Teacher
- School: Braeburn
- Subjects: Language Arts, Social Studies, Technology
BeeBots are small bee-shaped robots designed for young children ages 6 and older. These brightly colored “bee-inspired” robots are used in classrooms to teach a variety of objectives including sequencing, estimation, and problem solving. The curriculum opportunities are endless when using BeeBots. Students in grades K-4 at Braeburn Elementary School will use these mini-robots as a hands-on way of practicing language arts and social studies standards while building teamwork and communication skills. These are the twenty-first-century skills we expect our children to master before leaving the West Hartford Public Schools. BeeBots incorporate basic computer coding mixed with a little bit of fun. Students will be trained to operate and code the movements of each robot to perform various functions. Students in kindergarten will code the devices to maneuver through a maze. First grade students will practice sight words and sequencing. Second grade students will practice math problems and third and fourth grade students would use the BeeBots to find longitude and latitude or identify directions and landmarks. The curriculum connections are numerous and are only limited by a teacher’s imagination.