I have already posted about this on the preschool blog, but boy did we have fun learning about insects this month in preschool and our homeschool science. We have now watched and documented ladybugs grow from grub to beetle, butterflies grow from caterpillar to butterfly and praying mantis' hatch. Seriously, I guess the third time is the charm for hatching praying mantis'. Though... now just a couple days later the couple we saved have all killed each other... I'm sure I fed them plenty of fruit flies... Bummer that the preschoolers didn't get to see them.
A week ago our homeschool group, LEARN, had a fun activity based on They Might Be Giants Here Comes Science The Bloodmobile. My boys have loved that album forever and we decided to explore some of the songs for deeper understanding. My hope is that when they listen to the songs in the future they'll remember the hands on activities that made the lyrics make sense. I've written a little bit about the development of this lesson idea already the origin of the idea in Finally Looking Forward and a midweek blog Schoology, Minecraft and Fitbits make Science. I decided to put together a quick video of how the project turned out, I hope you enjoy it!
My ultimate favorite quote from the interviews of the kids, "I killed germ-bies." (pronounced like zombies, just "germ" instead of "zom")
And because I'm growing tired of listening to myself explain how cool this project was and how it became an inspiring and energizing activity that will lead our future activities, I asked another mom what she thought:
From the perspective of a homeschool mom:
"The bloodmobile was a wonderful educational experience that used multiple platforms of hands-on experiential learning and the utilization of technology. Schoology listed the assignments and provided instructions including an amusing video and book. My children are in the beginning states of using an iPad and enjoyed exploring Schoology. I was impressed at how simple the process was to use and was grateful for the step by step instructions. One aspect of the blood mobile learning experience was a virtual Minecraft Realm where the kids got the opportunity to explore the human body. My children have had little to no computer experience and have never used a mouse. It was awesome to watch my oldest learn to navigate through the human body and recognize the brain, heart, lungs, intestines, stomach, etc. The last component that brought the entire experience to life was the Bloodmobile homeschooling group session where the video was watched again followed by a red water bead sensory activity that ended with all the students exploring the Minecraft human body simultaneously. The song from the video is constantly being sung throughout my home as the girls discuss blood cells, plasma, antibodies, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nutrients. At dinner, my girls explained to my husband how broccoli turns into nurients that feeds the cells. They were so excited about what they had learned that they wanted to share the video, book, Minecraft body and sensory learning experience with him. I was very pleased with the entire experience."
I have had a great time learning about schoology and making a mock up first lesson on the platform. I've even dragged my friends into the process to help me learn to better use it and get unique feedback from parents. It's been nice to have CJ and EMan also "taking" the class along with us.
In case you're new here, we're learning about blood this week. We're learning the parts of blood and what blood does for our bodies.
An added bonus: Typing, spelling and critical thinking in an engaging environment
I decided to make a body in a Minecraft world. It's coming along nicely and I LOVE having help from my super brilliant husband who has explored the game more in depth than I have. We're on day 3 of our Schoology/Minecraft Blood lesson today. As a trial run, I think it's working out quite well. We're certainly fixing things along the way.
A good friend even stayed after our preschool lesson today to walk through the Minecraft world and make sure she had an understanding of what she'd be doing with her daughter.
Oh, how do Fitbits make Science? Well, we had a bit of Minecraft OVERLOAD since January 2nd (CJ's 6th birthday: when he received the game). Steve and I decided that the amount of time they were allowed to play Minecraft would be related to the number of steps they take in a day. Once they hit 2,000 steps on their Fitbit they are allowed to play Minecraft for 1 hour. Today they didn't get to play all day long with regular schooling and such taking up most of the day. So now, at 5pm, they each have 4,000+ steps and are allowed to play for up to 2 hours. Though I have no solid opinion on regulating time spent on digital devices, I do enjoy the requirement of "breaks" to get some movement in.
I've not done any direct instruction with our science lesson so far. They've watched the music video. Read a book and explored the Minecraft world. This is EMan (4.5 years old) explaining what he is working on today.
The past couple of weeks have been rough around the edges. With the prospect of having someone else dictate my life looming over me (think: jury duty) I struggled to think ahead. With the news that I'd been dismissed Saturday morning I jumped right into conversation with my awesome husband about ideas I have for the future. Naturally, he lead the conversation towards Minecraft. You see, I married a gamer. He was curious if I had any great ideas that he could help me with. Specifically: ideas to teach lessons through the Minecraft platform.
The first step I am planning on trying out is giving CJ his math assignment for the week on Minecraft. He will be studying multiplication by 3's. As an opened ended assignment he will need to demonstrate the multiplication equations of 3x1 through 3x10 (maybe higher, we'll just have to see how it goes). This plan, though a great place to start, provided Steve with nothing to work on. So we brainstormed more. (A Minecraft snowman is a representation of 3x1 by the way.)
This week I'll be hosting a science class for my homeschool group. The topic: Blood. We'll be learning about the parts of blood and the key functions that blood carries out. It is FULLY inspired by "The Bloodmobile" by They Might Be Giants.
Our conversation turned to the possibilities of creating a block body 100 blocks long with block organs. We discussed using dispensers to shoot out "oxygen" blocks and "hormone" blocks among other things that players could collect as they are acting as blood cells. Players could then take their items to needy cells and the garbage dump (liver and/or kidneys).
It's still a work in progress. We started by taping quite a few graph pages together and then drawing out our model. Minecraft Realms was the route we decided to go since we were struggling with hosting our own server and I can't get a MinecraftEdu account until I'm actually working for a school district. I'm not sure how this lesson will develop and be utilized in the end. However, I'm completely stoked about the possibilities and am using it as a learning experience for myself to create more engaging learning atmospheres for the future. Wish me luck!
