Project Management
Big Idea Week
As inspired by the Big Idea Week in New York, I designed our own experience! All students K-5 participated to identify a problem and collaborate to design a solution. This was completely open ended for teams to have a "sky's the limit" mentality. We began the week with a big kickoff assembly to inspire students and have them hear from professionals in design fields. Throughout the week, every student interacted with a mentor to help their design or their product pitch. By the end of the week, each teach pitched their idea to the class. The students then individually "invested' in the most market-ready pitch. The following week, those top teams from each class received further support, to be able to pitch to a panel of "sharks." Those sharks utilized a rubric to provide feedback and ask questions of the teams. We then showcased those top projects at the North Carolina Technology in Education Society Conference.
Conn Magnet Elementary School of Entrepreneurial Design
205-2016 School year
- Pitch idea to school leadership & magnet office of WCPSS
- Focus Area: Mind Your Own Business
- Introduce Big Idea Week
2016-2017 School year
- Marketing & Branding for communications, social media & web presence
- Flex Time (genius hour) for all students
- Big Idea Week: 585 students, 30+ teachers, 40+ mentors = amazing ideas
- Showcase at NCTIES
- The Hive: Establish school Makerspace
- Pitch idea to school leadership & magnet office of WCPSS
- Focus Area: Mind Your Own Business
- Introduce Big Idea Week
2016-2017 School year
- Marketing & Branding for communications, social media & web presence
- Flex Time (genius hour) for all students
- Big Idea Week: 585 students, 30+ teachers, 40+ mentors = amazing ideas
- Showcase at NCTIES
- The Hive: Establish school Makerspace
Mind Your Own Business: Entrepreneurial Design
15 lucky third graders have selected to be a part of this Focus Area being offered during the fourth quarter of our school year. During this time, students will learn first hand, the steps and process of entrepreneurial design and design thinking. They will not only be problem solvers, but more importantly, problem solvers. Students will see the content they learn in the classroom come alive through real world application. Stay tuned to find out how they do!
Rube Goldberg Machines
As inspired by Lifesize Mousetrap, all 5th graders had the opportunity to collaboratively create a vertical Rube Goldberg Machine. In connection with Betaversity, students learned about 3D printing through TinkerCad and dug deeper into simple machines. As a result, in teams of 5, students developed a Rube Goldberg machine with 1 3D printed element, and 4 other obstacles or simple machines to affect the object being transferred through the machine.
Minecraft Club
With the support of two other educators, we began a Minecraft Club for students in grades 3-5 to participate in STEM design challenges through the Minecraft platform. We met on a weekly basis for them to be able to learn, collaborate, and create within this digital program. Students saw the creative side of the game, rather than just the "survival" features. This lead them to create rockets, dream houses, cities, urban farms, and so much more.
School Wide Design Challenge
In partnership with Scrap Exchange, all students grade K-5 were given a challenge - to create something amazing from unwanted materials. Each challenge was a direct extension of the content they have learned throughout the year, and as an end result, we were able to beautify our school campus and scream our engineering theme!
Kindergarten - Community Bird Houses
1st Grade - Pebbles Sand and Silt Stepping Stones
2nd Grade - Air and Weather Wind Chimes
3rd Grade - Light and Properties Yard Art
4th Grade - NC Historical Landmarks Stepping Stones
5th Grade - Benches built with Simple Machines
Kindergarten - Community Bird Houses
1st Grade - Pebbles Sand and Silt Stepping Stones
2nd Grade - Air and Weather Wind Chimes
3rd Grade - Light and Properties Yard Art
4th Grade - NC Historical Landmarks Stepping Stones
5th Grade - Benches built with Simple Machines
School Wide Early Release Design Days
To engage students in even more regular engineering and STEM opportunities. On each early release, we had school wide design days. This had almost 400 students creating within the same topic, but with different constraints and materials. Days included: Rockets (straw, paper, stomp, etc.), Towers (pasta, notecard, playing card, blocks, etc.), Egg Drop (crash test, Humpty Dumpty, bungee, parachutes, etc.), Robot - design a mascot.
Boost Group ... Soldering
After receiving a mini-grant from the Gamma Iota chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, Miss Czerney worked with 12 4th grade student engineers to teach them to solder an amplifier. Students were nominated by their teachers to be a part of this enrichment opportunity. First, students needed to learn solder safety and the various materials necessary for soldering. The group began by soldering Make LED Solder Badges. Then they had to learn the various parts of the amplifier and understand both the diagram and the schematic drawing. This unit directly coincides with their understanding of electricity and circuits. Students learned about printed circuit boards in common electronic devices such as desktops, digital cameras, graphic calculators, stereos, and more. To build on their understanding, student engineers were required to learn to read the value and understand the purpose of resistors. Next they learned about electrolytic and monolithic capacitors, being able to distinguish between the two and their purpose in the circuit. After learning all the parts and pieces of the amplifier board, the team spent time learning basic electrical wiring of inputs and outputs, positive and negative charges, and even added the wiring for the amplifiers. Upon completion, these amplifiers will be used with 2nd graders as they create Sticky Note Speakers.
Class Economy... Presented at NCDPI Personal Financial Literacy Workshops in Winston-Salem and Greenville
Class Economy is a program that I began in my classroom to help meet the needs of my students for Personal Financial Literacy and Classroom Management, while accomplishing standards in Math, Social Studies, and Language Arts. Students take on the full time job of... being a student! In addition to their everyday requirements, students may apply and interview for a variety of classroom positions, become a tenant in the classroom, save their money for rewards they want to achieve, become a landlord, help their peers, and collaborate to become more financially responsible citizens. In a classroom of 21st century learners, they need to know the skills they already have, qualify them for positions that will pay them money. On the other hand, they also need to know the role that they play in the economy. View the website I developed below:
Fluency Friends
Fluency Friends is a program that was created by Ms. Czerney and Ms. Pridgen. All of
last year we talked about how there needed to be more collaboration between
students across grade levels, and an opportunity for Kindergarten students to have friendly faces in
the older grades. This serves as somewhat of a mentoring program as we build
bridges between the two classes. Students work together to improve their
reading, writing, and math skills. Each week, students are able to pair up and
work on a specific skill. The fourth graders are learning to read fluently and
focus on tone and voice in their reading. It is also great to see them take on a
leadership role in teaching younger students, especially with technology!
Kindergarteners are able to practice that technology with one-on-one attention,
while improving their academic skills! Overall, it has been very successful,
keeping learning as the primary focus in all that we do!
Fluency Friends Segment begins after the first 10 minutes
last year we talked about how there needed to be more collaboration between
students across grade levels, and an opportunity for Kindergarten students to have friendly faces in
the older grades. This serves as somewhat of a mentoring program as we build
bridges between the two classes. Students work together to improve their
reading, writing, and math skills. Each week, students are able to pair up and
work on a specific skill. The fourth graders are learning to read fluently and
focus on tone and voice in their reading. It is also great to see them take on a
leadership role in teaching younger students, especially with technology!
Kindergarteners are able to practice that technology with one-on-one attention,
while improving their academic skills! Overall, it has been very successful,
keeping learning as the primary focus in all that we do!
Fluency Friends Segment begins after the first 10 minutes