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Volume II, Issue 3 ~ January 2024


Greetings!


Bee-Bot Buzz helps you make the most of the Bee-Bots, Blue‑Bots, and other related technology products for the young learners in your school. Learn how to engage students in curriculum concepts and problem-solving using these fun robots and find out how other educators use them.


In this issue:

  • Introducing Exploring Math with Blue-Bot
  • Customer Story: "Balloons over Blauvelt" Bee-Bot Parade
  • Where in the World is Bee-Bot?
  • Quick Links to Resources


Click to view archives of past Bee-Bot Buzz issues.

New Curriculum Product: Exploring Math with Blue-Bot

Exploring Math with Blue-Bot immerses your students in fun math-based explorations. Most activities can also be done using Bee-Bots! It's the perfect addition to your STEM program.


Over 75 lessons offer multiple activities that use the floor robot as well as the Blue-Bot Online Emulator that runs in any browser. Many of the 250+ emulator activities use enhanced features not available in the free version, thus expanding the learning experiences for students in a powerful way.

 

Some lessons use Blue-Bot’s special features, such as 45° turns and repeat loops, available in the Blue-Bot Online Emulator and when connected via Bluetooth to the emulator or optional TacTile Code Reader. Students familiar with Bee-Bot will be excited to try these new features.

(Don't have a Blue-Bot? No problem. See the Introductory Special below.)

 

Using these classroom and online tools, younger students practice counting and place value, learn to estimate and measure distances, and investigate time and money. Older students explore the perimeter and area of shapes, take classroom surveys and create bar graphs of the results, compare fractions, and create symmetrical designs—all with their favorite 'bot.


Based on the K–3 Common Core State Standards Initiative for Mathematics, the lessons practice basic concepts that will align with the standards you use. Teaching tips show you how to adjust activities to make them easier or more challenging to accommodate all your students.

View the complete Table of Contents.

Click an image to try these sample online activities. Check out the Preview version for more.

COUNTING

Move Blue-Bot from 1 to 10.

SHAPES

Draw a square inside another.

Try using REPEAT.

SHOWING DATA

Use the Square button to create a bar graph.

Exploring Math with Blue-Bot is available as a site license for one, two, or three years. All teachers in your school can use the same access code. When the subscription ends, you can renew at half price.

Introductory Special: Get a FREE Blue-Bot, including shipping!

Click this link to license Exploring Math with Blue-Bot. Then add a Blue-Bot to your cart! You'll see the discount in the cart that makes the Blue-Bot free. This is a great opportunity to introduce your Bee-Bot users to Blue-Bot and explore all it can do.

"Balloons over Blauvelt" Bee-Bot Parade!


MaryRose Palumbo led her Grade 2 STEM students in the creation of a virtual parade based on Melissa Sweet's book, "Balloons Over Broadway." Their school, George W. Miller Elementary, in Nanuet, NY, is located on Blauvelt Rd., hence the name of their fun project.


Following the steps of engineering process, students began by drawing their designs on paper. 


The young engineers then coded Bee-Bot to follow the parade route laid out by Mrs. Palumbo.


Once completed, the Bee-Bots “took flight,” and were filmed in front of a green screen by Mrs. Palumbo’s daughter Emma, who put together the video for the “Balloons Over Blauvelt” parade, now an annual event.

Planning the design

Attaching the balloon

Getting ready to film

Read the full Customer Story on our website.

Where in the World is Bee-Bot?


Guess how many countries (and their residents) visited our

Bee-Bot Online Emulator in 2023. Did you guess 5, 10, 25?

Would you believe 188 countries have sent visitors to use it? The data show over 1.5 million views by nearly 400,000 visitors.


Click to view a list of all the countries. Classroom Idea: Get a globe or world map and have students find where they all are!


It is fascinating to observe the global activity and fun to visit different websites and see how they are using Bee-Bots.


To see more countries and visit their websites, check out our new Global Bee-Bot webpage. Keep Google Translate handy! Just copy text into and see what it means.


Greece is ranked #3 for most visitors to the Bee-Bot Online Emulator. Check out their website!

Chile has a nationwide Club Bee-Bot! They describe it as "a meeting point for the community of educators who are innovating through Bee-Bot, a pedagogical resource for promoting programming and computational thinking from an early age in educational establishments throughout Chile." (courtesy of Google Translate) Their website shows 500+ participating schools with 12,000+ students.

Breaking News! We just learned that Jotform.com named our Bee-Bot Online Emulator as one of the Best 26 Apps for Teachers in 2024. It is one of only four apps listed in the Educational Games category. They say, "This beginner coding app helps students map a path for an animated 'Bee-Bot' to follow. By using fundamental coding ideas, it introduces the student to concepts that are easy to understand." Read more.

Quick Links to Resources


Bee-Bot Lessons ~ Explore 190 lessons and 580+ online activities for K–2 learners in all curriculum areas. Preview it!


Problem-Solving with Bee-Bot ~ 150 challenges to complete in the classroom or online. Preview it!


Exploring Math with Blue-Bot ~ Have fun coding Blue-Bot while practicing math skills. Preview it!


Pro-Bot Lessons ~ Guided explorations, videos, and tips help teachers learn about this fun 'bot. Students navigate Pro-Bot on the floor or online in dozens of activities. Preview it!


Kinderlogo ~ A collection of Logo-based activities for K–3 learners to explore online. Preview it!


52 Ideas for Kinderlogo (free booklet)

A great way to get started using Kinderlogo.

Bee-Bot Online Emulator (free) ~ Explore with Bee-Bot in your web browser using a variety of mats.


Blue-Bot Online Emulator (free) ~ Choose a level and expand learning by navigating Blue-Bot using both 45° and 90° angles and repeat loops.


Calendar Emulator Mats (free) ~

Every month we offer a new mat!

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We Want to Hear from You!


We love feedback about our products and suggestions for new content and features. Please send us your ideas!


Do you have images of students using Bee-Bots or Blue-Bots that you can share? We'd love to feature them in a Bee-Bot Buzz or a Customer Story.

Terrapin | 955 Massachusetts Ave, Suite 365 | Cambridge, MA 02139 

800-774-LOGO (5646) | +1-508-487-8181 (international) | Fax 617-302-9778

terrapinlogo.com | facebook.com/BeeBot.us | instagram.com/terrapin.tools.for.thinking


Find our Turtle Tuesdays Logo coding challenges on Facebook and Instagram each week!

Visit the Turtle Tuesdays web page to see all the challenges and solutions.

Challenges sometimes apply to Kinderlogo and Pro-Bot users as well as Logo users.

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