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Volume II, Issue 4 ~ March 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:

• Dancing with the Robots: Activity from Robotics for Young Children
• STEM Lending Libraries Are a Great Resource
• New Additions to Bee-Bot Lessons
• Which Curriculum Product is Right for You?
• Quick Links to Resources

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

Dancing with the Robots

Activity from Robotics for Young Children

Ann Gadzikowksi, STEM educator, researcher, and author of Robotics for Young Children: STEM Activities and Simple Coding, loves to observe children as they discover new ways to program robots and troubleshoot their code. 

Her book is creatively organized into five main chapters that help answer children's questions about robots:

• Chapter 1: What is a Robot?
• Chapter 2: How Do We Build Robots?
• Chapter 3: How Do We Tell Robots What to Do?
• Chapter 4: How Do Robots Help Us?
• Chapter 5: How Can We Learn More About Robots?

In 100 engaging activities, many of which use Bee-Bot, children learn about, build, and code all types of robots.

Ann finds that children, in their excitement about coding robots to move, spontaneously begin to hop, turn, and dance with the robots! So, why not give Bee-Bot a dancing lesson?

Dances like the familiar “hokey pokey” require a full 360-degree turn. Coding Bee-Bots to do this is a great example of inquiry-based learning. Children are motivated by their own questions and goals to create and troubleshoot a sequence of commands to turn the 'bot in a complete circle.

In her book, and on our website, Ann offers a fun lesson called "Turn Round and Round" for Bee-Bot that illustrates the problem-solving that students experience in this activity.

Read her full Customer Story with the dance lesson.

Activity from Robotics for Young Children: STEM Activities and Simple Coding, © 2018.

Published by Redleaf Press. Reprinted with permission.

STEM Lending Libraries Are a Great Resource

Laurie York and Janet Brownell have run the popular BCOE (Butte County Office of Education) Educational Technology Exchange since 2018. Teachers in Butte County in northern California can borrow dozens of tech tools to use with their students for a three-week period. Each year, their EdTech Showcase lets teachers explore all the technology in the lending library.

This program gives teachers an opportunity to try out devices before investing in them. Bee-Bots are their most popular item and many teachers borrow them multiple times. Bee-Bots serve as an easy way to get started with robotics, especially for teachers with little prior experience. Also available to borrow are Blue-Bots, Pro-Bots, and Tuff-Bots.

Only teachers in Butte County can borrow their technology items, but EdTech Coaches Laurie and Janet have offered to help other districts that may want to create a similar program. Read their Customer Story on our website and contact them if you want some advice.

The STEM Lending Library in Berks County (Reading, PA) has a similar program. Their Bee-Bot/Blue-Bot page shows their offerings and explains how local teachers can borrow them.

Perhaps your district or county should create a STEM lending library. Ask how we can help!

Additions to Bee-Bot Lessons

Over a dozen lessons have been updated or added to Bee-Bot Lessons. It now offers 200 lessons divided into 10 chapters that cover the entire K–2 curriculum.

Bee-Bot Lessons is a site license that all teachers in your school can use. Subscriptions start at $149.95 for one year, and renewals are half-price.

Try some lessons in the Preview version.

View the updated Table of Contents.

Below are 3 new Online Emulator activities from Bee-Bot Lessons to try. Imagine starting off your day with a look at the weather forecast before practicing addition and comparing facts and opinions.

Add Up the Dice

Math

Weather Forecast

Science

Fact or Opinion

Reading & Writing

Which of our curriculum products is right for you?

This comparison chart will help you choose.

Quick Links to Resources

Bee-Bot Lessons ~ Explore 200 lessons and 600+ online activities for K–2 learners in all curriculum areas. Preview it!

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

Exploring Math with Blue-Bot ~ Coding fun with Blue-Bot while practicing math skills. License it now and receive a free Blue-Bot! Preview it!

Pro-Bot Lessons ~ Guided explorations, videos, and tips help teachers as their students navigate Pro-Bot in the classroom or online. 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

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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.