Promoting Literacy With Bee Bots
On her blog, kindergartenlife,
Sharon Davison of Allen Brook School in Williston, VT, documents her life
as a kindergarten teacher. Thanks to donorschoose.org she recently added
Bee-Bots to her classroom and has been using them as a teaching tool to
promote learning across the curriculum. “Right away my students were
engaged. They were curious about how to get them to move and do things
that they wanted to them to do. After we explored the care of our bees, I
decided that my students could create their own Bee-Bot out of paper and
a ‘how to’ story about how to use and care for our Bee-Bots.”
Sharon goes on to describe how she and the students came up with the
essential elements of a “how to” story; a title, steps, pictures that
match words, and the need to tell us “how to” do something. Using
construction paper the students then created their own Bee-Bots and
wrote accompanying stories about how to use them, which they also
illustrated. Through this one activity the children were not only
learning how to construct a “how to” story, but were also practicing
their literacy skills, being creative, and furthering their
understanding of how to use and care for their Bee-Bots. Sharon says
that the activity “was a hit! Not only did every student write a story,
but the stories were all different and they highlighted what they
understood. Everyone was engaged, interested and successful in creating
their story.” The activity also gave Sharon a clear picture of which of
her students might need more help. “This was an opportunity for me also
to notice what students understood not only how to care and use Bee-Bots,
but did they also understand the features of a “how to”
story.”
You can read her full post about weaving together coding and writing on Sharon’s blog, kindergartenlife.
Contact Information
| Name | Sharon Davison |
| Position | Kindergarten Teacher |
| School | Allen Brook School |
| Location | Williston, Vermont |
| Address | 497 Talcott Rd, Williston, VT 05495 |
| sdavison@cssu.org | |
| Website | https://kindergartenlife.wordpress.com |
| Tags | Bee-Bot, Literacy, Early Learning, Vermont, Kindergarten |
| Age | Kindergarten |