RES Makerspace Plans and Information

Coming to RES

in the 2016-17 school year

THE RES MAKERSPACE!

A makerspace is an environment that encourages designing, making, building, and creating through hands on exploration. The RES makerspace (located in the existing computer lab space) will be  available for classrooms and small groups during the school day as well as endless opportunities for our kids!

 

Want to learn more about makerspaces? Check out some resources posted on the RES enrichment blog at:

http://enrichmentatres.blogspot.com/p/coming-soon-res-makerspace.html

Every makerspace is unique and ours will grow, develop and change as students, staff and community ideas and suggestions come alive through use and exploration.

Love this idea?

WAYS YOU CAN HELP TO GET THE RES MAKERSPACE UP AND RUNNING:

Recyclable/Free Items You Can Collect over the summer:

Cereal boxes

Paper towel and toilet rolls

Yogurt containers

Plastic lids

Old electronic toys (for a take apart station)

Large Cardboard Boxes

Valuable Making Items You Could Donate:

Straws

Pipe Cleaners

Masking Tape

Duct Tape

Ribbon

String

Wooden Dowels

LEDs

Coin Batteries

Material (scraps are fine)

Hot Glue Gun Sticks

Legos (small)

Tinkertoys

Keva Blocks

Kinex

$$ If you are interested in investing in the infrastructure of the space with a monetary donation, please contact me and we can find an item that would benefit all!

Hands on Help:

I am looking for space design and construction help. (We would need to meet in mid June).  I am looking for people to brainstorm ideas as well as people to make items that would be placed in the space (this would be a great family project for the summer).

Questions? Want to help? Please email darcie.rankin@cesuvt.org

 

Google Expeditions Arrive at Richmond Elementary School! #googleexpeditions #vted

 On Thursday April 28th, RES students in grades 2-4, and CHMS students in grades 6-8 experienced virtual field trips through the Google Expeditions Pioneer Program.  Google Expeditions is a new product that allows teachers to take their classes on virtual field trips, immersing students in experiences that bring abstract concepts to life and giving students a deeper understanding of the world beyond the classroom. These trips are collections of virtual reality panoramas — 360° photo spheres, 3D images and video, ambient sounds — annotated with details, points of interest, and questions.

Several months ago RES third grade teacher Tonya Darby applied for our students to get this opportunity to try a new and innovative technology!  Students in second grade traveled to China, and even got to see pandas in the wild! This trip connected to their unit on cultural studies around the world and helped to further extend their learning about a country that they have been learning about over the last month.  Students in third grade traveled west to support their social studies learning about life on the Oregon Trail.  Fourth graders traveled to Mars, connecting to their solar system unit of study, and allowing them to see close up a planet beyond Earth! 

We are thankful to the Pioneer program for their support as well as teachers and staff who gave time and classroom space to host this great experience.

Want to learn more about the Expeditions Program? Check out:  https://www.google.com/edu/expeditions/
OR ask your student "Where did you go today?!"

Cougar Cub Inventor's Workshop--This Thursday!!!

Richmond Elementary School , in conjunction with

Vermont State Science Fair and the Society of Women Engineers is proud to present the:

COUGAR CUB INVENTOR’S WORKSHOP

Thursday November 12^th, 2015

5:30 – 7:30pm

RES Gym & Library

Cost: 2$ per Student (to cover cost of disposable resources, scholarships available)

What is an Inventor’s Workshop?

This workshop is a family-friendly event to MAKE, create, learn, invent, craft, recycle, think, play and be inspired by celebrating arts, crafts, engineering, science and technology.  Students will work with their families to create!  Activities will be facilitated by engineers and teachers, but tasks will be open ended and creative.  Families will have an opportunity to learn together as they experience the fun of making / building / constructing / designing and more! A variety of activities will be available to challenge students from Grades K – 8.

A Sampling of Activities Planned for Our Workshop Include:

Cardboard Challenge:  Create with cardboard! The possibilities are endless!

Building a fort with Bloxes!  Bloxes are life-sized cardboard building blocks. They're used as furniture, walls, and forts by Google, Twitter, Mozilla, and many more.  Now you can try building with this elusive construction material.

Making a keyboard with bananas!  MaKey MaKey Boards are electronic devices that convert many regular objects into keys on your computer to control programs like Scratch or videos games.  Objects that are conductive, even slightly, like fruit or people, can be used with the MaKey.  

Creating lighted origami!  LED Throwies are LEDs connected to coin batteries to create artwork with light.  We will have a number of origami options including participating in a lost bird project which supports endangered species awareness.

Squishy Circuits:  Make three dimensional artwork with lights and moving parts out of play dough!  

Creating abstract art with a digital microscope!  DinoXcope Art is artwork created using a digital microscope to photograph intentional arrangements of materials.  

Programming Arduinos!   Sparkfun Inventor's Kit with Arduino Uno & breadboards allow you to build simple circuits and control them using a programmable microcontroller.  Lilly Pad is a test board with lights and sound to which you can upload Arduino code.  

Programming interactive games with Scratch!  Scratch is a visual programming language.  Use colorful interlocking building blocks of code like legos to build interactive games and programs.

AND MORE!!!!!

Please contact Darcie Rankin, RES Enrichment Teacher at darcie.rankin@cesuvt.org with questions. 

We hope to see you there!

Cougar Cub Inventor's Workshop

Have you made your plans to attend the Inventor's Workshop yet? Will you write code to make your own video game?  Will you play a banana piano?  Will you create a robot? You can do all this and MORE!

Don't miss out on this great creative event! Fun for the whole family!

Thursday November 12th from 5:30 to 7:30 in the RES gym.

Questions?  Contact darcie.rankin@cesuvt.org.

Cougar Cub Inventor's Workshop: Save the Date

Richmond Elementary School , in conjunction with

Vermont State Science Fair and the Society of Women Engineers is proud to present the:

COUGAR CUB INVENTOR’S WORKSHOP

Thursday November 12^th, 2015

5:30 – 7:30pm

RES Gym

Cost: 2$ per Student (to cover cost of disposable resources, scholarships available)

What is an Inventor’s Workshop?

This workshop is a family-friendly event to MAKE, create, learn, invent, craft, recycle, think, play and be inspired by celebrating arts, crafts, engineering, science and technology.  Students will work with their families to create!  Activities will be facilitated by engineers and teachers, but tasks will be open ended and creative.  Families will have an opportunity to learn together as they experience the fun of making / building / constructing / designing and more! A variety of activities will be available to challenge students from Grades K – 8.

A Sampling of Activities Planned for Our Workshop Include:

Cardboard Challenge:  Create with cardboard! The possibilities are endless!

Building a fort with Bloxes!  Bloxes are life-sized cardboard building blocks. They're used as furniture, walls, and forts by Google, Twitter, Mozilla, and many more.  Now you can try building with this elusive construction material.

Making a keyboard with bananas!  MaKey MaKey Boards are electronic devices that convert many regular objects into keys on your computer to control programs like Scratch or videos games.  Objects that are conductive, even slightly, like fruit or people, can be used with the MaKey.  

Creating lighted origami!  LED Throwies are LEDs connected to coin batteries to create artwork with light.  We will have a number of origami options including participating in a lost bird project which supports endangered species awareness.

Squishy Circuits:  Make three dimensional artwork with lights and moving parts out of play dough!  

Creating interactive circuits with littleBits!  littleBits are electronic modules that snap together with magnets to make circuits.  Each bit has a specific function (light, sound, sensors, buttons, motors, etc), and modules snap together to make larger circuits. Just as LEGOs allows you to create complex structures with little blocks, littleBits are small, simple, blocks that make creating sophisticated electronic circuits a matter of snapping pieces together.

Creating abstract art with a digital microscope!  DinoXcope Art is artwork created using a digital microscope to photograph intentional arrangements of materials.  

Programming Arduinos!   Sparkfun Inventor's Kit with Arduino Uno & breadboards allow you to build simple circuits and control them using a programmable microcontroller.  Lilly Pad is a test board with lights and sound to which you can upload Arduino code.  

Programming interactive games with Scratch!  Scratch is a visual programming language.  Use colorful interlocking building blocks of code like legos to build interactive games and programs.

AND MORE!!!!!

Please contact Darcie Rankin, RES Enrichment Teacher at darcie.rankin@cesuvt.org with questions. 

We hope to see you there!

Inventor's Workshop--THIS THURSDAY AT RES!

Richmond Elementary School, in conjunction with

Vermont State Science Fair and the Society of Women Engineers is proud to present our first:

COUGAR CUB INVENTOR’S WORKSHOP

Thursday November 13^th, 2014

5:30 – 7:30pm

RES Gym/Library

Cost: 1$ per Student (to cover cost of disposable resources, scholarships available)

What is an Inventor’s Workshop?

This workshop is a family-friendly event to MAKE, create, learn, invent, craft, recycle, think, play and be inspired by celebrating arts, crafts, engineering, science and technology.  Students will work with their families to create!  Activities will be facilitated by engineers and teachers, but tasks will be open ended and creative.  Families will have an opportunity to learn together as they experience the fun of making / building / constructing / designing and more! A variety of activities will be available to challenge students from Grades K – 8.

Do I need to preregister? 
No! All are welcome!

What should I bring?
Bring your creative spirit and if possible a few dollars to support any disposable materials that are used!

We hope to see you there!

Activities planned for our workshop include:

Cardboard Challenge:  Create with cardboard! The possibilities are endless!

Building a fort with Bloxes!  Bloxes are life-sized cardboard building blocks. They're used as furniture, walls, and forts by Google, Twitter, Mozilla, and many more.  Now you can try building with this elusive construction material.

Making a keyboard with bananas!  MaKey MaKey Boards are electronic devices that convert many regular objects into keys on your computer to control programs like Scratch or videos games.  Objects that are conductive, even slightly, like fruit or people, can be used with the MaKey.  

Creating lighted artwork with throwies!  LED Throwies are LEDs connected to coin batteries to create artwork with light.  They can be added to greeting cards or origami, or used to create nightlights or glowing badges.

Squishy Circuits:  Make three dimensional artwork with lights and moving parts out of play dough!  

Creating interactive circuits with littleBits!  littleBits are electronic modules that snap together with magnets to make circuits.  Each bit has a specific function (light, sound, sensors, buttons, motors, etc), and modules snap together to make larger circuits. Just as LEGOs allows you to create complex structures with little blocks, littleBits are small, simple, blocks that make creating sophisticated electronic circuits a matter of snapping pieces together.

Building programmable robots and machines with LEGOs!  LEGO Wedo & Mindstorms are Legos, hardware and software that can be used to create custom programmable robots and machines. They include an intelligent brick computer that controls the system, a set of modular sensors and motors, and LEGO parts from the Technics line.

Creating abstract art with a digital microscope!  DinoXcope Art is artwork created using a digital microscope to photograph intentional arrangements of materials.  

Programming Arduinos!   Sparkfun Inventor's Kit with Arduino Uno & breadboards allow you to build simple circuits and control them using a programmable microcontroller.  Lilly Pad is a test board with lights and sound to which you can upload Arduino code.  The components on Lilly Pad can be sewn onto fabric using stainless steel thread to create wearable interactive clothing or objects.

Programming interactive games with Scratch!  Scratch is a visual programming language.  Use colorful interlocking building blocks of code like legos to build interactive games and programs.

Please contact Darcie Rankin, darcie.rankin@cesuvt.org with questions. 

RES Cougar Cub Inventor's Workshop: Save the Date!

Richmond Elementary School, in conjunction with

Vermont State Science Fair and the Society of Women Engineers is proud to present our first:

COUGAR CUB INVENTOR’S WORKSHOP

Thursday November 13^th, 2014

5:30 – 7:30pm

RES Gym

Cost: 1$ per Student (to cover cost of disposable resources, scholarships available)

What is an Inventor’s Workshop?

This workshop is a family-friendly event to MAKE, create, learn, invent, craft, recycle, think, play and be inspired by celebrating arts, crafts, engineering, science and technology.  Students will work with their families to create!  Activities will be facilitated by engineers and teachers, but tasks will be open ended and creative.  Families will have an opportunity to learn together as they experience the fun of making / building / constructing / designing and more! A variety of activities will be available to challenge students from Grades K – 8.

Activities planned for our workshop include:

Cardboard Challenge:  Create with cardboard! The possibilities are endless!

Building a fort with Bloxes!  Bloxes are life-sized cardboard building blocks. They're used as furniture, walls, and forts by Google, Twitter, Mozilla, and many more.  Now you can try building with this elusive construction material.

Making a keyboard with bananas!  MaKey MaKey Boards are electronic devices that convert many regular objects into keys on your computer to control programs like Scratch or videos games.  Objects that are conductive, even slightly, like fruit or people, can be used with the MaKey.  

Creating lighted artwork with throwies!  LED Throwies are LEDs connected to coin batteries to create artwork with light.  They can be added to greeting cards or origami, or used to create nightlights or glowing badges.

Squishy Circuits:  Make three dimensional artwork with lights and moving parts out of play dough!  

Creating interactive circuits with littleBits!  littleBits are electronic modules that snap together with magnets to make circuits.  Each bit has a specific function (light, sound, sensors, buttons, motors, etc), and modules snap together to make larger circuits. Just as LEGOs allows you to create complex structures with little blocks, littleBits are small, simple, blocks that make creating sophisticated electronic circuits a matter of snapping pieces together.

Building programmable robots and machines with LEGOs!  LEGO Wedo & Mindstorms are Legos, hardware and software that can be used to create custom programmable robots and machines. They include an intelligent brick computer that controls the system, a set of modular sensors and motors, and LEGO parts from the Technics line.

Creating abstract art with a digital microscope!  DinoXcope Art is artwork created using a digital microscope to photograph intentional arrangements of materials.  

Programming Arduinos!   Sparkfun Inventor's Kit with Arduino Uno & breadboards allow you to build simple circuits and control them using a programmable microcontroller.  Lilly Pad is a test board with lights and sound to which you can upload Arduino code.  The components on Lilly Pad can be sewn onto fabric using stainless steel thread to create wearable interactive clothing or objects.

Programming interactive games with Scratch!  Scratch is a visual programming language.  Use colorful interlocking building blocks of code like legos to build interactive games and programs.

Please contact Darcie Rankin, darcie.rankin@cesuvt.org with questions. 

We hope to see you there!

Summer Reading on Raz-Kids

 

Attention Current K-2 Families:

RES students in these classes will have uninterrupted access to Raz- Kids online over the summer.  This program is an AWESOME way to provide students with access to a huge number of books at their just right reading level.  Students can listen to books, read books out loud AND take quizzes to validate their comprehension.

To access Raz-Kids, go online from your Internet browser  to:
http://www.raz-kids.com/
(Or download the free iPad or Android Raz-Kids App)

Next, type in your teacher's user name from this year and Select GO.  Students will then select their name and enter the same picture password they have been using all year.

Raz-Kids is an easy and fun way to ensure that students are reading just right books and it is great to be able to access these from any computer. 

We hope many families will take advantage of this great program!
Happy Reading!

If you have any questions about the program, you can email Darcie Rankin at darcie.rankin@cesuvt.org.

Fourth Grade Learning Celebration-June 2nd!

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Fourth Grade Families and Friends! 

RES Learning Community!

You are invited to a

CELEBRATION OF FOURTH GRADE INTERESTS and LEARNING!

This year, fourth grade students at RES have been participating in a once a week class, co-taught by teacher-librarian Beth Redford and enrichment teacher Darcie Rankin.  The class focuses on digital literacy, critical thinking, and interest driven projects.  Students’ culminating activity is an independent, interest driven research project. Each student self selected a topic and designed a capstone project to share their interests and knowledge.  As we end the school year, we would like to share our learning journey and these projects with families and the community.

Date: Monday, June 2nd 2014

Time: 6pm - 7pm

Location: RES library and computer lab

We will also share pieces of work that we have completed throughout the year, as well as information about our digital learning experiences as a community of learners.

We hope you can make it!

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Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com

Digital Literacy for Parents

Digital Literacy for Parents

Thursday Jan. 24 from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.

The digital world has arrived and spins at an amazing rate.  Technology can support your children’s education both in school and at home. Bring your questions, thoughts and ideas about technology and how this digital world supports learning.

Our night will be facilitated by Mike Berry, RES Principal, and Joanne Finnegan, CESU Technology Integration Specialist, in an “Ed Camp” style where you get to choose the topic you wish to discuss.  This organic learning process allows for great conversation and multiple sources of sharing!

Sample topics might include:

• Social Media
• Internet Safety for kids
• Internet Searching and How can I support my child using the Internet for research?
• iPad apps that support learning
• Global Connections
• Good sites for kids
• Twitter - what's tweeting and why would I want to?