Ah, is it August time again? Well, we all know what that means… Back to school!
A new school year holds sentiments of both excitement and nervousness. Will classmates get along? Do I have enough supplies? Will I get to introduce Ozobot Classroom to my students? (Let us know if that’s your jam and we’ll help get you set up!)
One thing teachers can do to address both the excitement and anxiety of the first day is to facilitate an icebreaker activity! Icebreakers help both students and teachers get to know each other a little better, open the lines of communication, encourage participation in those who may tend to remain silent, and foster rapport needed for future collaborative group work.
Read on to discover our new Icebreaker Questions activity and our further recommendations for lessons to start the STEAM learning off well this year! One very important fact to note: with our Basic Training compilations for both Color Codes and OzoBlockly, we’ve organized them by grade levels. So, all you have to do is find your grade’s lessons and then you’re off to the races with how to get your students up and running on our 2 ways to code!
Evo Icebreaker Questions
OzoBlockly
All grades!
As we mentioned, icebreakers are a great way to start the classroom culture off on the right foot for the year, and what better way to break the ice than with our little engaging Evo! Download the PDF, print it out, load up the premade OzoBlockly program per the PDF’s instructions, and get to know your students! This activity is best when performed in groups!
Basic Training: Color Codes
Color Codes
Grades K – 8
Introduce any age of student to Ozobots with the first of our two ways to code: Color Codes! We split lessons up by grade groups so that the basic training caters to your classroom’s level of understanding, while learning the principles of color coding. Once kids have completed their grade’s lessons, they can move on to a couple of board game activities – Mission to Mars and then Mission to Neptune!
Basic Training: OzoBlockly
OzoBlockly
All grades!
Similar to the structure of Color Codes, the OzoBlockly Basic Training has lesson series for groupings, and, there’s even a lesson on how to teach OzoBlockly for teachers! After the Basic Trainings, you can have your students move through the “Skills” lessons by number, to learn a couple of things from our “Shape Tracer” game, then some about pair programming and coding accurate movement through the blocks.
Remember to share your August back-to-school creations with us @Ozobot and use #OzoSquad for the chance to be featured on our social channels or our Favorite OzoThings monthly blog post!
