Week 4: Hurricane Fran and Intro LEGOsŪ!

My fifth graders first got their hands on legos, the day back to school after Hurricane Fran, September 9, 1997.

After being out for several days, with millions of stories to be told, it seemed clear that not much academics would be happening. So, what more perfect opportunity to bring out the legos!

This is the general plan I followed on that day:

Step 1: ... after introducing the "Work Rules", and modeling the proper procedure for sorting the kits, instruct students to organize and inventory their Lego kits.

Step 2: ...once the kits are sorted and all pieces accounted for, instruct the students to follow the pictures on their Lego cards and construct the first cards in their sets.

An excellent book called,Brick Layers, Creative Engineering With LEGO Construction, written by the Aims folks, contains helpful reproducibles as well as activities for integrating LEGOs into your science and math curriculum.

I made transparencies of the "Work Rules," "LEGO Elements Kit," and the " Inventory Check List." I also made copies for the students. This helped immensely in introducing and managing the LEGOs.

(See Classroom Management Tips for more detailed info on how to implement a LEGO project in your own classroom.)

....After their first Lego encounters, my students were instructed to write a "3-2-1."

"Three things you learned, two questions you have and one thing you think everyone should know."

Here's what they had to say: