Making Math OZO-some!

Last year I participated in a WeTeach_CS grant in Texas.  It was to help prepare for taking the Teacher Certification test for teaching computer science.  I love learning new things and being a teacher, I'm a life long learner.  Through this grant, which is currently being offered throughout the state of Texas (Google to see if there is one near you!)  It is completely free and not only helps prepare you, it also provides resources for you to take back to your classroom regardless of what you teach!

We built a laptop to use for coding!

We learned to code on our new TINspires!

It was such an incredible and rewarding experience!  But how did this make math OZO-some you ask?  Through this grant, I discovered a little robot called an Ozobot.  A what o-bot?  Check out the Youtube intro video here:

And where do I see the value of coding in the math classroom?  Well, the minute I started to code all those basic order of operations principles came into play.  What else?  You had to be precise and accurate and follow directions!  Say what?  Follow directions and order of operations?  Well.... while your students might be well heeled in these practices, I find it a much needed constant 'refresher' for my students.

I loved that the kids made the connection on the first day of using the Ozobots.  When we discussed the significance of the robots in the classroom, the one student who loudly exclaimed '.... oh, oh, ohhh.... order of operations!' made it all worth it. I was ecstatic.  This is exactly how I worked coding into my math classroom.  This was just a beginning but I was able to do something that my students will always be able to connect to the most fundamental life skill for success in anything... order of operations and following directions.

The Ozobot website has premade lessons and activities for your students as well.  I used this one to start with the students.  I showed the video above then followed up with the following 2.

So how do you get an Ozobot?  I did a DonorsChoose.org classroom project.  I promoted the heck out of it because I wanted this for my students.  The first week they will even match your donations.  Here is my project so you can see the specifics.  Click on the picture to follow the link.

Those of you unfamiliar with DonorsChoose.org should definitely look into it.  It is completely FREE for teachers and I found it to be a very easy grant writing process.  I feel passionately about my students and with DonorsChoose I can express that passion effectively.  I was lucky to have this project funded and blessed beyond belief for the value it gave my students in not only math processes but a whole new world of coding for some of them!

I plan to do more with them and below are pictures of our first days.  These graduate from simple coding into loops and what if and logic statements for my hardcore coders.  They are wonderful for learning to code.  

 I love when kids get so into it they put it on social media 💓💓

They decided to build a great course.

I highly recommend you look into the WeTeach_CS grants if you can.  It was so rewarding for both for me and my students.  If you are in the Houston area and would like to check out my classroom set of Ozobots let me know.  I'd love to help you see the coding in math!