Smart Classroom Kit

SparkBlocks has been a fantastic addition to our third grade classroom. The students loved the hands-on, collaborative activities using LEGO pieces to explore open and closed circuits. It helped build strong critical thinking skills, and students couldn’t stop asking to use them again. It also reinforced the importance of following directions, which is such an important third grade skill. It was especially great for promoting higher-level thinking and engaging students who were ready for a challenge.

I’ve had this one semester so far, and it’s been fantastic. The materials were easy to access and integrate into my classroom workflow, and the demands of the students were intuitive for them. I started it off as a self-paced alternative assignment for students that needed something different from our normal projects, allowing me to differentiate for a variety of reasons (whether behavioral, extensions, scaffolding, interests, or absences). I didn’t have enough for all my students at first, so I had to rotate teams of 2. Students would beg/bribe/negotiate with me to be the next team that could use them. The videos were packed with information and aligned with the worksheets. Every group had no problem remaining engaged for the 45-60 minutes it took to work through the lessons. The notes were easy to check to see if they understood the concepts. They were regularly excited to apply their new learning to build a creation of their own and would spend any remaining class time using the LEGO kits I have to invent new things. I was overhearing students using their new vocabulary as they worked collaboratively, problems solving their new creations.

I teach 7th and 8th grade STEM at a Title I school. Most of my students are below grade level in reading comprehension and math, and for many, this is the first STEM class and first introduction to electronics or anything related. I found the videos to be a perfect fit for those that tested in the 3rd to 5th grade comprehension. It was…