EV3 Newbie Building Tips/ First Lego League

New to EV3 bot building? Follow these tips: 

Tip 1: Organize all your pieces! I know...it's not exciting. But organizing and sorting totally sets you up for success. When you receive your EV3 bins, everything will be packaged in separate little bags. Empty all those little pieces and sort by color and size. Or else it will be pretty impossible to find what you need!!!

Organizing for Tankbot building session

Tip 2: Save paper and use a laptop or tablet to scroll through the instructions online. Seriously, there are tons of pages of instructions! Bonus: you'll save all the color ink in your printer :)

Tip 3: Bookmark these building instructions: EV3 Core Set Bots and EV3 Expansion Set Bots.

Tip 4: Double check you have the right pieces before each step. Many pieces have VERY MINOR differences. It's easy to select the wrong part and not even realize it. Of course, kids will realize if they make a mistake further down the road when things don't connect correctly! 

Double checking parts every step - super important!

Tip 5: Take breaks and don't worry if you don't finish a bot the same day you start. Building is fun, but also tedious. Be happy about your progress! Keep it fun and encourage breaks.

Stopping point after an hour of building

Tip 6: Create a checklist for builders. At every session, I give M (or our team) a checklist. On the checklist is setup, putting away unused pieces in organized compartments, general work space cleanup, and charging responsibilities. 

Get kids in the habit of setting up, cleaning up, and charging. You won't lose important pieces or have a dead bot. Don't do these things for them - they need to learn to take proper care of their bots! 

The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates: Magic Marks the Spot/ FREEBIE Discussion Questions & Activities

STUDY GUIDE/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

After searching (without luck) for The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates: Magic Marks the Spot study guide, I created my own. And lucky you, I'm sharing!

Download printer-friendly discussion questions, pages 1-4

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

This crossword covers people, places, and things from the story. Answer key included too! 

Download printer-friendly crossword puzzle

Download printer-friendly answer key

CHARACTER COMPARE & CONTRAST

Always interesting to see the students perception of the characters! For this activity, you'll need:  the instruction sheet below (2 instruction pages/sheet), a venn diagram per each student, and paper for illustrations. 

Download printer-friendly instruction sheet

Black and white construction paper make striking but simple frames for character illustrations. Staple the picture frames to each side of the venn diagram. Students label the character's name under the illustration. Simply flip back the frame and write the traits behind the appropriate character on the venn diagram.

MAKE A PIRATE MAP

Have students make a 'good' treasure map according to the principles outlined in Treasure Hunting for Beginners: The Official VNHLP Guide (Chapter 6, p.114-115/hardcover edition). Use this template or have them draw a map from scratch.

Hope your students have a wonderful time working through these activities! Enjoy :)

Book Review/ The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates: Magic Marks the Spot by Caroline Carlson

Witty dialogue, surprising twists, and exciting adventures!

SYNOPSIS 

Hilary Westfield desperately wants to be a pirate. Her father, James Westfield will hear no such nonsense. An admiral in the Royal Navy, he already has an apprentice. And to make matters worse, the admiral abhors pirates!

As a family of High Society, Hilary's parents prefer she attend finishing school. They've even sent her governess, Miss Greyson, to ensure Hilary arrives and stays at Miss Pimm's Finishing School for Delicate Ladies.

Another strike against her? The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates refuses to accept female members. To make her dreams come true, Hilary will have to go against her family's wishes and somehow learn piracy on the sly. 

But when rare magic ore starts disappearing from exclusive High Society homes, Hilary is drawn into the mystery. Are pirates responsible, or is there another explanation entirely? Can Hilary discover who is stealing the magic ore and fulfill her dream of becoming a pirate, too?

REVIEW

The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates: Magic Marks the Spot is one of the most witty and humorous chapter books I've read in a while. This book will rock you with belly laughs. Several times, tears were pouring down my cheeks. It's THAT funny.

The relationships among the characters are golden. The correspondences intermixed throughout the story are my most favorite parts! Such great examples for students on the beauty and purpose of handwritten letters!!!!

And when a pirate ship tries to disguise itself? Totally hysterical. Certainly a creative solution...and one you'll have to read the book to find out!

There are characters you love to root for and characters you love to despise. Some characters take a while to figure out. The ending was a total surprise, but very satisfying. A hoot of an adventure from start to finish.

All the children at book club LOVED this selection. Everyone is eager to continue with the series. It was equally enjoyed by boys and girls alike. Great job, Caroline Carlson!

RATING

5 of 5 Stars/ Highly recommend for chapter readers who love adventure, mystery, fantasy, and humor! So excited to read the next book in the series, The Terror of the Southlands.

My daughter's top adjectives for The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates: Magic Marks the Spot -- surprising, exciting, hilarious, fun, spectacular.

[Looking for the a study guide? Click here.]

Science Vocabulary Printable/ Work and Machines FREEBIE Crossword

Studying work and machines in your science unit? Enjoy this FREEBIE crossword puzzle to help reinforce vocabulary! It correlates perfectly with our Physical Science Unit on Forces and Motion.

Download printer-friendly crossword

Download printer-friendly answer key

Happy homeschooling!

Nature Investigation/ Caterpillar to Become a Beautiful Butterfly?

While the little one was exploring outside, we discovered this in the grass:

Not wanting to kill a potentially beautiful future butterfly, we left it alone. Do you know what is is? It's a hairy little thing!

Research reveals this is a tent caterpillar. In maturity, it turns into a nondescript moth - not a beautiful butterfly. And it attacks trees. 

Oh, well...I guess no good deed goes unpunished :)

Review/ Dallas Zoo Giants of the Jurassic

The dinosaur scales & spiked 'BIG' sign teases at the entrance. The girls couldn't resist striking a pose :)

Perched on top of the information booth, this nest is super impressive. Such a creative presentation!

Don't miss Erth's dinosaur show. Not only are the puppets spectacular, you can touch them after the show and meet the puppeteers backstage. Then visit their pop-up shops to buy cool dinosaur swag. 

So Jurassic Park! The girls and I got a real kick out of this car-crushing dinosaur.

All smiles! She really did love this one.

Meat eater for sure.

Giant claws and teeth. So ferocious!

This one spits just like in Jurassic Park. Thankfully, it only spews water instead of poison. Expect to get wet! 

Dinosaur baby and parent talking to each other. Adorable.

At Picnic Ridge, enjoy digs and interactive games. Pushing buttons at the console animates the dinosaur.

The absolute best? T-rex, of course!!!!

We loved this exhibit. It is not be missed! There is no additional charge to see the dinosaurs at the Dallas Zoo, it is included in your daily admission. For zoo members, it's free! We will definitely be back many times. 

The view from the train is fantastic! Well worth $2/ride. If you are a Passport Zoo member, you get free train rides until the monorail is fixed :)

Because many school groups pack the zoo in the mornings, we arrived about 1:30pm. If you can make it in the afternoon, your experience will be much more enjoyable. Expect mornings to incredibly packed with school field trips by the busload.

The Zoo also has a free dinosaur page with facts dinosaur facts by each species. Learn about the habitat, diet, size, and adaptations for that specific dinosaur. Awesome and educational! Next time, I'll bring a printed copy with us and do a scavenger hunt, asking the kids to identify each.

What an incredibly fabulous day!

American Revolution/ Boston Tea Party FREEBIE Cursive Sheets

Now that M really understands cursive letter formation, I've started creating cursive practice sheets to reinforce our unit studies. For history, we've been learning about the American Revolution!

 Click here to download the printer-friendly version

If you would like to make your own cursive sheets, the font School Script Dashed is available FREE for download. I make the font light gray so M's tracing with colored pens is very visible. If you use black letters, it's difficult to see the student's work.

Enjoy these FREEBIE Boston Tea Party cursive practice sheets ;)

Happy homeschooling!