Share Your Literacy Lessons!

VEX 123
1

We have had a lot of fun integrating the VEX 123 robots into our library literacy lessons! There are so many engaging ways to extend an interactive read-aloud using technology and robotics. Below are some of the lessons I have done with K-1 this year. How are other educators using VEX 123 in their literacy centers? If you have done any literacy lessons this year, please share them here :smile:

Lines that Wiggle (Lesson Slide Deck)

  • Students program VEX 123 to draw lines and patterns on large chart paper. Using imagination and creativity, students will draw pictures incorporating the lines in the illustration.

How I Met My Monster (Lesson Slide Deck)

  • Students design, create and program their VEX 123 monster to visit houses and scare the children back into their beds.

  • There are three books in this series. We did the activities over three sessions and read a different book from the series for each.

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon (Lesson Slide Deck)

  • Students practice story retelling by identifying the key details and programming the VEX 123 to recreate the order of the story.
2 Likes
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Wow - these are great. I can’t wait to see some other examples!

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Wow, @James_Nesbitt these are absolutely fantastic! I adore Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon and used to read it to my second graders every year. Your “Lines that Wiggle” activity is really fun, too - you could take it even further and have kids write stories about the illustration they end up with. I don’t have access to the slide deck for How I Met My Monster, and I’d love to see it! You might need to change the permissions. Thanks so much for sharing these, and keep them coming!

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Using the illustrations as a writing prompt is a great way to extend this lesson and build excitement for writing. Thank you for sharing that idea!
I have changed the permissions for How I Met My Monster, so it should be good now. Thank you for letting me know!

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@James_Nesbitt these are fantastic!!! The Monster series is one of my all time favorites - and I love what you’ve done with it! (The Storyline Online read aloud of “I Need My Monster” by Rita Moreno is a personal favorite).

I think there are also great listening comprehension exercises you can do in this way as well - having students drive to various plot points in order, based on a short story or story segment they listened to.

It could also be fun to do a story swap activity as well - all groups write a story or add to a story from a story prompt. Then the stories get ‘mixed up’ and redistributed so a different group brings it to life with the robot. Not only will this get everyone writing and reading, but can be a fun way to practice some sharing/openness behaviors. The original group could also then bring the story to life for themselves, and compare and contrast how the two groups interpreted the same story in similar or different ways.

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James,
These are great activities. I can’t wait to share this with my first grade team. Thanks for your creativity and sharing.

Desiree

1 Like
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This reminds me of a great activity that @Jennifer_Spencer told me about using The Grumpy Monkey book. Can you share that here @Jennifer_Spencer? I think it would fit perfectly into this thread :slight_smile: