The Meet Your Robot PDF book and accompanying Teacher’s Guide are resources to support the introduction of VEX 123 with your students, as well as the ongoing exploration with VEX 123 throughout the year.
Using the book to introduce VEX 123
For students who are new to VEX 123, the Meet Your Robot PDF book and Teacher’s Guide give you the opportunity to introduce your students to the 123 Robot, Coder, and supplementary materials in a fun, hands-on way! The book is designed to be an interactive read-aloud experience, and as such, students should be in their groups, with access to VEX 123 materials as you present the story. The prompts embedded within the book will give students a chance to practice handling the robot, while they learn about its features and participate in the turn-taking that will be used in future VEX 123 learning experiences. The book is provided in PDF form so that it can be printed and read as you would other books in your classroom; or you can project the book’s pages so that students can see each page in more detail.
The Meet Your Robot Teacher’s Guide can be used in conjunction with the story, to offer additional information, activities, and discussion prompts to engage students with the story and VEX 123 materials.
Each Google slide of the Teacher’s Guide offers the following:
- The feature or concept the page of the book is introducing
- The page of the book that aligns with each slide
- A Try, Listen, Talk, or Share prompt that offers an active prompt or activity connected to the VEX 123 feature or concept
- The Share prompts offer a conversation starter related to the habits of mind that support learning with VEX 123
You can use this story as an introductory experience on its own, or in conjunction with the Meet Your Robot STEM Lab Unit, Lab 1: Hello, 123! Use Meet Your Robot in the Engage section of this STEM Lab to spark student interest and conversation around the 123 Robot, while also facilitating the story activities with your students.
Using the book as a classroom resources
The Meet Your Robot PDF book and Teacher’s Guide are not only for introductory purposes, but can also be used as a resource for students as they continue to work with VEX 123 throughout the year. A printed copy of the book can be added to your classroom library, STEM resources area, or VEX 123 Learning Center so that students can revisit it at any time.
As a STEM Teacher, Meet Your Robot offers the opportunity to participate in literacy related events throughout the school year, in an authentic way. You can use the book and Teacher’s Guide prompts to facilitate a lesson as part of something like Read Across America, or International Literacy Day.
The Meet Your Robot PDF book and Teacher’s Guide are also helpful for reteaching, in situations like a new student joining the class who has not used VEX 123 before, or returning to using VEX 123 after not using it for a little while. The book can be offered to students as part of morning work, or in a learning center, so that they can read the book independently or in small groups. Or, you may choose to reread the story as a whole class – but this time with a different focus for students’ thinking. By offering different prompts from the Teacher’s Guide each time you read, the experience can shape students’ thinking and learning in different ways.
Using the Teacher’s Guide prompts
The Teacher’s Guide offers a variety of prompts to keep students engaged and interacting with their VEX 123 materials throughout the book. These prompts can also be used independently, at any time, to spark discussions or to revisit elements of the VEX 123 materials in more detail. The Try, Listen,Talk, Share prompts are designed to give more tangible and concrete connections to the VEX 123 materials and concepts; while the Share prompts are designed to focus attention to the habits of mind that support VEX 123 learning experiences, like patience, persistence, and teamwork. You may wish to print out the prompts and keep them as a set to reference and use throughout the year.
Teacher’s Guide prompts can be used in many ways, including but not limited to:
- As additional questions during Share discussions to wrap up a STEM Lab experience
- As journal prompts for students before, during, or after a STEM Lab or Computer Science learning experience
- As an focus for a VEX 123 Learning Center to help students think about their mindset while working
- As Morning Meeting or whole class conversation prompts to share experiences and connect VEX 123 to previous learning
- As interview questions for students to ask each other to initiate conversation around what robots are, what they do, and how they should be cared for
Sharing the book with your classroom community
The Meet Your Robot PDF book can also be useful to help others in your classroom community, besides your students, stay connected to why you are using VEX 123 in your classroom. Share the book with families, in addition to the Letter Home from the Meet Your Robot STEM Lab Unit, so that they can be introduced to VEX 123 along with their students. This will give them a shared point of entry to engage students in conversations about what they are excited to do and learn with VEX 123, to further foster the connection between home and school.
Additionally, the story and Teacher’s Guide can be useful resources for substitute teachers or support professionals in your classroom. Just because you won’t be at school, doesn’t mean that your class needs to stop using VEX 123. Have the substitute read the story and lead a discussion with students using the provided prompts. Additionally, support professionals can read the story and use it as a reference for students to help them be successful with VEX 123 in the classroom.