3 of 17

Notes for teachers

This 40-60 minute lesson is for students already experienced with the basic operations of Code & Go mice, and can be broken into more than one session.
Students work in small groups of 2-4.
An emphasis on a collaborative effort, giving students plenty of time to plan, discuss, draw, test, and redesign their mazes.
"Hands-on" problem solving is encouraged to test mazes.
Facilitate student reflection on the team effort, taking turns with testing peer feedback, and sharing materials.

List of Materials:

Code & Go Robot Mice, one for each small group of 2-4 is recommended
Grid paper, crayons, pencils
Assembled grids for each mouse, one for each small group of 2-4 is recommended
One set of arrow coding cards for each group
One set of paper retelling puppets per group
iPads (optional)
Printable Documents

4 of 17

NGSS Standards

Developing and Using Models- Modeling in K–2 builds on prior experiences and progresses to include using and developing models (i.e., diagram, drawing, physical replica, diorama, dramatization, or storyboard) that represent concrete events or design solutions.

Planning and Carrying Out Investigations- With guidance, plan and conduct an investigation in collaboration with peers (for K).

Science and Engineering Practices

ask questions and define problems
develop and use models
plan and carry out investigations
analyze and interpret data
use mathematical and computational thinking
construct explanations and design solutions
engage in argument from evidence
obtain, evaluate and communicate information

AZ K ELA, Math and Science Standards

Core Ideas For Knowing Science:

U2: The knowledge produced by science is used in engineering and technologies to solve problems and/or create products.�Cross cutting concepts: cause and effect�

Math: K.G.A Identify and describe shapes.

K.G.A.2 Correctly name shapes regardless of their orientation or overall size (e.g., circle, triangle, square, rectangle, rhombus, trapezoid, hexagon, cube, cone, cylinder, sphere).

K.CC.B Count to tell the number of objects.

ELA K.W.3

With guidance and support from adults, use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened.

5 of 17

Objectives:

Today we will locate and name all of the shape buttons (triangles, squares, arrows, and circles) on our Code & Go Robot Mice, and identify each of their functions.

In small groups, we will practice coding our mice to retell events in the read aloud, If You Take a Mouse to School

We will draw a small model of our mouse, design, and test a challenge maze for our robots.

6 of 17

Agenda: 60 minutes (10 min. each with a few minutes at the end for reflection/sharing)

Introduce the lesson: How can we work together to develop our own new challenges for our mice? (Ask)

If You Take a Mouse to School Read Aloud (Imagine)

Model the If You Take a Mouse to School Game (Plan)

Hands-on Student Game in Small Groups (Create/Experiment)

Model Designing New Challenge Mazes (Plan)

Student Designed Challenge Mazes (Create/Experiment)

Group Sharing/Reflections/Journaling (Improve)

7 of 17

What does it mean to "Code" and how can we learn to program our Code & Go Mice to solve challenges?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7B6_G5Dbpc

8 of 17

Coding Game to retell

If You Take a Mouse to School

Practice retelling the first 6 events in the story in order. What did the mouse want first? Use gestures to practice retelling several times until everyone has the order.�
In small groups of 2-4 students: Each student gets 1-2 items to place on the grid, students take turns programming their Code & Go Mouse to get from one item to the next, in the order of events in the story.�
Practice once or twice as needed, as a group to review all of the coding buttons and their functions.�
Resources are in the printables

Let's code to retell the story!

9 of 17

We can design our own challenge mazes!

Now students are ready to design their own challenges mazes!

The Code & Go Activity Set has coding maze task cards. After students have worked their way through the cards they are ready to build their own mazes!�
Drawings will improve as the year progress. Students can draw challenges using read alouds, make up their own stories, or follow the layout of the task cards provided in the activity set.

We can design our own challenge mazes like the ones we have seen in our Activity Set! Let's make our own!

10 of 17

Designing Our Own Challenge Mazes!

Model picking one square to draw in your mouse with a pencil, another square for the cheese, and then thoughtfully adding obstacles or barriers that your mouse will have to move around to get to the cheese!

Start with requiring at least 2 turns in the design.

Students should color their design and share the coding required for the mouse to get to the cheese in the fewest moves with a partner, or in a small group.

11 of 17

Designing Our Own Challenge Mazes!

What do you notice about these challenge designs? Do these mazes have a solution?

How can they be improved?

Students should test their designs and improve as necessary.

Students may also need a maximum number of turns or moves, if the designs get super challenging.

Students can code to solve each other's mazes as time permits, or a class collection of mazes can be laminated and published for future use!

Sharing, peer feedback, testing and redesigning can happen over several sessions.

12 of 17

Student Examples

13 of 17

Assessment

Observation of challenge mazes

Table group collaboration

Student Science Notebooks

Student planning and reflections

14 of 17

Differentiation

Some students may require extra help with the language and vocabulary, or with the basic operations of the Code & Go Mice�

Small group help as needed, partners might be reassigned, so students can assist each other.

Earlier in the year, some students may need many opportunities to practice getting from point A to point B in a straight line before they are ready for turns.

Remediation

Extension/Enrichment

Students that grasp concepts easily may be ready to develop more complicated mazes sooner than others.

Students ready to record their work, might use iPads to, photograph, video record, or email designs to family.

Advanced students could use any type of small blocks to build obstacles and design their own challenges.

1 of 17

2 of 17