21st Century Learning & Play

Transferred from former blog MsKallDay

Saturday, October 13, 2012

What a warm welcome Jennifer and I received at the Toy Library Association’s Play Conference.  Only a few years ago we would have been run out on a rail for recommending technology for early learners.  How times change!  Thank you for joining us for our presentation.  Below, you’ll find the slides, and a list of the apps featured with instructions for accessing Children’s Technology Review through the Mas Ultra database, available to you free through Cuyahoga County Public Library or a library near you. 

Slides
App List

Catch me at PLA 2012

Copied from former blog MsKallDay

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Heading to Philadelphia in March for PLA2012?  I’ll be presenting Thursday, March 15th from 4:15-5:15pm.  Learn how to use robotics in a library setting to help students build STEM and literacy skills, and have a lot of fun while doing it.

Robot Adventure Camps

copied from former blog MsKallDay

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Putting the finishing touches tonight on the 3 new robotix camp curriculums I’ll be teaching staff tomorrow.

In Wimpy Robot camp, based on Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, students have 4 days to program their Mindstorm robots to avoid the cheese touch, create a “hall of screams”, and learn to lift weights.

For the tweens, we’ve got Camp HalfBot based on the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan, and for teens, it’s MockingBot Camp, where the robots go into the arena.  May the odds be ever in their favor…

SmashCon11: The Final Brawl

Copied from former Blog MsKAllDay

Friday, November 18, 2011

On National Gaming Day, Nov 12, 2011, 34 Branch Champions from throughout Cuyahoga County met to battle for first place in Cuyahoga County Public Library’s first ever system-wide gaming tournament. Want to get teen guys and their dads in the library?  This is the way to do it! http://youtu.be/GMFmQFwWIiY 

Parents, Grandparents, friends and entourages cheered on the champions. Crammed into the North Olmsted branch auditorium with the crowds were 4 playoff stations, and a main stage practice/ free play area. 

Wimpy Robot Camp

Copied from former blog MsKallDay

Thursday, September 15, 2011


Four days of building and programming wrapped up today at Warrensville Heights branch, and begins anew at Maple Heights Branch on Monday. I designed the challenges and board props to correlate with plot points in Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  After constructing their robots from scratch, Students programmed their bots to avoid the cheese, lift a “barbell”, speak in complete sentences, and more.  We were a little concerned early in the week that the curriculum plan might be too advanced as construction of the robots took longer than we planned, but once we got to programming, the students ate it all up!…well, not the cheese…obviously.