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Aspire Robotics

Easy Resources for Teaching Coding

5/23/2017

Coding (writing programs for computers) is really trendy now in schools, and I think it's a great skill for students with autism to learn. Even if they don't become a computer programmer in the future, coding teaches kids problem solving and thinking skills. Many of my students also really enjoy it, so it's a great recreational/leisure skill.

Don't be afraid of teaching coding to your children or students if you don't have a computer science background. I'll share a few resources below that make coding easy and fun to teach. I think you and your students or children will love it!

Resource 1: Code.org

This website has great free online lessons that make it really simple to teach and learn. The lessons have short levels that seem like games, featuring popular characters such as the "Angry Birds." The classes walk you through programming step-by-step so that you can even learn alongside your students.

You can find their free online lessons here. Scroll down to where it says, "Curriculum Overview" and you'll find the links to the different lessons. They are arranged in order of difficulty, so it's easy to use. You don't have to log in or make an account, but you can make an account so your students can save their progress.

Resource 2: Scratch

Scratch is a program that you can use to create simple games and animations using coding. It has some tutorials built into the program, but it is not as "step-by-step" as Code.org or Hour of Code. When I use Scratch with my students, I use a book of activities that tells you step-by-step how to use Scratch to make different projects. Scratch is available free from MIT at https://scratch.mit.edu/

Here are some examples of books about Scratch:

Resource 3: Hour of Code

Hour of Code is a website that has lots of one-hour tutorials for coding. There are tutorials for all different ages, and the tutorials have fun themes with popular characters such as Star Wars, Anna and Elsa (from "Frozen"), and Minecraft. I think they are all free to use.

Here's the website: https://hourofcode.com/us/learn

Free Math, Writing, and Matching Activities with a Robot Theme

5/5/2017

We're all hoping "BattleBots" comes back this summer for another season on ABC, but if you're like us and still love watching the battles on previous seasons, your kids might like some of these free printable activities that incorporate some of the robots from the show.

Get the activities here: http://www.positivelyautism.com/downloads/RobotBattleActivities.pdf

Electricity Safety Activities

1/20/2017

I made this set of activities for some of my students as part of a unit on electricity. These activities teach some basic electricity safety rules for common situations (such as how to safely unplug something). I like to combine these activities with live modeling and supervised practice of the guidelines contained in the activities.

The "Electricity Safety" Activities are on sale at a discounted price through the end of January.

Below, you'll find links to the other activities I've made about electricity. I completely believe that science education is important for all students, including students with autism. I plan to make more science activities in the coming months. Follow Aspire Robotics on Facebook and Twitter, and you'll be notified when I add new activities.

A Naturalistic Way to Do ABA "Block Imitation" With Kids' Circuit Building Kits

12/18/2016

If your children or students are working on "block imitation" in an ABA program, here's a free extension activity you can use to help generalize the imitation skills in a fun way.

Forces and Motion Review Game

11/8/2016

I really like this forces and motion game. The question cards in the game use simple language and pictures on each card. Plus, it's got a cool train theme! Win-win. It's a free download from Meaghan Martin on TeachersPayTeachers.

Rubric for Writing a Science Paragraph

8/30/2016

Rubrics can be a helpful tool to help students understand your expectations for assignments, making it exactly clear what you need them to do. All students benefit, but it is especially helpful for students with autism to have your expectations clearly stated. This rubric can be useful for when your students are writing about science topics. This is a free download from Kelsey Sabo at TeachersPayTeachers.

Kids Learn to Solder!

8/13/2016

My son and I took a free soldering class at our local makerspace, and he did a great job!

It was actually not as difficult as you might think. As long as your child/students understand not to touch the soldering iron itself, they could probably try out some soldering projects. Another consideration would be their fine motor skill ability. My son has some difficulty with writing, but he was able to manage the soldering iron very well. It was great for him to find something he could be very successful with.

Below, I'm going to link to an intro video about soldering that you could watch if you're interested in trying soldering with your kids.

Also, I'll link to some soldering projects and kits.

Soldering Kits and Projects

Just as a standard disclaimer, make sure your kids have adult supervision at all times when using these projects/kits and make sure you follow all of the safety instructions that come with the projects/kits. I don't necessarily endorse any of these kits, so make sure you research them before you buy them for your kids.

That "Combat Robots Tutorial" Book They Were Reading on BattleBots a Couple Weeks Ago? It's a Real Book!

7/17/2016

I'm pretty sure this is the book they were talking about on Battlebots that was written by the team behind Minotaur.

I had no idea that there were so many books on combat robotics. So cool; I'll have to add these to my summer reading.

Free Science Sentence Starters to Help Students Write About Science

7/9/2016

This great freebie has some visual supports for how to write sentences about a science experiment or for a report. They are sentence templates that students can fill in the blanks with the results of their experiment or research. A great support tool for students who have some difficulty with writing sentences or getting their ideas from their mind to paper. It is made by Stephanie Dee on Teachers Pay Teachers. You can click the picture above to download the sentence starters.

New Electronics and Circuits Printable Activities

7/8/2016

I made this set of activities based on working with my students. Kids with autism can absolutely master these concepts! This activity kit is for students who have some verbal skills, but I'm working on one for non-verbal students that could easily be used in schools or in ABA programs.

Introduce basic concepts about electricity and circuits with this printable, hands-on activity set. Includes background info for teachers, so you can just print the pages and start the lessons with almost no prep! You can also just show the pages on a tablet, computer or phone screen. Each page has everything on it that you need to say and do with your student.

To maximize your use of this unit, you will want to get an inexpensive circuits kit for kids (like the one pictured below) for lesson 5, where you do some hands-on building. I got this kit for around $20 from Amazon.com, and I have been using it for many months! Best $20 I have ever spent in my teaching career.

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