LEGO Glasses Get to Know You

This year, on the first day of school, I did something that I have never done before.  We broke out some glasses equipped with LEGO studs and the bricks and created representations of ourselves to introduce each other in our class.

How?  Well, here is the basic run down.

This summer, I went to the Get Your Teach On conference in San Diego.  While there, Hope King showed us this STEM unit that she does in her classroom.  The first activity was a get to know you type thing and I instantly fell in love.  I just couldn't get the idea out of my brain.  So I broke down and ordered these glasses here. (my affiliate link)

On the first day of school, I told the kids that we were going to introduce ourselves to each other but first we needed to build representations of our personalities.  Each child got a pair of glasses and LEGOs (that I raided from my own children's stash).  They used the LEGOs to create things that might mean something to them.  For example, on my glasses, I put a tall pink LEGO to represent my oldest daughter with a medium sized blue next to it and a smaller blue for my two sons.  I also added a red and green piece to symbolize an apple since teachers are synonymous with apples.  Once I modeled a few, the kids got to work.

As they were working, I was walking around asking them to explain some of their choices to me.  It was an awesome way for me to get to know the kids.  I heard about their favorite foods, details about their families, where they went on vacation, and even some made up stories that they wish happened to them. It was a wonderful way for me to begin building a connection to my students right off the bat.

Once the glasses were complete, I took a picture of them wearing the glasses. They then diagramed their drawings using a template I created (and you can find here.)  I had them dismantle the glasses and put everything away.  These glasses were too expensive for them to keep ;)  I will find another use for them later on in the year.  

The next day, the students used these drawings to write a paragraph explaining the glasses.  Everything they diagramed was to be explained in the paragraph.  This became their first writing sample and a wonderful assessment of their basic writing skills.   Did they indent?  How was the spelling?  Were the sentences simple or elaborated?  It gave me a baseline with which to start instruction.

Finally, I put the pics that I took of them on a shared Google Slide and each of them logged onto the computer to type their paragraph.  This, again, served as a jumping off point for me to see the tech skills they came in with.  Could they get online?  Did they know about text boxes?  Did they panic when something went "wrong"?  

And that is it.  Total, with the writing and all, this took about three sessions in class.  Can you say BEST TEACHER EVER???  ;)   Well, maybe not, but the kids did love it, got to be creative, and they wanted to come back the next day.  What else can we ask for?  

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