It is that time Vexperts! What are some cool 123 activities that you used to start the school year. Our students are coming in with more experience and I want to get them pumped up for the school year? @Aimee_DeFoe @Audra_Selkowitz @Anna_Blake @Tina_Dietrich
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There are so many things you could do! What a great question @Desiree_White-Price 
Before diving right into activities, here are a few things I always found it helpful to keep in mind, particularly as youâre planning for kids with some experience.
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Allow time and space for review - No matter what experience kidsâ had with 123 (or anything for that matter) in the previous year, things that you (as the teacher) feel are important may not be top of mind for them as they return. I used to play âgamesâ all the time at the start of the year to help me see where any disconnects were, and what kidsâ remembered/knew, and what I wanted them to be familiar with.
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Establish your own routines and practice, practice, practice - Even if your kidsâ had 123âs in their previous classrooms, chances are, whatever routines they had are going to be different from how you want them to be used, put away, maintained, etc. So re-establish those routines as if they have no experience, and then it sets the stage for future success in your room.
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Go Slow to Go Fast - thatâs an @Aimee_DeFoe adage, that never failed me, particularly at the start of the school year. Your kids are going to be super excited to get back to their robots, and thatâs great! But itâs always easier to speed up activity/instruction than slow it down - so even if you think an activity might be âtoo easyâ, do it anyway. Your kids will feel successful, youâll get a good baseline of where they are, and you can always go faster.
So as for activities - there are some simple ones that can be themed for the start of the year to make them feel âspecialâ.
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For instance, the Pathfinder Activity is a classic, but instead of just a simple path, add things to the Field to represent different areas of the school that students will go to throughout the week. Like your classroom, their old classroom, the gym, the art room, the library, etc. This can give you a good way to practice basic 123 sequencing/decomposition to see where kids are, while also getting to know your class schedule. Like, âOn Wednesdays we have Library, code your robot to drive from our classroom to the Library.â
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You could do some âget to know youâ exercises using the Act Coder cards also, for a fun way for students to learn about each other. You could do this sort of like 4 Corners (for an indoor recess spin @Tina_Dietrich ) - where there are areas of the classroom for âAct happyâ, âAct sad,â or âAct crazyâ, and for each item you read, students move to align with the Coder card that matches how that activity makes them feel. Or, you could have students code their robots in response to each item. You could use things they might have done over summer vacation, things that happen in school, favorite foods, itâs an easy activity with the setup happening in your head! Does the thought of eating brussels sprouts make you feel happy, sad, or crazy? What about the Barbie movie? What about going to the beach? or on an airplane? Or to gym class?
Itâs great to give a couple students a chance to share why they feel the way they do as well, for each item, to acknowledge that we all experience things differently and thatâs ok.
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@Desiree_White-Price Our students thrive on structure and routineâŠso maybe even putting your class schedule on the field to code the order of their day. Period 1 - Reading; Period - 2 Math; Bathroom Break, etc. or Monday - Gym; Tuesday - Art, etc. This could help them learn the schedule as well.
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@Audra_Selkowitz I love these ideas! I never would have thought about this. I also love the representation of the building. I am going to write this up. This will be great for the kindergarten and 1st grade students who are new to the different buildings. I love posting and getting great ideas!
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