"GO" Bags Activity for the Beginning of the School Year

Here’s a quick and easy get-to-know-you activity with VEX GO. This activity could be used during the first weeks of school, provided your students have a basic idea of how to connect GO pieces.

All you need is VEX GO Kits and a paper lunch bag for this idea.

Pair students up, and give each pair a bag with about 15 Pieces from the GO Kit. Give them a variety of pieces, including connectors, and also add in a few pins and standoffs. Challenge each pair to talk and come up with one thing they have in common that they can collaborate to build with their pieces. For example, if two students both like to play piano, they can do their best to build a keyboard, or a music note, with their pieces.

When everyone is finished building, each pair should find another pair and share what they built, and why.

This is a great way to get students to practice a little free building while they find out what they have in common with their classmates! You can remind students that their creation definitely does not have to be a perfect representation!

Have fun trying this activity out, and if you have any other fun beginning of the year GO activities, please share!

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I really like this activity! I participated in a Computer Science professional development course this past week, and was interested in finding more “unplugged” activities!

@Tina_Dietrich @Desiree_White-Price

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@Aimee_DeFoe That is a great idea! Students love getting to know their new classmates. I am going to plan on allowing my first grade students to use the emotions on the 123 robot to share how they were felling on the first day of school.

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That’s a splendid idea, @Desiree_White-Price ! Let us know how they like it.

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@Aimee_DeFoe I love this one! I’m going to share this with my teachers for the first week of school. It’s a great way to get to know your new classmates.

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