All resources in Avon Grove School District

Frida Kahlo, Frieda and Diego Rivera

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Frida Kahlo, Frieda and Diego Rivera​, 1931, oil on canvas, 39-3/8 x 31 inches or 100.01 x 78.74 cm (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. Painted in San Francisco during the artist's first trip outside of Mexico. She accompanied her husband Diego Rivera who was painting in the United States and would, at the end of the year, be the subject of a retrospecive at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. The banderole carried by the bird above the artist states: Here you see us, me, Frieda Kahlo​, with my beloved husband Diego Rivera, I painted these portraits in the beautiful city of San Francisco, California, for our friend Mr. Albert Bender, and it was the month of April of the year 1931. Note: Kahlo changed her German name, Frieda, to Frida. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Material Type: Lesson

Author: SmartHistory

Comprehension Activities

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FreeReading is an open source instructional program that helps educators teach early literacy. Because it is open source, it represents the collective wisdom of a wide community of teachers and researchers. FreeReading contains Comprehension Activities, a page of activities to address important comprehension skills and strategies.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan, Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Author: Holt Laurence et al

Build Your Own Arduino Light Sculpture! Part 1

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Students create projects that introduce them to Arduino—a small device that can be easily programmed to control and monitor a variety of external devices like LEDs and sensors. First they learn a few simple programming structures and commands to blink LEDs. Then they are given three challenges—to modify an LED blinking rate until it cannot be seen, to replicate a heartbeat pattern and to send Morse code messages. This activity prepares students to create more involved multiple-LED patterns in the Part 2 companion activity.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Brian Huang

Build Your Own Arduino Light Sculpture! Part 2

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In the companion activity, students experimented with Arduino programming to blink a single LED. During this activity, students build on that experience as they learn about breadboards and how to hook up multiple LEDs and control them individually so that they can complete a variety of challenges to create fun patterns! To conclude, students apply the knowledge they have gained to create LED-based light sculptures.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Brian Huang

Snazzy Sneakers

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For this maker challenge, students decide on specific design requirements (such as good traction or deep cushioning), sketch their plans, and then use a variety of materials to build prototype shoes that meet the design criteria. The bottoms (soles) of sneakers provide support, cushioning, flexibility and traction as makes sense for the sport or activity. In addition, some sneakers are intended to be fashionable with cool colors, materials or added height. Sneakers are engineered products that use a mix of materials to create highly functional, useful shoes.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Adding Helpful Carrier Devices to Crutches

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People using crutches have their hands occupied, which makes it difficult to carry books and other items they want to have handy. Student teams are challenged to design assistive devices that modify crutches to help people carry things such as books and school supplies. Given a list of constraints, including a device weight limit and minimum load capacity, groups brainstorm ideas and then make detailed plans for their best solutions. They create prototypes and then test for functionality by loading them and using them, making improvements with each iteration. At a concluding design expo, teams present their concepts and demonstrate their final prototype devices.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

The Lunch-Bot

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Students are challenged to design and program Arduino-controlled robots that behave like simple versions of the automated guided vehicles engineers design for real-world applications. Using Arduino microcontroller boards, infrared (IR) sensors, servomotors, attachable wheels and plastic containers (for the robot frame), they make "Lunch-Bots." Teams program the robots to meet the project constraints—to follow a line of reflective tape, make turns and stop at a designated spot to deliver a package, such as a sandwich or pizza slice. They read and interpret analog voltages from IR sensors, compare how infrared reflects differently off different materials, and write Arduino programs that use IR sensor inputs to control the servomotors. Through the process, students experience the entire engineering design process. Pre/post-quizzes and coding help documents are provided.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Mark Supal

Games to Practice Multiplication Facts

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Students must think about the factors of each number as they play this game. Students quickly learn the value of selecting prime numbers as a strategy. The beauty of the game design is that students will review the factors of many numbers and mentally add the sum of these factors together in search of the "best move."

Material Type: Game

Author: Terry Kawas