Written by Brooke Brown, Teach Outside the Box
Have you ever considered using robots in your literacy centers, math centers, or science and social studies lessons?
Robots are an engaging learning tool that allow students to interact with code and explore the foundations of programming, but they aren’t limited to STEM classes and Makerspaces.
Loti-Bot’s unique features and capabilities make it easy to integrate robotics across the entire curriculum!
Here are just a few of the benefits of integrating robots into literacy, math, and beyond:
Loti-Bot Interactive Mats
TTS has several curriculum-specific mats that are perfect for Loti-Bot (and Bee-Bot too!) and they are ideal for elementary programmers.
This fairy tale mat is perfect for sequencing story events or retelling fairy tales and folk tales. After reading a story such as The Three Little Pigs, students can program Loti-Bot to move to the events of the story in order (i.e, Straw House – Wolf – Stick House – Wolf – Brick House – Wolf).
The trees mat is perfect for helping students identify trees and plant parts. Teachers can program index cards with the names of each tree, seed, or leaf. Students can then flip over a card and program Loti-Bot to the matching picture.
The international cities and landmarks mat is perfect for upper grades and middle school students, providing an engaging way for students to practice identifying notable landmarks and flags around the world. Teachers can program cards with the names of the landmark names and cities, and students can flip over cards to program Loti-Bot to the matching location on the mat.
Language Arts Integration
There are so many creative ways to incorporate Robotics into your language arts instruction! The following robot station ideas are perfect for literacy centers and small groups, and are compatible with all programmable robots, including Loti-Bot and Bee-Bot!
For “Alphabet Match”, students flip over an animal card, then program their robot the matching initial sound.
In the “Rhyme Time” station, students flip over a card and program the robot to the matching rhyming word..
The “Color Match” station is perfect to help young learners identify color words. They simply flip over a word card and program Loti-Bot to the matching color of crayon.
For “Contraction Action”, students flip over a card with two words, then program the robot to the matching contraction.
Students can even use robots to practice comprehension! For this “Story Square” station, students can retell the story elements for any fictional story by programming Loti-Bot to each card and sharing the story element aloud.
Math Integration
One of my favorite features of Loti-Bot is the highly accurate drawing capabilities. This makes it perfect for math enrichment lessons that are specific to geometry. Students can use protractors and Loti-Bot to draw and measure a variety of polygons and angles.
If you’re looking for your kids’ new favorite math center, just add robots! For the “Number Match” Station, students flip over a picture of a ten or twenty frame, then program Loti-Bot to the matching number.
For “Find the Sum”, students use dominoes or dice. They draw a domino out of a bin, add up the dots, then program Loti-Bot to the matching sum. You can also use this mat for students to find the difference between the dots!
Mini cup towers are a fun and simple way to incorporate a variety of math and language arts skills with robotics. For the “Coin Crash” station, students program Loti-Bot to crash through the cups, then count the total amount of coin cups that fall over.
Here are a few more cross-curricular ways that you can incorporate “bowling” with robots, either with mini cups or small bowling pins!
Thank you to Brooke Brown, Teach Outside the Box for writing this blog on Loti-Bot. Brooke Brown specialises in all things Literacy and STEM, you can follow her work here at https://teachoutsidethebox.com/.
