Cain's Arcade Cardboard Challenge-Holiday Edition

It's been a busy final week in room 123!  In addition to the many holiday events and our live chat with our Classroom Champions mentors (which I will blog about over the break) we had one particularly inspiring lesson...

On Thursday Anna brought in her cardboard arcade game to share with the class:

The cardboard arcade game was inspired by Caine, a young man from Los Angeles who built a cardboard arcade in his dad's auto supply shop.  This video tells his story:

We decided as a class that it would be fun to try to make our own cardboard arcade games if we had free time over the holidays.  This is an optional project-we understand that the break is a very busy time for families.  We will spend some time on Monday, January 5th (our first day back together) sharing our games.

This project helps students to develop creativity, problem solving, and artistic/presentation skills (to name a few).  These are the 21st century skills that are becoming essential in the new job market that is rapidly changing with automation and outsourcing.  By the time our class graduates and enters the work force, the skills students will need to get a high paying job will be much more than what we can teach from a textbook or worksheet.  Ms. Grewal Glups and I hope to ignite a passion for curiosity and inquiry this year-and this project is a great opportunity to explore these big ideas.

For more thoughts on innovation and 21st Century competencies, Sir Ken Robinson is a great place to start.  He has several TedTalks and a very cool RSA Animate if you google him and click on "videos".  He has a bit of a cameo appearance at 4:40 in this Caine video:

 I'm looking forward to students "thinking outside the box" (if you will forgive the pun...) and sharing what they designed when we return after the break...and hopefully it will give mom and dad some quiet time over the break while the kids are working on their projects too :)

Wishing everyone a restful, creative holiday!

Diana