Good Morning Machine

• Review the Good Morning Machine lesson in the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ App.
• If necessary, pre-teach these related vocabulary words: challenge, create, innovate, program, test, and upgrade.
• Consider the abilities and backgrounds of all your students. Differentiate the lesson to make it accessible to everyone. See the Differentiation section below for suggestions.
• If time allows, plan and facilitate the language arts extension. See the Extension section below for more information.

• Facilitate a quick discussion about the process of identifying the steps needed to solve a problem.
  • Talk with your students about what they'd do if they had to reach something that was too high.
  • Ask questions, like: What would you do first? What would happen after that?
• Introduce your students to the story’s main characters and the first challenge: starting the waving machine for Leo.
• Distribute a brick set and a device to each group.

• Have your students use the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ App to guide them through their first challenge:
  • Create and test the program that starts the waving machine.
• Have your students iterate and test their models to complete the next two challenges in the app:
  • Upgrade the program for the waving machine.
  • Design your own waving machine.
• You can find coding and building support in the Tips section below.

• Gather your students together to reflect on their completed challenges.
• Ask questions, like: What was Leo’s problem? How did you help solve it? How did you improve Leo’s waving machine?

• Prompt your students to discuss and reflect on ways of defining and understanding a problem.
• Ask questions, like: Why is it important to understand what the problem is? What types of questions should you ask to find out more about the problem?
• Have your students clean up their workstations.

• Ask guiding questions to encourage your students to “think aloud” and explain their thought processes and reasoning in the decisions they've made while building and programming.

Observation Checklist

• Measure your students’ proficiency in defining and understanding the given problem.
• Create a scale that matches your needs. For example:
  1. Needs additional support
  2. Can work independently
  3. Can teach others

Self-Assessment

• Have each student choose the brick that they feel best represents their performance.
  • Yellow: I think I can define and understand the problem.
  • Blue: I can define and understand the problem.
  • Green: I can define and understand the problem, and I can help a friend do it too.

Peer-Feedback

• In their small groups, have your students discuss their experiences working together.
• Encourage them to use statements like these:
  • I liked it when you…
  • I'd like to hear more about how you…

Coding Tip

• After your students complete their first challenge, they'll be provided with three Inspiration Coding Blocks to help them modify their programs.
• The Inspiration Coding Blocks are intended to spark their imaginations as they experiment to find their own solutions.

Model Tip

• After your students complete their second challenge, they’ll be provided with three Inspiration Images and an open-ended prompt for improving their models.
• The Inspiration Images are to help spark their imaginations as they experiment and personalize their models.

There aren't any building instructions for this challenge.

Simplify this lesson by:

• Selecting one Inspiration Image to help your students personalize their models
• Experimenting with either the coding or the building

Increase the difficulty by:

• Exploring new and different coding blocks in the program
• Including another motor or sensor in the waving machine's design

• Have your students conduct a short research project about how people from different cultures greet each other in the morning.

If facilitated, this will extend beyond the 45-minute lesson.

Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.7