MLK Elementary participates in Lego Robotics Park Event

I'm delighted to feature a sunny side report from Kim Rohm, a parent of two students at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School (which is where my children also attend school). With her fifth grade daughter and other King students, Kim attended the Lego Robotics Park event that took place on Saturday, April 2 to support King's Lego Robotics Club, an afterschool program led by fifth grade teacher David Baxter. Here's her report:

It was a fantastic event organized by the Rhode Island School of the Future (celebrating its 20th anniversary). In the program for the day, RISF states that they are a “RI non-profit dedicated to helping schools improve their 'Lifelong' learning skills in their students and support teachers in this endeavor.  The RISF provides opportunities for students to act like real writers, real scientists, real mathematicians, real designers and to develop technological fluency through involvement in robotic design activities.” The event was titled Beautifully Organized Designed Systems.

We believe that MLK (which on one document was referred to as MLK Academy which we all thought was hilarious) was the only PPSD school. We held our own among the following local schools/teams: Barrington Middle School, Riverside Middle School, Sowams Elementary and Hampden Meadows, Hyper Green Oreos (the name of a team, not a school!), Eldredge Elementary, Martin Middle School, Barrington Christian Academy, YMCA at JDMS, Newport Community, Our Lady of Mercy, Mount Hope High, St. Mary’s Bayview, All Saints, Guest Family Homeschool, E.T. Wyman, Anna M. McCabe School, and the French American School.

Events included Chain Reaction Machine, Feeding Frenzy Pit, Animal Demonstrations, Interactive Robot Demonstrations and a Robotics Parade. The MLK Lego Team entered the parade and their “Bodies in Motion” float featured a robot that MLK Lego Team member/5th grader Roumel programmed to follow a black line on the floor of the gym. Roumel's robot pulled a float that had its own motor that made a platform of Lego people spin. The “people” were all doing a physical activity – soccer, running, walking, etc. It was pretty cool. Some of the floats, animals and other Lego displays clearly took months to put together. Super great day!