Learning objective
- To create a program
National curriculum
Pupils should be taught to:
- Create and debug simple programs
Success criteria
- I know I should not pick up the Bee-Bot
- I know how to use programming to give the Bee-Bot clear instructions
- I can debug my instructions if they go wrong by identifying and correcting the mistake
Cross-curricular links
English
Pupils should be taught to:
- develop pleasure in reading, motivation to read, vocabulary and understanding by: becoming very familiar with key stories, fairy stories and traditional tales, retelling them and considering their particular characteristics
Before the lesson
Note
This lesson uses Bee-Bots. The lesson has been designed using one Bee-Bot between two children. You may need to adapt the lesson to the number of Bee-Bots available.
Watch
- Teacher video: Three Little Pigs
Have ready
- Presentation: Three Little Pigs (see Attention grabber and Main event)
- Check the Bee-Bots are charged/have batteries
- Activity: Three Little Pigs Bee-Bot mat (see Classroom resources) – the same number as the number of Bee-Bots you are using, printed on A3
Attention grabber
Display the Presentation: Three Little Pigs.
Presentation: Three Little Pigs
Show on your interactive whiteboard
Display slide 3 of the Presentation: Three Little Pigs. Discuss the story of the ‘Three Little Pigs’. Ask the key questions.
Explain that Bee-Bots like stories and they are going to help us to retell the story of the ‘Three Little Pigs’.
This activity enables children to practise their ability to program instructions into their Bee-Bot.
Key questions
- Who knows the story of the ‘Three little pigs’?
- What happens in the story?
Main event
Show slide 4 of the Presentation: Three Little Pigs. Get the children into pairs, give each pair a Bee-Bot and a copy of the Activity: Three Little Pigs Bee-Bot mat.
Do a few warm-up exercises, for example:
- ‘Can Partner One get the Bee-Bot to the wolf?’
- ‘Can Partner Two get Bee-Bot to the blowing picture?’
- Model fixing mistakes and learning from them, rather than worrying about them.
Explain that you are now going to read the story of the ‘Three Little Pigs’. Instruct the children that when one of the pictures from the Activity: Three Little Pigs Bee-Bot mat is mentioned in the story, one child in each pair should program their Bee-Bot to move to that character (from the Bee-Bot’s last position).
- Partner one: moves the Bee-Bot to the red spaces in the story.
- Partner two: moves the Bee-Bot to the blue spaces in the story.
Read through the story, using the prompts as necessary. Pause reading while the children program the Bee-Bots.
Display slide 5. Encourage co-operation, but emphasise the rule: ‘no lifting the Bee-Bot!’. Encourage the children to think carefully about completing the challenge, by inputting more than one instruction at a time.
As this is the final week in this topic, now is a good time for observational assessment:
- Take note of who takes several steps to reach their target.
- Who can get to their target straight away?
- Who panics when they make a mistake?
- Who can fix a mistake?
Key questions
- Who can get to the target straight away?
- Who panics when they make a mistake and who can fix it?
Differentiation
Pupils needing extra support: Take the route one square at a time.
Pupils working at greater depth: Can they explain the shortest route? What about the longest route possible?
Wrapping up
At the end of the story, do some quickfire challenges to see how familiar the children are with the instructions they give. Judge how ‘quick fire’ to make these challenges by how confident your class is at this point.
Assessing pupils' progress and understanding
Pupils with secure understanding indicated by: Programming the Bee-Bot to reach the goal as specified in the story. Identifying and correcting mistakes when they go wrong.
Pupils working at greater depth indicated by: An awareness of route efficiency. Suggesting alternative routes.
Vocabulary
Bee-Bot
Program
Debug
Mistake
Programming
Code
Inputting