The Learning Commons continues to be a favourite spot with Mazo staff and students. It is a busy place where exploration, creativity, collaboration and perseverance abound! Here is but a glimpse into some of the activities that take place within the space, on a daily basis…

Students continue to congregate around the LEGO wall completing challenges independently, and in small groups.

The Mazo First LEGO League and Wonder League teams have been busy building, planning and coding their robots in preparation for a series of upcoming competitions. They are really enjoying the new coding mats, most notably their colour. Students requested that these be green as they turn into chroma keys (green screens). Dash and Dot can literally go anywhere!

The light table has been a bloom thanks to glass “rocks” and overhead transparency flowers. The garden changes each and every day and no two flowers are ever alike!

Similar colours and unique products can also be found on the Geoboards. Students have been creating patterns and attempting to reproduce various shapes and figures from a series of challenge cards (from birthday cakes to rainbows…)

Students are starting to tinker with the KEVA Planks. They are discovering that the sky is the limit as they have been able to build unbelievable ball track structures using the simple KEVA stacking plank system. From rams to funnels and chutes… students are gaining an increased understanding of proportion and balance: basic principles of physics and engineering. It’s all about construction without the use of connectors, nor glue!

The OSMO kits are still a popular choice; however, this year, students are working on further developing their coding skills thanks to new additions like Coding Awbie and Coding Jam.

Students continue to push their electrical skills as they build with Mazo’s Snap Circuit sets. It’s not unusual to hear various radio stations, popular MIDI songs like “Happy Birthday” or even a Learning Commons alarm, or two.