Skip to main content
View Sidebar
The Power of Story
Critical Pedagogy 4th Ed.
Vision of Vygotsky eBook
Teaching Passionately
Critical Pedagogy
Click on any book icon to see Table of Contents and/or to purchase a copy.
Making with Ms. Dobras on YouTube: PART ONE

Making with Ms. Dobras on YouTube: PART ONE

April 22, 2020

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

Meet my friend, Ms. Dobras, who has taught in San Francisco, and is now teaching Making to 250 K-4th grade students in Oakland.  I’m loving Ms. Dobras’s classroom rules.  To be honest, Ms. Dobras is that teacher we all want for our kids and grands.

Ms. Dobras's Rules

I know so many teachers and families, who are teaching online or from home, and all are trying to engage students with learning new ideas. Ms. Dobras decided she would share on YouTube, as it forced her to learn new information, also. This is the first of a three-part series on Making with Ms. Dobras.  In this first post, we will share a few fun examples of how you can be a maker, too.  Second, I’ll post a bit of information on making or makerspaces.  And, finally, I’ll tell you more about Ms. Dobras.

Ms. Dobras is a Maker teacher (more to come on what this means), but for now, enjoy a few examples.

Title on YouTube:
Making with Ms. Dobras. Making Project: 3D sculptures (with TP rolls)
April 11, 2020, 10 minute video
Mindful Moments (Ms. Dobras begins her lesson with a mindful moment.)
You will need empty toilet paper rolls or empty paper towel rolls; glue, paper clips, scissors or tape.
 

Title on YouTube:

Making with Ms. Dobras. Making Project #2: Making Tetrahedrons.

April 17, 2020, 9 minutes

A new guest: Sunny (a little ray of sunshine).  You will see her on the YouTube video.

Sunny the dog

What is a tetrahedron? 4 triangles which are put together to create one unit.  Think of a pyramid.
You might want to create a triangle pattern, as seen below.  Or, you can grab one online.
Tetrahedron
 
What is a Sierpinski’s pyramid?  When you put tetrahedrons together, you get a Sierpinski’s pyramid.  I have not heard that word since my geometry class (circa 1961) in Mobridge High school, with a fabulous teacher, Don Paulson. I believe that Sierpinski was also mentioned in my Ph. D. statistics class, but I have no idea why.
 
Sierpinski's pyramid(permission granted by Solkoll)
 
Sierpinski's pyramid by 1st GradersMs. Dobras’s first grade students created this Sierpinski’s pyramid.  If you want to try this, there are many, many examples and templates available on the web.  Think Pinterest. 
 
Ms. Dobras teaches 3rd grade, and I am humbled by what these students understand.  For example, these 3rd grade students know the names of the following shapes.
3D Gometric ShapesAll of this conversation with Ms. Dobras about tetrahedrons, Sierpinski’s pyramid, hexahedrons, octahedrons, dodecahedrons, and iconsahedrons made me mutter: Can fractals be far behind?  This caused Ms. Dobras to wax eloquently about her students and their understandings of fractals.
Fractals?Geometric shapes by 3rd Graders
What is a fractal and what does it have to do with Sierpinski’s pyramid?
 
The next issue of WinkWorld will provide more resources and generic understandings about makerspaces.  The following WinkWorld will have more information about how Ms. Dobras does Making.
 
Feel free to Subscribe to Making with Ms. Dobras near the bottom right of each her YouTube posts.

 

 

 

 

Pinterest (opens in new window)
Google+ (opens in new window)
Twitter (opens in new window)
Facebook (opens in new window)

2 Comments

Leave a reply