FabMaker Project Idea: Gourd-geous Designs for the Table

Often a magazine cover inspires a “what if” moment. What if I bought that pair of shoes? What if I made that recipe for lunch? What if I took that cruise? What if I used FabMaker Studio to create paper gourds for Thanksgiving? A recent edition of “Better Homes & Gardens” sparked that last one and became a #FabMakerChallenge.

The Challenge: In FabMaker Studio, use the Shapes, Edit points, Weld, Lines, and the Cut, Fold, Tab tool to design a fall harvest. For inspiration, you can follow the steps below to create and assemble your designs.

Before you begin, encourage your students to look at different gourds. Ask: What shapes are used to make that gourd? Consider the shapes in FabMaker Studio, what shapes can you combine using the Weld tool to make the final project?

Still not sure where to start? Check out the FabMaker Studio Fall Foods Ready-Made Project found in 2D Stuff.

What’s Next? Share what your students made on social media, tag @fableLearn and use the hashtag #FabMakerStudio.

FabMaker Project: Our Table Challenge

The following blog post is by Peggy Healy Stearns, Lead Software Designer, FabMaker Studio.

Peter H. Reynolds’ new picture book for all ages, Our Table, tells the story of a young girl named Violet who notices  that, as her dad, mom and brother spend more and more time on their devices,  their once lively dining table is shrinking! Violet longs to bring her family back together and dreams up a project on which they can all collaborate –- designing and building a new table! 

This timely story provides an opportunity for children to consider the importance of gathering with family and friends – and to engage in a meaningful engineering design process. 

To get ready and set context for the challenge, after reading Our Table, discuss students’ memories dining with family and friends. What made those times special? Where did they eat? Was there anything special about their table?

Peter’s Creative Challenge!

Peter loves using his imagination to design and make things - drawings, paintings, sculptures, and paper mache animals! And so, Peter is excited to present a special maker challenge to your students: “Using FabMaker Studio, imagine, design and fabricate your own table and/or chairs to send to me!” Peter will select some finished projects to feature on the FableVision Learning websites and social media. 

So, let’s get started! Have students work collaboratively to Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Test and Improve a paper or cardstock prototype.

Ask: What kind of table would you like? How big should it be? What shape? Does it matter how it looks? Use questions like these to define the criteria. Students may want to research images of tables and interview family members. Then outline constraints – e.g., the final prototype must be designed with FabMaker Studio and constructed with paper or cardstock.

Now it’s time to Imagine. Have students brainstorm and sketch different designs and consider each option based on the criteria they set earlier. A single design may not meet all the criteria. Which criteria are most important? Once students choose a favorite design, they’re ready for the next step.

Tell students to use a ruler to draw a Plan for their table and label dimensions. 

Then have them use FabMaker Studio to Create their prototype. They can use the Chair design found in the FabMaker Ready-Made 3D projects. This starter project shows how Shapes can be combined to create a flat pattern that folds into a 3-dimensional object. Their tables might be constructed of a single flat net like the chair or made of multiple elements folded and constructed individually and then combined. 

Encourage students to be inspired by Peter’s creativity. Suggest they use FabMaker’s color and texture tool -- or use plain white cardstock and color by hand. 

If there’s time, ask students to consider how they would Test their prototype? Tell them to refer back to the criteria they set at the start. If their table’s not quite right, ask them how they would Improve their design.

You can adapt this activity to different grade levels by challenging students to use FabMaker Studio to design other 2D and 3D objects from the book. Younger students can weld shapes to create fruits and vegetables. More experienced makers may want to design bowls or glasses or even the vegetable cart.

Need more tips and tricks on how to use FabMaker Studio? Check out the Tutorials page. 

Send your students’ designs to info@fablevisionlearning.com or use the #FabMakerChair in your social posts . We’ll feature the best designs on the FableVision Learning Spotlight Blog!

Beal School Opens with Mural by Peter H. Reynolds

“Reach for your own words. Tell the world who you are and how you will make it better.”
- Peter Hamilton Reynolds

Every day when students enter the new Beal Elementary School in Shrewsbury, MA, they are welcomed by the characters and messages of New York Times best-selling author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds.

The colorful mural spans the lobby and two floors of the new school, and, thanks to digital capture and printing technology, includes an exact replica of the original mural created at the old Beal School.

Attending the new school dedication was educator Kathy Rivenburg who first “connected the dots” with Peter while she was teaching at the Floral Street School in Shrewsbury back in 2002 when the school was performing the Massachusetts-debut of The North Star Musical (based on Peter’s storybook The North Star).

Interestingly, Joe Sawyer, who now serves as. Superintendent of the Shrewsbury School District, was principal at the Floral Street School - and served as narrator for The North Star Musical performance, along with Assistant Principal Mary Beth Banios.

Thanks to their original “dot connecting” with Peter at FableVision, this extraordinary, school-length mural now adorns the brand new Beal School.

To create this massive and complex, multi-paneled mural, Peter and his studio manager Julia Young Cuffe worked with the extraordinarily talented team at Worcester-based Lamoureux Pagano Associates Architects, which included President and Lead Architect, Katie Crockett, along with Project Architects Sean Brennan and Natalie Gabrielle.

On Friday, Sept. 24, 2021, Peter H. Reynolds joined the school community for a dedication ceremony for the new school building. Several fourth grade students from Beal served as the program's presenters for the ceremony, that included Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito; Beal Building Committee Chair and Vice Chair of the Board of Selectman John Lebeaux; Executive Director of the Massachusetts School Building Authority Jack McCarthy; Representative Hannah Kane; Senator Michael Moore; and Vice Chair of the School Committee, Beal Building Committee Member Sandra Fryc, Beal Principal Chris Girardi, Assistant Principal Shelley Hoey and Peter H. Reynolds.

The audience was also treated to two recorded student musical performances: the updated school song Cheer Cheer for 'New' Beal School and The Dot Song, which was co-written by Emily Arrow and Peter, based upon his famous book The Dot.  

The Peter H. Reynolds Storybook Academy: Inspiring Young Authors to Create Bravely

From teaching first grade to college, Marni Kay, Associate Instructor of Reading Education at the University of Central Florida’s School of Teacher Education, has been working in education for 23 years. 

“I am fortunate to have the opportunity to inspire the next generation of educators,” she explains. “Each one of the Reading and Language Arts courses I teach has a ‘little kid factor,’ meaning I partner my UCF students with K-6 students in the community during our class time in a variety of ways. 

Marni and her team incorporated FableVision Learning’s The Peter H. Reynolds Storybook Academy into their instruction. We recently chatted with Marni about her experiences using the online writing program. Read on to learn more!

Q: What were your goals in using Peter H. Reynolds Storybook Academy?

Marni: I teach an Elementary Language Arts methods course and as part of the course, the standards focus on teaching future teachers how to teach the writing process to K-6 students. [The Peter H. Reynolds] Storybook Academy’s focus aligns perfectly with these goals. 

The modules take students from brainstorming all the way to publishing with Peter guiding writers each step of the way. One part of teaching writing well is for teachers to also see themselves as writers, so I wanted my students to experience the writing process not only as future educators, but as writers themselves.  

I knew I also wanted to partner with one of the K-6 teachers, I work with in order to provide an opportunity to not only see how the modules would work with college students, but also in a K-6 classroom! I teamed up with one of my recent graduates, third grade teacher, Vicky Livorisi to try it out.

My UCF students and I started the program with Vicky Livorsi and her third graders at the end of the school year. Vicky and I met several times on Zoom to go over the modules, plan, and brainstorm what a virtual partnership might look like. Over the course of 5 weeks, Vicky led her students through the Storybook Academy modules and we came up with a few times that my students and I could support her writers throughout the process. 

During these virtual visits, my students and I were able to engage in writing conferences with Vicky’s third grade writers via Zoom. We were so excited to hear her amazing students share their ideas, drafts, and published stories with their “UCF Writing Buddies.” 

As I reflect on the experience, I appreciate that my UCF students were not only able to engage as writers (writing their own stories), but were also able to experience the writing process through the lens of a third grader. 

Vicki shared: “My kiddos have loved the program and they think it’s so wonderful to hear from Peter in his videos as well! They have become so motivated to brainstorm ideas for potential titles and write!”

And her classroom was abuzz with excitement. Her students shared": 

“It gives me an excuse to draw during class time. I also liked making up my own characters and using my imagination.”

“I enjoy Storybook Academy because it helps me learn how to become an author.”

“If you have a lot of imagination like I do, you can express it in a book and read it over and over again!”

Q: What was your favorite part? 

Marni: What I love most was that students (at all levels) were able to learn from Peter H. Reynolds and his two decades worth of knowledge and support. I appreciated the connections between his published books (which kids and teachers LOVE), the way he encourages students to write what they know, and the practical strategies that he includes to help along the way, like the one-minute story. 

Students from third grade to college were all able to write and publish their own book! The published books included stories about pets, friendship, a cookbook, a how-to origami book, and a few students even chose to collaborate on their creative stories, as well!!!!

Marni’s students at the University of Central Florida also  had high praise for the program. 

“Storybook Academy, I think is genius because I’ve always wanted to write a story, but never gathered the motivation to go through with it. To have a class and little buddies to do it with you, makes it inspiring and a great learning/motivational tool.” 

“Storybook Academy is a fun way to create books/stories. I appreciate the small goals throughout to make it feel attainable. The videos throughout about the writing process are an awesome tool! I can’t wait to try this out in my future classroom!” 

Q: What does Create Bravely mean to you?

Marni: Create Bravely means dreaming big, thinking outside of the box, and trying new things. For me, this looks like connecting the dots by designing cross-curricular content units tied to children’s literature, creating authentic learning experiences for my students and K-6 kids in the community, and providing real world learning opportunities that encourage my students to dream big, too. 

Q: What’s next?

Marni: We are looking forward to participating in Dot Day 2021!!! For the past two years we have participated BIG both in person and last year with a virtual event that included a special Dot Day themed Bitmoji Classroom. This year, I am also planning to take some inspiration from Storybook Academy and ask my students to write a one-minute story highlighting how they will make their mark in education! I can’t wait to see what we come up with next!

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Curious about how to use the Peter H. Reynolds Storybook Academy in your classroom? Click here to learn more or email us at info@fablevisionlearning.com.

Educators Reimagine Their Classroom During Creativity Symposium

Peter H. Reynolds capped off the final session of The Creativity Symposium, hosted by FableVision Learning and Eduscape. The three-day virtual adventure challenged participants to reimagine the classroom.

Peter reinforced the messages of how creativity is inextricably linked to solving the problems we face each day, from the small to the seemingly impossible.

Working with FableVision’s Sara Smith and Eduscape’s Stephanie Corrente, participants from across the country discovered their innate creativity skills and learned new structured problem-solving and took a deep dive into solving problems they faced in education.

One participant said of the process:

“You taught us how to take a problem that may have seemed too large to solve but then think about and figure out how to solve and break it down into the steps then creatively come up with solutions to overcome it.”

Over the three days, educators participating first envisioned where they wanted to be - their ideal future state.  They then generated challenge statements to begin mapping their path forward. Educators then explored the important dynamic balance between divergent and convergent thinking and the magic words of possibility thinking, “What might be all the…”

After defining their challenges, participants spent time between sessions researching and collecting data about their challenges. Who is involved? What are the important aspects of the situation? What background information will inform the solution? When we came back for our second session together, educators were ready to ideate - generate as many solutions to their challenges as possible. They learned new tools and games that help stretch the imagination and open our minds to potential.With a host of diverse ideas, our cohort of teachers were able to hone  in on a final solution to develop and refine.

Started the last day of Creative Symposium with an awesome surprise visit by author @peterhreynolds Then went on to working on a visual /prototype to help illustrate the solutions to our challenges, #CreativitySymposium @FableLearn @Eduscape pic.twitter.com/JRORATyHyr

— Ms. Teixeira (@Ms_GTeixeira) July 28, 2021

The magic of creativity continues with another amazing resource from Peter Reynolds!! Today we are learning how to ideate and SCAMPER collaboratively! It is incubating👌. #creativitysymposium @Eduscape @TrentaShane @mkay0000 @THSTeachingAcad @_michelleis @UCFTeacherEd pic.twitter.com/nAwY10lH1u

— Norine (@BlanchNorine) July 21, 2021

Day 2 of #CreativitySymposium via @FableLearn - thinking up some great ideas with even better educators! 😌💭💡 pic.twitter.com/AX5JQzgtig

— Michelle Isgut (@_michelleis) July 21, 2021

In our final session, educators created prototypes and shared them with each other, giving and receiving feedback to help them move forward. Their next step is to create a plan for action so they can implement the positive change they want to see in their part of the education world. 

“It is so inspiring to see teachers that care so deeply about the education experience of their students,” Sara remarked.

Educators wrestled with challenges like:

• How might we encourage staff to build deeper relationships with students?

• How might we track student growth and share it quickly when students move within the district?

• What might be all the ways to increase collaboration between the elementary school and middle school?

The participants shared pictures, documents, flowcharts, spreadsheets and collages and in one case a mobile, all demonstrating creative solutions to their challenging problems. We have no doubt these teachers will make a difference in their schools. Here’s what some of the participants had to say:

“I wasn't feeling too creative, and knowing there is a science behind it and a process to learn it is exciting.”

“I learned that we all possess the ability to be creative and ways to access that creativity.”

“This is a fantastic course that allows us to really think outside our own box and expand our thoughts.” 

“This symposium allowed me to feel okay with taking a chance and putting my ideas out there without anxiety of being "wrong" or ridiculed for my ideas.You taught us how to take a problem that may have seemed too large to solve but then think about and figure out how to solve and break it down into the steps, then creatively come up with solutions to overcome it.”

If you are interested in learning about creative problem solving or creativity in education, send us a message at info@fablevisionlearning.com. We’d love to bring a creativity workshop, program, or tools to your school and inspire you and your fellow educators to Create Bravely!

FableVision and MetroWest YMCA Encourage Campers to Follow Their North Star

Cardboard boxes, aluminum foil, markers, balloons, and a splash of creativity were all the ingredients needed for Friday’s North Star Summer Celebration at the MetroWest YMCA. Wrapping up the third week of FableVision Learning’s North Star Digital Storytelling Program, campers donned their STEAM caps as they collaborated on the design, construction, and testing of a boat. 

With an audience of State and local leaders—including State Representative Carolyn Dykema; Framingham Mayor Yvonne Spicer; YMCA President and CEO Rick MacPherson; New York Times #1 best-selling Author/Illustrator Peter H. Reynolds; and FableVision CEO/Co-Founder Paul Reynolds—elementary-aged campers worked through the Engineering Design Process to create their floating vessels.

The event not only celebrated campers creations, it also shined a light on the partnership between FableVision and MetroWest YMCA. With funding from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Afterschool and Out-of-School Time Quality Enhancements (ASOST-Q) Grant Program, which is administered through the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), the team shaped five weeks of the North Star Digital Storytelling Program. 

At the launch of the program, students read The North Star, a powerful allegory about finding one’s unique path, by Peter H. Reynolds. 

Using newly-created materials developed for this program by FableVision Learning, which extend the themes of the story, students are designing, collaborating, reflecting, and creating, all while developing a strong sense of self. In addition to hands-on projects, students used FableVision’s web-based animation tool, Animation-Ish, to produce their own animations. And received video coaching from The Peter H. Reynolds Storybook Academy as they developed pieces of their personal stories.

About the MetroWest YMCA: For more than a century, the MetroWest YMCA has responded to community needs in the MetroWest area. Annually, the Y serves more than 25,000 children, adults, and seniors living and working in MetroWest communities. Led by the values of youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility, the MetroWest YMCA strengthens the community and addresses critical gaps in kids’ education and health through programs and activities that focus on academic enhancement, health, social growth, and safety.

About FableVision Learning: Founded by Peter H. Reynolds, award-winning author of “storybooks for all ages,” FableVision Learning provides programs and tools to support teachers and learners to develop essential creativity skills. FableVision’s programs provide support to teachers through its Creativity Circle International community of practice, through custom training programs, and through digital software programs developed to unleash the creativity of students. All of FableVision Learning’s programs and tools support transformational themes found in Reynolds’ best-selling books. FabMaker Studio, Animation-ish, and The Peter H. Reynolds Storybook Academy are three of FableVision Learning’s signature creativity programs, which foster creativity, confidence, and self-expression. The online programs feature both digital and physical learning activities in which students create animations, books, and 2D/3D designs. More information: www.fablevisionlearning.com.

5 Ways To Celebrate International Dot Day

International Dot Day is a celebration of creativity, courage, and collaboration. It was celebrated for the first time in a single classroom in 2009 and has grown into a global event. Today, people from across the world participate in a dot-filled day of making your mark! 

1. REGISTER

The first step to celebrating International Dot Day is to register for the celebration! In 2020 over 19 million people from 194 different countries participated. Click here to register for 2021!

2. READ THE DOT

A good way to start your celebration is to pick up a copy of The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. This book was the catalyst for International Dot Day! You can get the book here. 

3. GET INSPIRED

Here are some amazing projects from the past few years:

Image Credit: @believeinstevens (Instagram)

Dots Take Flight: This perfectly instagram-able display demonstrates the power of many dots together! First, decide on your display shape, keeping in mind the number of dots necessary for the display. Next, allow your students to create their dots. Finally, put the dots together and enjoy by taking a ton of photos! Find more about this particular display from @believeinstevens or using this link. 

Dots Gone Bananas: This Dot Day activity harnesses the dots we see in nature! Give your students the opportunity to brainstorm and think of natural occurrences of dots! After, have them incorporate their found-in-nature dots into their dot day drawing! Find more about this particular display from @Juan Huerta or using this link.

Dot-Dot-Dot (Or To Be Continued): Challenge yourself to create a dot-inspired optical illusion! Our friends at the Moco Museum created this awesome endless dot dot display! While there is a limited amount of dot lanterns in the room, no one would ever know! Think about how you could create a dot display where there is more than what meets the eye! Find more about this particular display from @Moco Museum or using this link. 

Image Credit: @stem4kids (Instagram)

WWW-Dot-Sphere: This display transcends the 2D world and breaks into the 3D world. @stem4kids utilized the app QuiverVision, to turn their dots into a 3D sphere. This activity incorporates creativity and STEM into your dot day celebration! There are endless possibilities when you turn your dot into a sphere! Find more about this particular display from @stem4kids or using this link. 

4. ANIMATE, FABRICATE AND SHARE THE STORY OF YOUR DOT! 

FableVision Learning’s Animation-ish provides an opportunity to animate your dots! Activities on Animation-ish combine technology, animation, design, and more for a creativity packed experience! Learn more about Animation-ish and see examples of past projects here!

FabMaker Studio is the perfect tool for cultivating your inventive spirit! With this paper prototyping and fabrication software, flex your design muscles and create 2D, Pop-up, and 3D paper models inspired by The Dot. It’s easy to get your design mind rolling when you start small - you can always try again and again! Try fabricating dots that fold, roll, spin, or transform!

5. SHARE YOUR MARK

Dot Day is September 15th! Be sure to share your mark with the world. International Dot Day is about creativity and inspiration so be Post on Instagram and Facebook using the hashtags #InternationalDotDay and #MakeYourMark.

Be You After-School Program at Jaffrey-Rindge School District Explores Creativity and Making

The team at FableVision Learning just wrapped up a fantastic year working with the with Jaffrey-Rindge Cooperative School District after-school program.

We worked with the New Hampshire school district to implement an exciting after-school program for K - 8/9 students that supported personal and academic success through the use FableVision’s creative tools and engaging projects.

Using custom curriculum focused on social-emotional learning (SEL) along with tools like Animation-ish, FabMaker Studio and resources from the The Peter H. Reynolds Storybook Academy the students explored their creativity while sharing their voice. To wrap up the program, FableVision hosted a virtual. end-of-year celebration of student work with special guests Paul and Peter H. Reynolds.

Here are some highlights:

Engineering and Design with FabMaker Studio

From intricate pop-ups to 3D robot Batman, students explored design engineering and paper fabrication.

Animation-ish

Students learned the basics of animation and explored different levels of Animation-ish to create their final projects (seen above in gif form).

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Are you looking to bring custom programs and curriculum to your school, after-school or camp classes? contact us at info@fablevisionlearning.com to find out more!

FableVision Learning Celebrates Student Creators in New York City’s District 75

FableVision Learning wrapped up another amazing year with New York City’s District 75 Middle School After School (MSAS) program. To make the program happen this year, the district had to navigate the challenges of a pandemic and remote learning, and FableVision Learning helped with a custom curriculum focusing on social-emotional learning (SEL). 

After all the changes and uncertainty students experienced this year, it felt especially important to help students express themselves and tell their stories, because everyone has a story to tell. 

During the FableVision program, students read books by Peter H. Reynolds to introduce each core competency of SEL. Then they shared their hearts through animations about their emotions, generated and practiced self-management strategies, and wrote their very own books about things that are important to them. No two student projects were the same. 

As a culminating celebration, almost 200 teachers, parents, and students gathered virtually to celebrate all the students’ hard work and resilience during the Virtual Year End Annual Gala hosted by Peter H. Reynolds. 

We are so grateful to have been part of this program to help D75 students share their voices and access their creativity in a difficult time.

STUDENT STORIES

ANIMATION-ISH PROJECTS

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ANIMATION-ISH IN SPACE

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Creative Ways to Celebrate Earth Day

A spinning globe, a 3D Turtle, and a story of your world - there are many ways you and your students can celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day with FableVision Learning’s Creativity Maker Suite of online tools. 

When Earth Day was started on April 22, 1970, the impact of the movement saw 20 million participants. This day is important to help raise awareness to show how much of an impact we really do have on the environment by every little move we make. 

This year, as many of us are marking the day from in our homes, we compiled a few activities to get your little ones thinking about the environment around them.

Animation-ish

Animation-ish, is an easy-to-use online animation tool - that helps students show what they know! Weave Animation-ish into your distance learning activities with a few ideas:

Animate Different Cycles:

Encourage your students to animate as a way to explore different cycles. Using the tracing feature, students can easily animate the slow transitions that lead into new phases in any of these cycles. Whether it’s showing night shift to day or animating the parts of the water cycle, check out these examples below 

What are some other natural earth cycles that your class has studied? We want to hear from you about YOUR favorite Earth Day animations.

FabMaker Studio

FabMaker Studio, is our digital design and fabrication tool created to get students prototyping with paper. For more tips and tricks on how to use a printer and a pair of scissors, click here.  

Go Green with Greenie the Turtle! 

This FabMaker Studio activity is inspired by the book “Go Green!” from the Sydney & Simon series (Paul Reynolds and Peter H. Reynolds, Charlesbridge Publishing) and is a great way to explore ocean wildlife. 

In the book, Sydney and Simon learn about a turtle named Greenie who got sick from too much plastic in the ocean. This discovery leads them to find ways to reduce their waste and be more eco-conscious. 

In FabMaker Studio, encourage your students to weld together shapes to create a turtle. For an added challenge - limit the creation to two shapes. Want to do deeper? In the FabMaker Studio Ready-Made projects, students can print a 3D turtle project to design and modify. This project provides an opportunity for you to talk to your students about turtles and other wildlife while also exploring the STEM skills of fabrication.

BONUS IDEAS: 

1. Using the scraps of paper leftover from the project, create lily pads, or leaves for your paper turtle. 

2. Explore the shapes in FabMaker Studio to create fish friends for your turtles (or print them out using our 2D ready-mades)

Do your students learn about recycling? What other oceanic creatures has your class studied? Greenie would love to have more fabricated friends, let us know if your students create any other animals in FabMaker Studio, we’d love to check them out.

How will you be celebrating Earth Day? Share it with the FableVision Learning team via Twitter @FableLearn, or via email: info@fablevisionlearning.com

FableVision Learning and Eduscape Announce Strategic Partnership

Amid COVID-19 Disruption, Two Edtech Firms Forge Alliance to Expand Product and PD Offerings for Educators Globally with Focus on Creativity and Innovation

In the COVID-19 era, the educational landscape has changed dramatically. So are industry partnerships and alliances. Cue FableVision Learning and Eduscape. Powered by investments in more nimble, web-based products and professional development, educational services providers FableVision Learning and Eduscape have announced a partnership to combine their edtech and professional development offerings. The resulting, robust portfolio now offers one-stop shopping for engaging, edtech/hybrid products optimized for remote learning conditions, and PD programs supported by industry-recognized certifications. Both organizations share a unique focus on fostering teacher and student creativity, and, over the past two decades, have reached nearly 25% of the nation’s educators with award-winning products and exemplary service offerings.

Together, FableVision Learning and Eduscape will deliver and expand high-impact professional learning for educators and school leaders, as offer a combined suite of  creativity-focused digital products including robotics, coding, digital storytelling, animation, game-based math learning, and STEM/STEAM engineering design and fabrication. 

Alex Urrea, founder and CEO of Eduscape shares, “Our team of experienced educators has been championing efforts to rethink education for years. Now the pandemic has forced the issue. As we’ve seen, just throwing technology at learning challenges isn’t the solution. School leaders must invest in developing a culture and shifting mindsets towards nurturing purpose-driven classrooms where teachers become active participants in the learning process and feel comfortable in a new paradigm of instructional design. By partnering with FableVision Learning, we will accelerate the impact both firms are already having across the nation – and increasingly around the globe.”

President of FableVision Learning Jane Reynolds adds, “Creative educators and leaders really rose to the occasion amidst often debilitating conditions over the past twelve months. But this massive, global education experiment has also highlighted how far we still have to go to deliver quality, engaging web-based learning. Together, FableVision Learning and Eduscape will be able to accelerate the development and delivery of high-impact, high-quality professional learning offerings for teachers and school leaders supported by award-winning products.”

The companies will mark the launch of  their partnership with the  Creativity Symposium, a series of virtual workshops starting in May 2021. The three-day event will bring educators together to assess and address a myriad of challenges as the world braces for years of recovery ahead – especially in education.  Topics include accessibility, collaboration, community, and assessment and an invitation to join a global cohort of creative educators and leaders who want to be part of developing practical, achievable, and scalable solutions. 

To that end, Creativity Symposium attendees will join The Creativity Circle International, an initiative to support all stakeholders in education, including school leaders, as they seek to develop and deploy creative solutions to address some of education’s biggest challenges.

Celebrate International Day of Math with FableVision: Where Creativity Counts

You may not realize it, but you use math every single day! From cooking dinner to telling time, your brain is constantly busting equations. That’s why we are going to celebrate math this Pi Day, March 14.

Fast Fact: In 2019, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), declared March 14 as the International Day of Mathematics. Since 3.14 is also the beginning of pi, it is double the celebration! 

Check out some of the ways we are celebrating this year.

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Explore Game-based Learning with Math 

Studies have shown that game-based learning can improve skills in STEM, math, literacy and more. This is why we are so excited to share these two researched-based online games designed to give educators an unique opportunity to teach through gameplay. The two games we’ll be playing are Zoombinis and Cyberchase Fractions Quest!

Zoombinis

Students travel across the Zoombinis landscape ast they solve a series of 12 puzzles that encourage computational thinking (CT). Through pattern recognition, abstraction, problem decomposition and algebraic thinking, your learners will lay the foundation for CT while leading the little blue guys to safety. 

Grade level: 3-8

Cyberchase Fractions Quest

Take your learners on an epic journey across the universe to save the Cybersquad by solving equations. Whether it’s dividing leaves into parachutes for chameleons or estimating fractions on the Estimatron-5000 number line, students practice their fractions in various contexts. After traveling planet to planet, your learners will be expert fraction busters! 

Grade level: 3-5

FabMaker Studio

Math isn’t just solving equations, it’s also using your creativity! FabMaker Studio, our digital fabrication and design software allows your students to get creative while getting a hands on experience as being an engineer! Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Use shapes and lines to build 2D, 3D projects.

• Create a pop-up card with a special shape to give to your friends.

• Ready to Create: Download our FabMaker 3D pyramid design to get started.

Animation-ish

No matter what age your students are, Animation-ish is a great way to combine math and creativity. Educators can get in on the fun too by using their unique designs to teach new mathematical concepts and ideas. 

In the second level of Animation-ish, students can create a flipbook filled with as many numbers of pi as they can remember, or practice their pythagorean theorem with an animation. Try making your own story with some fun shapes and numbers.

Enter the Poster Challenge

For 2021, International Day of Math has challenged classrooms to create a poster “that shows one way to make the world a little bit better using mathematics.” To learn more this challenge and how to register your classroom click here.

Click on the image below to download our design.

Bonus Project

We love to catch facts. Click on the image below to download and create a Math Catcher filled with fun math facts!

Share your International Day of Math creations with the FableVision Learning team via Twitter or Instagram @FableLearn, or via email: info@fablevisionlearning.com.