**Mae Lally and Yordi Ramos, students in Kimberly Aguilera’s class, demonstrate how their robot floor cleaner works.** PHOTOS BY GORDON WOLF

A language arts project and a third-grader’s presentation on the television show Shark Tank served as inspiration for a technology showcase last Friday at Denison Elementary School.

The school’s third graders used language art skills and technology know-how to create room-cleaning robots and develop sales pitches for their creations.

The lesson also incorporated the character trait of perseverance that students are learning about.

On Friday, teams of third graders were stationed around their classrooms to demonstrate how their robot creations worked to visiting parents and school staff.

While technology skills were used, the assignment started with language arts.

Third grade teacher Katie Pick said the teachers decided to incorporate the technology the students have been learning, using a variety of robots called Beebots, Finch robots, Dash robots and Ozobots.

These robots were outfitted with attachments made of paper, cardboard and other materials designed to sweep away “trash” and deposit it in an imaginary bin.

Before powering up their robots, using code, the teams of students gave presentations, using their speaking skills and computer skills. Similar to a sales pitch seen on television, each team’s presentation explained how the robot operates and highlighted its main selling points. In addition, students put a price on their robot.

The idea for robot floor cleaners came about because it was a relatable problem for the kids to understand, said Pick.

“As we were learning about the innovation of technology, we wanted to find something that kids would understand,” she explained in an email. “Also, many of the teachers are taking a class from New-Bo-Co. This class is teaching us more ways to infuse technology into our classroom lessons.”

**Ivy Salinas and Brysen Point, students in Jamie Nelson’s class, show how their Bee-Bot robot works as Principal Chris Schulz and reading teacher Colleen Martin watch.**

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**Amanda Evers, a kindergarten teacher, looks at the robot that Adrian Magana is holding. Adrian is a student in Megan Nahnsen’s class.**

Darin Johnson, technology integrationist at the school, added that the computer science professional development through NewBoCo takes place for a couple of hours on in-service days.

The programming skills used by the students were previously learned in Stephanie Prussing’s Ed Tech classes on coding robots.

To prepare their robots and their presentations, the students were given a rubric and a Google Slide presentation with expectations.

“During class every day we worked on a plan with the students that had various steps for them to complete,” Pick said. “The presentation was based on a third grader that was on Shark Tank and thus the prototype idea was brought about.”

The idea for the third graders giving sales pitches, also derived from the Shark Tank program, allowed teachers to incorporate more standards into the presentations.

“We really wanted to incorporate the 4C's - Collaboration, Creativity, Critical Thinking and Communication - into the program, along with perseverance practice and language skills,” Pick said.

“The kids are excited,” she said on Friday. “They are thinking outside the box and showing perseverance.”

She added that the teachers were pleased that so many parents showed up to watch their kids’ presentations.