Our fifth graders designed and built mini golf courses for the Mini Spheros. Working in teams, students planned courses that were not only fun to play, but also challenging to navigate. Each group chose a creative theme to bring their course to life, including the zoo, underwater worlds, and outer space. From winding paths and obstacles to tunnels, every design choice mattered. Throughout the project, students tested, adjusted, and improved their designs. They collaborated, solved problems, and learned that even small changes could make a big difference in performance.

Our first graders took on an exciting engineering challenge by working together to design and build a cardboard house using Makedo tools and duct tape. This project was all about creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving.

As a class, we discussed what makes a house a house and decided which features were most important. They agreed their house needed a chimney, windows, and even a tunnel. Every idea mattered, and students practiced listening to one another and making decisions as a team.

Once the design was set, students got to work building. They learned how to safely use Makedo tools to connect pieces of cardboard and discovered how different materials and connections affect strength and stability. Along the way, they tested ideas, fixed problems, and adjusted their designs when something didn’t work the first time.

This hands-on project helped students experience the engineering design process in a meaningful, age-appropriate way. They learned that building takes planning, patience, and collaboration—and that big ideas can come from small engineers.
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Most importantly, students were proud of what they created together. Their cardboard house wasn’t just a structure—it was a shared accomplishment built through teamwork, imagination, and perseverance.

Fan Powered Cars by Fourth Graders
​Our fourth graders took on a fun engineering challenge by building cars powered by wind from a fan using simple materials. Through redesign and careful placement of the motor, fan, and battery pack, students discovered how shape, balance, and weight affect motion.

In our 7th and 8th grade classes, students have been practicing prompt engineering—the skill of writing clear, effective prompts when working with AI tools. We focus on helping students understand that how you ask a question matters just as much as what you ask. To support this, students were introduced to a prompt-writing framework called PARTS:

• Persona – Who should the AI act as?
• Aim – What is the goal?
• Recipients – Who is the response for?
• Theme – Tone, style, or other parameters
• Structure – The desired format of the response

I explained that there are many different prompt frameworks, but most are variations of the same idea: being clear, specific, and intentional.

One of the biggest surprises for students was discovering that they could get very different responses to the same problem just by revising the prompt. The persona part quickly became a favorite. Students loved customizing explanations to match how they learn or what they’re interested in—like asking AI to explain a concept “as a basketball player” or in the style of a rap artist.

To explore this further, students completed a comparison chart examining how AI’s voice and tone changed based on the prompt. They experimented with prompts written as a pirate, a teacher, a five-year-old, and more, then analyzed what words or phrases influenced the response and which versions were most effective or fun.

We also spent time identifying weak prompts and practicing how to improve them by adding meaningful details. This helped students see that vague prompts often lead to vague or unhelpful results.

An important part of this unit was learning how to learn with AI instead of letting AI do the work. Students were given an algebra problem and challenged to write prompts that asked AI to guide their thinking—without giving away the answer. While we acknowledged that many students may still be tempted to use AI as a shortcut, this activity helped reinforce that AI can be a powerful tool for reasoning, problem-solving, and deeper understanding when used responsibly.

Another engaging activity was Say What You See, where students practiced describing an image as precisely as possible so AI could interpret or generate it accurately. This reinforced how clarity, detail, and word choice directly affect AI output.

Alongside prompt writing, students are also learning about the limitations of AI. We discussed how AI doesn’t actually think or understand like humans and how it can sometimes generate inaccurate or biased information. We emphasize the importance of fact-checking and using AI as a learning support—not as a source you can always trust.

Through these lessons, students are building digital literacy, critical thinking skills, and responsible habits for using emerging technologies—skills they’ll need well beyond the classroom.
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When I ask students if they have ever heard the term AI, most of them eagerly say yes and start sharing what they know. Many mention examples like Waymo, Siri, and Alexa. However, when I ask what AI stands for, only a few can correctly say artificial intelligence. And when I ask them to explain what that means, even fewer can describe it clearly. Students recognize that AI exists and can point to where they see it in their lives, but many don’t fully understand what it actually is. Introducing the concept of artificial intelligence, especially to young learners, can be challenging. Thankfully, with resources from DayofAI.org, explaining and exploring AI concepts becomes more manageable and engaging.

To help students grasp the meaning of “artificial intelligence,” we begin by breaking down the two words. We discuss what artificial means and what intelligence means, and then we put the ideas together. This simple approach makes it easier for even our youngest learners to understand what AI is and how it works.

Sixth graders have been exploring machine learning using resources from the Machine Learning for Kids website. They’ve trained machines to recognize colors, distinguish between cats and dogs, and classify text as either an insult or a compliment. Right now they are using pre-trained models to create face filters that detect and track facial features. Through these hands-on projects, students experience what it’s like to teach a machine using data sets. They also learn about bias in data and how it can affect an AI’s predictions, which is an important concept in understanding fairness and accuracy in AI.

Seventh and eighth graders are focusing on prompt engineering, which is learning how to write clear and effective prompts when working with AI tools. One of the activities they have done is Say What You See, where students practice describing an image as precisely as possible so that AI can generate or interpret it accurately. This exercise helps them understand how wording, detail, and clarity influence the AI’s output. In addition to learning to write stronger prompts, students are also learning about the limitations of AI. We discussed how AI systems don’t actually think or understand like humans, and how they can sometimes produce inaccurate or biased information. We emphasize the importance of fact-checking any information generated by AI and using it as a tool for learning, not as a source you can always trust. These lessons help students build digital literacy and develop responsible habits when using emerging technologies.

For younger students, AI comes alive through interactive and playful activities. Using programs like Quick, Draw!, they see how AI can recognize their doodles and predict what they’re drawing. In Animated Drawings, they bring their own artwork to life using AI animation tools. They also enjoy playing Semantris, a fun word association game powered by AI that helps them see how computers recognize and connect meanings between words. It’s a playful way to introduce how AI learns from language patterns. Meanwhile, Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Simon used Gemini Storybook Gem to generate a class story that featured every student as a character.

Through these activities, students aren’t just using technology—they’re learning how it works. They’re beginning to see that AI isn’t magic, but something people design, teach, and make better. These lessons and projects help students understand AI and encourage them to think carefully and creatively about the smart technologies they use every day.

This Halloween season was literally bright for our youngest engineers at Holy Angels School. Students in Kindergarten First and Third Grade learned about electric circuits by creating glowing Halloween projects.

Our first graders put together a simple circuit to light up paper houses. They learned how to connect a battery, switch and light inside their houses so the “windows” would shine. Some added sticker decorations to make their houses spooky and bright. ​

Our third graders became circuit designers with their light-up Halloween bracelets. They used copper tape, LEDs, and batteries to create wearable circuits that sparkled purple, red, blue and green. ​

How are these paper animals moving without batteries or a motor? During our fourth-grade STEM class, we made paper animals that walk all by themselves — powered only by gravity. It might sound impossible, but with a little science, engineering, and a lot of patience, we made it happen.

We started with a template on a sheet of cardstock and turned it into a four-legged walker. We cut carefully, tested different types of surfaces on the ramp, and changed how we folded our animals’ legs to get them to walk better. When we placed our animals on a ramp, gravity helped them “step” forward. We learned that this happens because of balance, incline, gravity, and the shape and design, especially the angle of the legs. Some of our animals slid too fast, some didn’t move at all, and some took perfect little steps!  It took a lot of trial and error, but that’s what made it fun. We learned to problem-solve, redesign, and never give up. Watching our paper animals finally walk down the ramp was the best part.

Second graders learned to recognize the difference between things made by people and things found in nature. They explored how artificial intelligence allows machines to act “smartly,” similar to how our five senses help us understand the world. After sorting objects as natural or artificial, students drew their own AI robots on paper and used Animated Drawings to bring them to life! 

During the first few weeks of school, our students focused on what it means to be responsible digital citizens. Check out the student-created projects below, including videos and posters, that showcase what they learned.