I am a K-5 STEAM Lab teacher who sees 3-6 classes each day. When students come to my lab I like to meet them at the door and welcome them to class and then again at the end of class say goodbye to each student. That personal greeting is part of building relationships with each student and that is very important to me. My problem is that the short transition time between classes means I am often cleaning up and prepping for my next class as the students leave. I created the Goobye Bell so each person gets a personal message from me as they leave class.

Supplies

8" X 10" cardstock (your color choice)

Pencil

Markers

Aluminum foil

Copper tape (optional)

2"-3" circle tracer

Glue stick

Step 1: Creating Your High Five Sign

Draw or trace a large hand on the 8" X 10" cardstock.

Color the hand in as you like with markers

Step 2: Aluminum Foil Circle

Trace a 2'-3' circle on the aluminum foil. The size will depend on the the size of the hand you drew in step one. You want the foil circle to easily fit inside the hand. Cut out the foil circle.

Cut the foil circle in half and trim a small strip (approx. 1/8"-1/4") from the straight side of each half circle

Step 3: Add Foil to Hand

Glue the two half circles to the middle of the hand on the cardstock. The circles should be 1/4"-1/2" apart depending on the size of the hand (mine are 3/8" apart) The two pieces must not touch.

Step 4: Add Copper Tape

NOTE - If you do not have copper tape use 1/4"-1/2" strips of foil)

Cut the tape or foil strip long enough to reach from the middle of the left half of the foil circle to the bottom of the page and fold over the back of the cardstock about 1"

Repeat with another strip of copper tape or foil from the center of the right half of the foil circle to the bottom of the cardstock and 1" up the back.

** If using copper tape that is not conductive on both sides fold over about 1" of the tape and stick it to itself before attaching to foil circle and cardstock. You want to be sure the conductive side of the tape is touching the foil circle.

Step 5: Record Audio in Scratch

Record 4-8 separate audio goodbye greetings in Scratch (scratch.mit.edu) Give each recording a distinct name so you can identify it when writing the code.

Step 6: Write Your Code in Scratch

Create your code. Here is my code to get you started. Goodbye Bell

I used 8 different greetings to give more variety. When I tested with only 4 greetings I found the program repeated the same greeting multiple times. More greetings limited that happening. The program could also be written with only one greeting.

Step 7: Connect Your Makey Makey to the Hand

Connect one alligator clip from the Space port on the Makey Makey board to one of the copper (or foil) strips at the bottom of the cardstock. Connect the other alligator clip from the earth bar to the other copper (or foil) strip at the bottom of the cardstock. Connect the Makey Makey to the computer.