Dream Invent Create: 2014

STEM made easy! Want to have some fun this November with your students? Take a look at this project that is perfect for Thanksgiving. Integrating STEM into your classroom makes learning more engaging and fun. We read several books about Native Americans and tepees. We went on a nature hike behind my classroom and each student found 4 sticks for their tepees. Parents donated acrylic paint, tacky glue, white canvas material, and rubber bands.

Step 1: Teach students to plan out their ideas first. I modeled for students how to use Native American symbols to draw stories. Students were given paper to draw out their ideas of what their Native American symbols will look like on their white canvas material.

Then students used their drawings to guide them in their painting.

Look how my kinder is following his plan!

Step 2: We used cardboard cut into a square for our base. Each corner we poked deep holes then poured glue in each hole to set the sticks.

Then my kinder had a TON of patience holding his sticks in place. Starting with two first, hold sticks until they set in the holes then add the final two sticks on the other side. Using a rubber band or string bring all four sticks together at the top and wrap string or rubber band around the top of the sticks. Then wait 24 hours for sticks to dry.

The next day students wrapped white canvas material around the sticks to make their tepees. Then they added the final touches using straw on the inside of the tepee to make it cozy!

We used our tepees as centerpieces for our Thanksgiving feast. They were colorful and my kiddos were talking about their Native American stories at the feast.

Another part of STEM is math. Here we collected all different kinds of beans and used cardboard rectangles. My kiddos use the beans to pattern in math. They added beautiful fall leaves from outside to make their math boards look like the season fall.

Sherry

DREAM INVENT CREATE

I am excited to introduce to you my new STEM blog to help you get started teaching STEM in your classroom. Don't be intimidated, and don't make excuses. STEM is the next BUZZ word that is out there in education and we teachers need to embrace it. With 21st century learners, Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards and this new EVOLUTION of little engineers in the classroom, YOU NEED TO GET STARTED!
I'll be honest...I was intimidated too! At my school I was selected to be on a STEM PLC and my first thought was stem cells? Seriously I had no idea what STEM was. I felt out of my league and I definitely was not embracing this thing called STEM at all. Then I started liking what I was learning. Once I realized that I was doing this already, I was hooked!
STEM is integrating SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS. I started to dig deeper into my classroom instruction and noticed that STEM is possible to do. I made a professional goal to concentrate on STEM centers once a month. Ok well I didn't exactly make it once a month, but I did have parent volunteers come in throughout the school year doing STEM centers.
So to celebrate my very first post, I want to share with you my first STEM centers so you can see how easy it is to teach STEM!
Way back in October when spiders, pumpkins, and scarecrows usually were my focus, I decided to teach my kinders about skeletons!

Kinders love bones! STEM always begins with inquiry. We began our STEM unit with a KWL chart about bones. Kinders love to talk about what they know first. Then when it's time to ask "I wonder" questions kinders are not shy at all! Together as a class we read many fiction and nonfiction books about skeletons answering those "I wonder" questions to prepare for our STEM centers. We also completed many fun activities throughout the week.

Here the students made skeletons out of Q-tips. I found these x-rays at Lakeshore learning. We slowly built the skeleton together as a class discussing the bones in the body.

In the beginning of the school year I like to have parents fill out a volunteer form sharing their special talents. This wonderful parent is a doctor and she visited our classroom on STEM center day to teach the children about the bones their body. We used Mr. Skeleton to demonstrate all the bones.

During the month of October Michaels is the place to find bones! Lots of bones. For math in STEM I had the students measure the bones with unifix cubes. Here is a freebie measuring activity for you to do with your students.

Love how my kinder is measuring this!

We keep nature journals in our class. Here the students are drawing and labeling a skeleton using their observation skills. I begin the school year teaching the students about observation using their 5 senses to draw. I found these mini skeletons at Michaels too. Love that store!

This was by far the favorite STEM activity of the day. Using their engineering skills, my kinders built their skeleton out of modeling clay. I use cardboard trays and plain body silhouettes for the students to build their skeleton. Some kinders had so many details in their skeletons. They even included the knee cap!

Remember that a STEM activity does not have to always include all four subjects. For technology I could of implemented a Kidpix activity where students could draw their skeleton on the computer and possibly label.

Here is some inspiration to get you started for this coming school year! Remember THINK STEM!