Inventing a backscratcher

Today, Katie taught a lesson in my 1st grade classroom. The students were inventing their very own backscratcher. Yes, 1st graders really enjoyed this lesson! The students began the lesson by brainstorming ideas in groups. Each group drew up a sketch of what they wanted their design to be like. They were extremely creative and used a lot of imagination to create. Katie and the students tested out the different designs and then decided as a class whose design was the best design.
Katie did a great job at teaching this lesson. The students really listened and were engaged in this lesson. She spent a lot of time instructing the students (1st graders need a lot of instruction).

STEM!

STEM!! I am so excited to start getting others excited about STEM. I have been discussing the idea of STEM with other teachers and staff at my school. It is a topic that I am relating to all of our subjects as much as possible. I am hoping that the more they hear about it they more they will want to know about it.
I am also looking into starting a STEM class in our after school care program next year. I really think that have a dedicated hour to STEM would get students wheels turning and get them excited about STEM!

Save the Animals Lesson

Today I taught a lesson on Save the Animals. This lesson centers around the idea of push and pull. The students used LEGO robots to help save stuffed animals from falling off of their desks. It was up to the students to determine whether they should push or pull the animals to safety. The robots that the students created were really creative and allowed for the students to put their own touch on this project. It took a few minutes at first for the students to grasp the concept of using the robots but once they mastered this skill they really enjoyed the lesson.
The students had a lot of energy on this day but were able to channel this energy into the lesson. The lesson was a success and allowed for me to incorporate a few of the STEM elements into my classroom.

Today I found out my school participates in the Elementary school Sci Oly. I am really excited to hear that my school is participating in this. I hope that one day my students can be excited and participate in this awesome experience. A few of the teachers take students every year to compete. A lot of the students seem to enjoy being able to create projects and do hands on experiments. I am hoping to start introducing my 1st graders to what Sci Oly is so that when they are old enough they can begin participating.

Sci Oly

Today, I participate as a volunteer at SciOly. I was assigned to work with Dr. Revelle in the A & P event as well as the anatomy event. This event was a simple test for middle school (Anatomy) and High School (A&P). The students were given 55 minutes to complete the examination. They were allowed to have one front and back paper with any information they chose. They were also able to work in pairs or individually.

The first test given was to high school students. Before we began Dr. Revelle informed us that their will be students who do not bring anything with them (no paper or writing utensils). During the high school test, two groups did not bring their allowed paper. Both of the groups were partner groups that consisted of both boys. One group seemed to take their time and really try while the other group seemed to be there to just play around. (They were putting answers that were not relevant to the topics) This group of students overall consisted of a good mixture of boys and girls and ethnicities. 

The second test was to middle school students. They had the same rules and procedures to follow. A few of these students came in late, with one student missing her partner until a few minutes after the test had already started. This group was the same as the first when it came to the amount of boys and girls testing. A few boys did not bring a pencil and had to ask to borrow one from the professor. All groups did bring a paper with information to help them with their test. The biggest difference I noticed was that there was more individual testers in this group.

Overall, the day was interesting to think about the data and statistics that we discuss in class and relate them to what was seen during this event. After grading the test, the winning group in each division was a partner team that consisted of both boys. I enjoyed being able to see STEM at work in such young students and seeing what our future will consist of when it comes to jobs in the STEM fields. 

Moon Day!

Moon Day

To start our Moon day we made Space Play dough. I had a play dough recipe and then as a class we turned it into" space dough". The students then  had to add their own stars, the sun, the moon, and the Earth. Once they finished this portion of the lesson we discussed orbiting plants and the Sun.

We discussed how asteroids create craters. The students got to help as we created this project. I started by first using a large round tray, I added flour to the tray and gave students turns creating mountains. They then were able to experiment using different asteroid sizes to create craters.

STEM resources

This week I was looking around and searching for STEM resources. I found a lot of great resources that students and teachers can use in the classroom. Here are the links:
PBS gives students the ability to participate in games that are STEM related. Bill Nye and How stuff works are great teacher resources that can be used to incorporate STEM into the classroom.

http://pbskids.org/lab/show/stem-video-game-challenge/
http://www.billnye.com/
www.howstuffworks.com/