As with the Power Tiles, I incorporated Challenge Cards with this activity as it worked really well before. Last time I had them focus on their collaboration as a group and today I had them focus on their group's communication. This challenged them a bit as it forced them to verbalize what they were doing and include everyone in the group. There were several students who are strong leaders, so this was good practice for them allowing everyone to actively be part of the building process. I had them turn in their evaluation cards before moving on to the next challenge so that I could have them explain how their circuit worked as well as how they worked together as a team.
As the fourth grade is wrapping up their electricity unit, we spent another day experimenting exploring how circuits work by building with Snap Circuits. The students definitely found these to be a little more challenging than the Power Tiles, but I liked that they made them think differently. So far they have had hands-on experiments with Power Tiles, Little Bits, and Snap Circuits. It has been fun to see them exploring with different resources and how all of the hands-on experiences help them make meaning out of the content. As with the Power Tiles, I incorporated Challenge Cards with this activity as it worked really well before. Last time I had them focus on their collaboration as a group and today I had them focus on their group's communication. This challenged them a bit as it forced them to verbalize what they were doing and include everyone in the group. There were several students who are strong leaders, so this was good practice for them allowing everyone to actively be part of the building process. I had them turn in their evaluation cards before moving on to the next challenge so that I could have them explain how their circuit worked as well as how they worked together as a team. An engagement strategy I had seen many on Instagram share was that of using the game Connect 4 as part of an activity. Much like using the game Egged On, it seemed like a great way to keep the kids engaged in the activity and to encourage perseverance when things became challenging. So I picked up 3 games at Five Below of the Four in a Row and I used the same approach as I did with the Power Tiles activity. Before we even started, I had the classroom teacher draw cards I made up with each table group. This is how we determined which tables would be playing against each other and which grid they would be playing on. Each time the table group explained how their circuit worked and completed the task card for how their group communicated in completing the circuit build, they were able to drop one of their discs on the grid. This gave them the opportunity to focus on their own circuit building, but have a little built-in incentive for continued work. The students did an AWESOME job of putting the focus on the Snap Circuits and then quickly dropping their disc before continuing on building. It only became a little bit competitive at the end when I said there was only five minutes left (surprisingly!). Out of the three games, we only had one game that had a "winner" at the end. The great thing was that no one was really upset and were more excited about what they had built. I am truly liking using games as an engagement strategy because the kids have proven that they can focus on the content and enjoy the extra layer of fun!
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This year, I organized several Lunch & Learn opportunities for our staff throughout the district. I am part of our Teaching and Learning Department, so this was a great way to not only offer our teachers professional learning opportunities, but also have a chance to sit and have conversation over lunch that was provided for free! Throughout the school year, we offered different Lunch & Learn opportunities to our staff. This was our first year implementing this type of PD to teachers, so we thought we would start small to see what works and what teachers would like to learn about during the short period of time.The topics we offered Lunch & Learns on to our staff were:
I understand that many teachers want to learn more professional learning, but we all struggle with the TIME factor. There is never enough of it to get done all the things we NEED to get done as well as the things we WANT to do. This was really a driving force in providing Lunch & Learn opportunities to our staff. As I was working on this blog post, I received an email from A.J. Juliani with his latest blog post. I love the emails I receive from him as they are always so thought provoking and full of resources. One of the things he shared was from Peter Nillson and the four stages to learning (On Nilsson's blog post, A Cognitive Model for Educators: Attention, Encoding, Storage, Retrieval (Part 2 of 14)). I found it very relevant to to what we hope to accomplish with our Lunch & Learn program. Most of our teachers are choosing to attend Lunch & Learns out of interest (and maybe some necessity!). A.J. Juliani speaks about this process on his blog post, Understanding the Science of Learning and Our Role in the Process. I feel that this process applies to teachers as learners, not just students as learners. Something about the Lunch & Learn opportunity sparked an interest or need for teachers (Attention), they attended, processed what they learned and how it applies to their curriculum (Encoding), applied what they learned in their classrooms (Storage), and then reflected on the implementation and how it connected to the initial learning (Retrieval). This is very similar to the learning cycle we ask our students to do each day - so it is always a great exercise in empathy to place yourself in the seat of a student and learn something new. As Juliani stated, "If we want to teach to the best of our abilities, we should have a clear understanding of how our students learn, and what helps them learn best." I couldn't have said it better myself!
As I am already starting to think about our Lunch & Learn program for next year, I am working at trying to reach a wider audience and provide a variety of options. I have some ideas in the works already, but would love any outside ideas!
Summer is almost here! With that often comes the dread whining of "I'm bored!" from kiddos all over. Are you looking for ways to help the parents of your students beat the summer boredom? No fear, a summer STEAM calendar of activities is here!
Each day for the months of June, July, and August, I have put together some simple activities that can be done at home. In efforts of making these activities accessible, I tried to keep any additional materials that might be needed to a minimum, but hopefully most can be found at home, outside, or through a family member or neighbor. A few simple items from the dollar store could spark some imagination, but is not necessary. Also, as I do have children of my own and encourage as much outside time as possible during the summer with minimal screen time, the "T" of the STEAM is not emphasized. Technology can be used at any time to enhance any of the activities or be used for research, inspiration, or documentation, but will not be a significant focus. You might also notice that there isn't any slime challenges. That was intentional because I am out-slimed and I know I am not the only one! Click on the green button below to download the calendars. Sharing Time!
I would love to see what you have created this summer! Use the button below to share images of your creations or links to any videos. I often learn so much from students when doing activities and am constantly in awe of their creativity. Feel free to share what you have created and be inspired by others!
Feel free to use the hashtag #SummerSTEAM19 too when sharing on social media!
Images will appear below after the form is submitted. Please fill out the form for each individual day so that it can be shared in the gallery. If you don't see the pictures, please wait a few seconds and refresh the page.
I originally had planned this activity to be a basic pixel art activity as I thought it would be a high engagement activity (as this group loves Minecraft). As I was driving to the school (a whopping 2 minute maximum drive), I had a thought that made me change my mind about my plan. I usually give the students task cards or Maker Mats with this type of activity, but my plan was to give them the challenge of creating pixel art with free choice on creativity. My thought that made me change my mind about the structure of the activity was to have each class design their own Maker Mat to use for the activity. Using some basic design thinking, I led each class through how we were going to create our own Maker Mat to create our pixel art. I didn't follow a specific process, but this is how I led the design part of the activity. Our theme for our Maker Mat was "Summer."
Students could complete any of the items on the Maker Mat on the board in any order they chose. As usual with task cards or when using a Maker Mat, the groups had to show the classroom teacher or I their creation before moving on to the next item. Class #1Class #2I love how the classes came up with different interpretations for each of their items. There were so many creative ideas! This was actually a quick process in designing the Maker Mat, so students had plenty of time in our hour-long activity to simply build. It was a great way to give the students ownership in the activity. When I came in and they asked me what we were going to be building, I could honestly say, "I don't know!".
My fourth grade classes are about to move into a unit about electricity, so we kicked off the learning with a fun resource - Power Tiles Circuits! I love the simplicity of the tiles, but yet they are enough to challenge students to think about how circuits and electricity work. The tiles are durable and allow students to snap together tiles to make circuits that perform different functions. For this activity, I gave each group the instruction booklet and told them I wanted to see what they could do with building circuits. Each new challenge built upon the previous for how tiles fit together (how the electricity flowed from one tile to connected ones) and introduced different kinds of functions (light sensors, motors, sound, etc.). The groups were responsible for completing the challenge and then using a self-evaluation card I gave them, they had to tell me how their group collaborated together to complete the challenge. Each card they turned in earned them a ticket to a game I had planned at the end (I didn't tell them what it was, but that it would be in their best interest to take the self evaluation seriously). This was the first time I tried having the students self evaluate on individual challenges, but it actually worked really well. Before turning in their card, they had to show me their completed challenge, as well as how it worked and what happened when variables were manipulated. They could then turn in their card and move on to the next challenge. This gave me the opportunity to quick check in with groups as they were working (as I was moving about the classroom) and help groups talk through any problems they were having working together so they could make sure everyone was actively participating. It provided a great way for those who felt like they were being excluded to safely voice their thoughts and be part of the success of the group. I had recently picked up a couple boxes of the game Egged On at Five Below. The game consists of a dozen rubbery flexible eggs that can be broken apart and filled with something (I chose water). I filled about half the eggs with water and left the other half empty. Groups completed enough tasks were each student earned a chance to break an egg open on their forehead. Was this a vital part of the circuit activity? No. It could have easily been done without it, but it added a super fun twist that got the kids up and moving at the end of our STEAM time. One of the teachers shared with me that she will often spray water as part of her teaching so that what she is teaching imprints with the students. So this worked right in to her teaching style and the kids LOVED it. Definitely a great conversation piece! The end of the school year is quickly drawing near and when you go into a 4th grade class for STEAM time at this time of year, you can expect just about anything to happen. I know this is a difficult time not just for students to stay focused, but also staff. So in spite of everything I have going on with end of the year activities, I knew I couldn't let my 4th grade friends feel my own burnout. I originally planned on doing Shrinky Dinks with them (as they always come up with such creative designs when given the opportunity to simply CREATE!), but as I was driving in to school that morning, I came up with a simple twist to a typical Shrinky Dink activity. I quickly created the sheet above for the students to use for the activity. For their Shrinky Dinks, I asked them to create a drawing of themselves on a quarter piece of an 8.5x11 Shrinky Dink paper. I told them that how they chose to draw themselves is up to them - I didn't have specifics of what I was requiring their self portraits other than to keep it from the waist to the head (just for shrinking purposes). Once they had their drawing completed, we shrank them in a toaster over and they had to then write a message to the future 4th graders. This could be advice that they have, things to look forward to, or how they overcame difficulties. While the classroom teacher was in charge of the toaster oven and shrinking the self portraits, I took students who were finished with their self portrait and letter out in the hall and showed them how to use the ChatterPix app. I did not have iPads available for use in the classroom as this was a last minute idea for me, so we simply used my phone. This was a bit of letting go for me, as I showed the first couple of students how to use the app, draw the mouths, record, and then save so the next one could be recorded so that they could be the masters and teach the other students. I trusted the students I showed and they did not let me down! They were respectful with my phone when I was not present and took their jobs very seriously in teaching the other students how to record their letters and not just doing it themselves. For their first time doing Shrinky Dinks (and learning that erasing is not possible!) and then using a new app, they rocked it out! We were able to get through almost a whole class of creating and recording in about an hour. I put the student recorded messages below (click here if you are unable to view). I am going to share the video with the current 3rd grade teachers so that they can show their students. The future 4th graders have a lot of great things to look forward to next year! |
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