This week in 4th grade STEAM class we had an awesome time building LEGO mazes as part of our Toy Story STEAM Mania unit. The kids were so in to this activity! I gave them pretty simple and straight forward directions - their task was to use one baseplate to construct a maze in which a marble could travel from one side to the other. I asked them to keep in mind the size of their workspace and make use of the whole space. We talked about ways they could use the space so their marble wouldn't simply travel in a straight line (dead ends, twists, ramps, etc.). The students came up with so many more great things that I hadn't even thought of - archways to clearly mark the entrance and exit, having some of the maze that had a "roof" over it (so you couldn't clearly see where your marble was), ramps that would jump you to the next part of the maze, and building a staircase entrance. I was so impressed by their creativity and perseverance when they asked me to test their maze and I sent them back with feedback and ways to improve the complexity. Every single student stepped up, made the improvements, asked for more feedback, and then had their table partners test their maze. It was awesome how each maze was different students incorporated so many elements into their design. This was truly a test of not only their creativity, but also critical thinking. They all wanted a maze that would make me have to work to solve it - and I was okay with that!
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This week our Toy Story STEAM Mania in Y5 and T1 brought us...outside! We read the Toy Story 4 book and talked about the lost friends in the story. I shared with the students that I had some lost friends of my own (in a bag next to me where they couldn't see what was inside). They were quite excited to see who my friends were, but I explained to them that we needed to take care of the friends and build them a house so they wouldn't be lost anymore. So, we gathered ourselves and the bag of lost friends and then headed outside. At this point, they still hadn't seen who my "lost friends" were...and I didn't show them until they had collected some materials they had found in the outdoor learning area to build a house. Then I selected a lost friend for them so they could begin building their houses. This started off with a challenge for the students to build a house for their lost friend, but honestly, I left it pretty open to see what they would come up with and how their play would steer their building. For some activities, I have structure and expectations that I would like to see with outcomes, but other times, I like to give a loose challenge and see where the students take it (especially with the younger students). Some of the students took right away to collecting and building a house, some wanted to explore the outdoor learning area, and some were a bit hesitant on where to begin. It was a great opportunity for the students to learn to work with one another to build something, share resources, and be creative. Plus, we had some beautiful weather, so it was the perfect time to get outside, get a little dirty, and do some serious learning! Play is work for children. In order to learn how to work, they need to play.This week was Rock Your School Week, and boy did we rock out our kickoff to Toy Story STEAM Mania in our STEAM classes! I am planning on doing a Toy Story STEAM Mania theme over the next couple of weeks with my Y5, T1, and 4th grade classes, so this was a perfect week to kick it off! In 4th grade, I set up a room transformation for Pizza Planet. I only teach in the STEAM room a couple hours a week, so I couldn't set everything up the way I wanted to, but for a 45-minute set up, I would say it wasn't too bad! The reaction the kids gave when they walked in and saw the lights off, laser lights on, and the decorations around the room was great. It is amazing how some lighting, poster board, and a giant pizza float can change the environment. For the STEAM challenge, students had to complete Lookout Tower Missions. They had to build towers with popsicle sticks and then see how many items (aliens, army men, or monkeys) could balance on their tower. They had building requirements for each mission (base shape/height), and that seemed to be the most challenging part of the activity. The struggle was real for awhile before students began to have many forward fails in how they could stack the clothespins. Once the got the hang of it, it was simply meeting the height requirement and then trying to balance the objects on the tower without knocking it over. This was definitely a challenge for them, but so worth the productive struggle! This week was Rock Your School Week, and boy did we rock out our kickoff to Toy Story STEAM Mania in our STEAM classes! I am planning on doing a Toy Story STEAM Mania theme over the next couple of weeks with my Y5, T1, and 4th grade classes, so this was a perfect week to kick it off! In Y5 and T1, we started our Toy Story STEAM Mania off with some Potato Head Math. We started off with the Toy Story book and then practiced some of the number recognition and number correspondence skills that Y5 students were working on. We used the Potato Heads to practice some of those skills, and it was a hit!. Students were partnered up and then had to roll a dice, identify the number, match the number to a chart to find out what body part to add to their Potato Head, and then select the appropriate part and put it on the Potato body. We are really working on how we work with partners, use our words to share ideas, and how to share materials, so this was a perfect opportunity to practice some of those skills. We even had some time at the end to have some free play and design whatever Potato Head they wanted. In T1 we did the same activity, but then took it one step further to incorporate some of their math skills - patterns. After the number recognition activity, I told the students that they could build whatever Potato Head they wanted to - and they came up with some great creations! I told them that they were now the teachers and their Potato Heads were now their students. It was their job to teach their Potato Heads about patterns by building patterns with pattern blocks and explaining why it was pattern. The students really seemed to enjoy mixing something that was normally "play" with learning - and it was so fun for me to see what they came up with they had the opportunity to be creative. EnglishSpanishThis year at our 3-5 elementary building, the PBIS teacher leaders decided to do school-wide celebrations about every other month. They usually pick six to eight activities in which students can spend some of their reward points to participate. Students who choose to participate get to select a room from their grade level options, and one of them is a STEAM option. The teacher leaders asked me to help them out with options for students in these rooms and I was happy to help out! As we are in the middle of our Toy Story STEAM Mania Unit with my 4th grade STEAM classes, I decided to design activities that fit with that theme so other grades could also have the experience. Listed below are the activities that were an option for each grade level. 3rd GradeActivity: Lego Mazes (Similar to the Lego Mazes we made in STEAM class.) Materials:
Task:
4th GradeActivity: Build the Longest Slinky Dog Materials:
Task:
5th GradeActivity: Lookout Tower (Similar to the Lookout Towers we made in STEAM class.) Materials:
Task:
I am so excited to be working with a 4th grade teacher again as I have for the past couple of years! We have been working to not just give students STEAM experiences, but show how STEAM can help them make meaning of the content they are learning. This learning in the classroom is so helpful in the students being able to learn in a variety of ways and see how classroom content is present in the real world and is important in developing life-ready skills. In the past, we have built in some STEAM experiences that encourage them to work on collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creative innovation while building their confidence. Right now in their Science class, the teacher is reviewing and expanding on the concept of invisible forces. They had done a couple of demonstrations and discussions in class about how there are forces that are present in an action that we don't always see or think of right away (for example, playing tug of war and the forces needed in pulling as well as your feet pushing against the ground or when you hit one end of a spoon, it will launch an object, but then that object raises and lowers in the air). For this STEAM activity, we had them build another example of invisible forces - by building bridges! The materials students were given were:
With their resources, students had to work in small groups to build a bridge that was at least 12 inches long and at least 6 inches tall. I think one of the most challenging parts of this activity for most groups was deciding on a common building plan and then breaking a large task into smaller parts. A few groups took right to creating a plan and everyone contributing to the building process. This is one of the things that I love about STEAM activities - it is so much more than just completing the presented task. Students MUST talk and work together in order to be successful. This is an important skill that is applicable beyond the classroom - and even for adults! By the end of our time, we had several groups that were successful and I know if they had more time, they would have improved their designs and made them even stronger. Recently, I came across the warm up "100 Numbers to Get Students Talking" and knew it would be the perfect lead in for the activity I had planned! In a nutshell, students have to take turns circling numbers up to 100 in order. They can help each other locate the numbers, but students can only circle a number when it is their turn. Doing the activity a couple of times, students may pick up that there is a pattern when they are circling the numbers. My purpose in doing this activity was to get students talking to one another, encouraging each other, and hopefully doing some critical thinking. They might notice that there are patterns in where the numbers are located on the sheet. I never said it was a competition nor was it intended to be, but man, the students were sure competitive! They wanted to have the highest score in the class, and those groups who worked together definitely were successful! I wanted to do this as a little warmup so that as they started working on their main activity for the day, they would understand that identifying and building with patterns is very important. For their activity for the day, I asked the students to use Straw Builders to build the tallest free standing tower. This is a great activity for getting a group of students to work together towards a common goal. It seems like every time I do this activity, it starts out with students working individually on "something" and think that it will magically work with everyone else's "something." When they realize it doesn't work that way, they usually end up taking most things apart and start building from scratch together. Like the math warm up, those groups that started off working together made best use of their ideas, time, and resources. Several groups did not have enough time to build a free standing structure - they had a lot of experimenting and rebuilding and either their towers were not that tall or they had a hard time coming to a consensus for how to build. Even if their tower wasn't the tallest, I heard a lot of great conversations as I was walking around the room. They might not realize it now, but their communication and collaboration in a group setting will take them further than individual work. My little students have been showing some responsibility with using materials as well as taking care of them, so I thought I would try something that I know they would find super exciting. A book, a black light, a chameleon, and some fun glow in the dark/black light reactive activities for the win! We started out by reading the story Neon Leon by Jane Clarke. This is such a fun story about a chameleon trying to fit in despite being so bright. The students were fascinated by the black light ("but Mrs. Wood, why is the black light purple?") and how their clothes changed color when they were by the light. Main ActivitiesChameleon Cut OutsAfter reading the story, the first thing we did was a little scavenger hunt. I gave each student a chameleon card and asked them to walk around the room holding their chameleon up to different things in the room. Our chameleons blended in to everything! To make the chameleon for students to explore their surroundings with, I found an image of a chameleon on The Noun Project (my go-to for simple images!). I then made a template using Cricut Design Space to cut out the rectangles and chameleons. With a quick lamination and cut, they were ready to go! Glow in the Dark NecklacesAfter our little scavenger hunt, student made a necklace that had neon beads as well as UV reactive beads. These beads were just like chameleons - they change based on the lighting around them! This was a great fine motor activity for the students and they had something to walk away with to share with their parents at home. Free Play ActivitiesAs I am still learning about this group of young students, I am trying to incorporate some free play time at the end of all of our activities. This allows them to use the materials we had as part of our lesson in a way that is meaningful and creative in their own way. This also gives them opportunities to communicate and collaborate together to build new things. For the free play time this week, I wanted to introduce some resources that interact with the black light. The kiddos had a blast! Stacking Number BlocksThese blocks are not the traditional wooden SumBlox. I have some and students really like them, but often are frustrated with the number 4 in particular. I looked on Thingiverse and actually found some Stacking Numbers, resized them so they are a bit larger (for the little hands and big thinkers!) and could work interchangeably (for the most part) with the wooden numbers. I love how these numbers help students make visual connections between numbers! These can be downloaded from Thingiverse if you would like to print your own! Glow in the Dark Magnet TilesLast week I used the Magnet Tiles with this group of students and to say they enjoyed them would be an understatement. I only have a small set of the glow in the dark Magnet Tiles, but know what a hit they are for students (especially under the lights) makes me want to get a few more sets so more students can experience them. Stacking PeopleI have seen the amazing wooden Flockmen before and love the open-ended play that they provide. I do not have any of the wooden ones, but found the dimensions on their website, so I 3D printed some. I opted to print them in glow in the dark or neon filament so that they can be used in regular classroom lighting as well as Glow Days. Are they perfect? No. Did the students love them? Yes! These can be downloaded from Thingiverse if you would like to print your own! |
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