Over the summer as I was starting to think about the beginning of the school year, I started thinking about possibly putting on a STEAM Night. We have STEAM classes at the middle school and just added it for K-5, so I thought it could be a good opportunity to share with parents what STEAM looks like in the classroom. After thinking it over a bit and starting to formulate an idea for how it might look, I proposed the idea of a Family STEAM Night to our 3-5 principal and Assistant Superintendent. They were both on board, so the planning began!
I had attended a STEAM Night in my own children's district last year, and really liked the format of the evening. It was set up "school carnival" style where you could easily move from room to room exploring different activities. This easily allowed you to try a variety of new things and revisit things that were already familiar - and you were not committing yourself to one room for the whole evening. So, I reached out to some of our teachers and coaches/specialists in the district and asked them if they would like to lead/facilitate a room based on their area of expertise. I filled in most of the remaining rooms in the building with a variety of activities that had been explored in STEAM classes. I also worked with our high school Spanish teacher (who leads the Spanish Club) to incorporate a culturally responsive room that was designed and led by the Spanish Club.
Take a look below at some videos, pictures, and activity descriptions for what we incorporated into our first Family STEAM Night!
I had attended a STEAM Night in my own children's district last year, and really liked the format of the evening. It was set up "school carnival" style where you could easily move from room to room exploring different activities. This easily allowed you to try a variety of new things and revisit things that were already familiar - and you were not committing yourself to one room for the whole evening. So, I reached out to some of our teachers and coaches/specialists in the district and asked them if they would like to lead/facilitate a room based on their area of expertise. I filled in most of the remaining rooms in the building with a variety of activities that had been explored in STEAM classes. I also worked with our high school Spanish teacher (who leads the Spanish Club) to incorporate a culturally responsive room that was designed and led by the Spanish Club.
Take a look below at some videos, pictures, and activity descriptions for what we incorporated into our first Family STEAM Night!
Videos
Welcome
I really wanted the Family STEAM Night experience to begin even before people stepped foot in the door. One simple way to do this was through chalk! I had students who were helping set up take a container of chalk outside and get creative. My only directions were to make sure it was appropriate and welcoming. They did a great job of using the space and making sure everyone was welcome even before they entered the building. We also had the night publicized on the digital sign out front, so between the chalk, sign, people, and cars, you could not miss that something was taking place at school that night!
Another small welcoming sign that I felt was very important was a photo release statement. Basically, I wanted everyone know that they were welcome, but we also wanted to be able to capture the fun and learning that was taking place. We provided pink paper bracelets that people could choose to wear if they did not want to be on video or photographed. It was great for our student and staff photographers and videographers to quickly place themselves in a room to protect the privacy of others while still capturing the essence of the evening.
Another small welcoming sign that I felt was very important was a photo release statement. Basically, I wanted everyone know that they were welcome, but we also wanted to be able to capture the fun and learning that was taking place. We provided pink paper bracelets that people could choose to wear if they did not want to be on video or photographed. It was great for our student and staff photographers and videographers to quickly place themselves in a room to protect the privacy of others while still capturing the essence of the evening.
Toy Story STEAM Mania - Andy's Room
The Toy Story STEAM Mania rooms were an extension of the Toy Story STEAM Mania activities that I had been working on with my Young 5s, Transitional 1st, and 4th grade STEAM classes. For Family STEAM Night, I took it a step further to really set the stage to engage and did a room transformation. When you walked into the classroom, you had the feeling of Toy Story and being in Andy's room. It was great hearing the comments from people as they walked in to the room and were totally surprised by the atmosphere.
The activities that we had in this room were:
The activities that we had in this room were:
- Mr. Potato Head Math - Kids could practice math skills through using dice and Mr. Potato Head characters. The great part of this activity was that while school-aged children were practicing their math with their parents, their younger siblings were employing their fine motor skills in learning how to fit the pieces of the Potato Heads together.
- Storytelling and Imaginative Play - For this area, we had a container of Toy Story books (in English and Spanish) and Toy Story characters. Kids could read a story with their parents and then re-enact the story or simply enjoy making up their own story with the characters.
- LEGO Building - For this area, there were LEGO glasses, baseplates and marbles for LEGO mazes, and LEGOs for free building.
- Discovery Zone - In this area of the room, we had Tinker Toys and the game of Twister. I wanted a free play area where kids and their families could freely play, experiment, and maybe try new things that they haven't done before. The focus of this area was simple - creativity and confidence!
Toy Story STEAM Mania - Pizza Planet
The activities that we had in this room were:
- Engineering a Lookout Tower - This was a fun activity that we had previously done in STEAM class. I did not provide constraints during Family STEAM Night as I did in class, as to really encourage kids and their parents to dive into building with materials that they might not have previously thought to build with.
- Build a Forky or Alien - This was a craftivity that was set up where kids could design their own Forky or Alien. I had found a similiar idea online which involved students tracing their hand and then cutting it out, but I thought that it might take too much time and detract from being successful with the activity. I precut a bunch of hands with my Cricut on white paper for Forky and then a bunch of green hands with a dot on the middle finger for alien. Glue, google eyes, and makers were set out and students could design a Forky and/or alien of their choice! This was a big hit and it was fun walking around seeing kids carrying their unique creations.
- Bridge for Slinky Dog - This was similar to an activity we had done in a STEAM class. It is deceptively difficult, which makes a teacher's heart happy! Students had to build a bridge in which Slinky Dog could walk across.
Coding
This room was lead by EdTech Consultants Keith Tramper and Craig Steenstra from Kent ISD. We always love when they are able to come out and be part of events and help out with classroom needs - they rock!
The activities that we had in this room were:
The activities that we had in this room were:
- Dash - Kids and families were able to explore how to code with iPads to move the Dash robot through a maze of cardboard bricks.
- Micro:bit -Kids and families were able to explore coding on the computer to program the Micro:bit to display something that they designed. Kids loved programming their names and designs and then seeing them displayed on the Micro:bit.
Ozobots
This room was set up so that kids and families could freely explore the world of coding through drawing. We set out calibration and coding direction sheets as well as some example sheets (from the Ozobots website) and then simply let the creativity flow! I saw a variety of designs from simply exploring with colors and then more elaborate designs with different coding algorithms.
Picture Pie
The activity in this room was led by one of our elementary art teachers and was based off the book, Picture Pie by Ed Emberley. Kids and their families used paper circles that they folded, cut, and then glued to make works of art. This was a great activity to combine fractions and art!
Hoop Flyers
In this room, kids and their families had the opportunity to build Hoop Flyers. Hoop Flyers put a twist on the traditional paper airplane and use strips of paper to create hoops that are attached to a straw. Varying the kind of paper used, length of the straw, or adding weight (such as paper clips) changes how the hoop flyer will glide. It is a great way for kids to jump in to the design process and work through revisions so that it will fly.
Robotics
Our high school Robotics Team lead this room with one of their coaches. They brought some of their smaller robots (not the large 8+ foot one!) for students to try moving, picking up blocks, and seeing how a robot works. They also shared information with parents with how the Robotics Team works, how they attend competitions, and what students can look forward to as they move towards high school. One of the really awesome things that they did was brought one of their tool sets, a bunch of screws and nuts, and let kids learn how tools work, how a nut can be screwed on to a screw, and how the different tools have different functions in building their robots. I am so grateful they were able to share all of their awesome work with the community!
3D Pens
This was definitely a popular room throughout the evening for everyone (parents included!). I love 3D pens as it provides an easy way for kids to understand that in order for something to be 3D printed, it must be printed in layers. This helps them understand why some 3D printer jobs take a really long time to print. I saw many people using some of the templates we had, creating representations of their names, animals, jewelry, and even a fantastic Starry Night image!
Storybook STEAM
The activities in this room were designed by some of our AMAZING ELL and Literacy coaches.
The activities that we had in this room were:
The activities that we had in this room were:
- The Three Little Pigs - Kids and their families could build houses out of Dots candy and toothpicks to try and protect their (paper) pig. They are so super creative and even decorated the fan so it looked like the big, bad wolf!
- Tornadoes - For this activity, books from Scholastic were used (and came with the water bottle connectors). Teachers read and shared facts about tornadoes as kids and their families experienced making tornadoes with plastic bottles.
- Chica Chica Boom Boom - There were several activities that went with this book. One was that kids could build a tree with pattern blocks and then put popsicle sticks on top in which they could try and balance as many letters as possible on their tree. There were also four small activity stations set up that focused on aspects of literacy (phonemic awareness, phonics, reading comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary)
Button Making and Engineering
We were so grateful that our local library, the Kent District Library, was able to be part of our event! They are so awesome and we always love it when they can be part of our special events and promote literacy and the many resources that a public library offers.
The activities that we had in this room were:
The activities that we had in this room were:
- Button Making - Kids and their families could design their own buttons (or pick an image from a weeded book from their collection). This was a popular throughout the evening and I saw so many creative buttons as people were walking around throughout the evening!
- Goobi and Playstix - Kids and their families could engineer unique creations using different building tools. I love when new things can be shared and everyone has fun learning how to use it!
STEAM in Physical Education
As I was thinking about activities for the evening, I wanted to make sure that we had some kind of activity that allowed kids to move around. Insert physical education here! I think this was great to show kids and families that something that might appear as just "playing around" actually involves a lot of science and math! I found some activities on the S&S Blog and I knew they would be the perfect addition! Our AWESOME elementary P.E. teachers were so gracious to oversee the room. This was definitely a hot spot for the evening!
The activities that we had in this room were (as found on the S&S Blog):
The activities that we had in this room were (as found on the S&S Blog):
- Leaning Tower of Cups
- Launch Me
- Put Your Heart Into It
Math Games
This room was lead by our SUPER elementary Math Coaches. They came up with some great ways to incorporate math in a fun way (it was often heard from parents in this room that, "This is not math!"). Their activities were centered around geometric puzzles (tangrams, pattern blocks, 3-d shapes) in order to reach a large age range (a few puzzles will be quite challenging for adults while remaining accessible to young kids) and emphasize the critical thinking and trial and error parts of mathematics that often get overlooked. Mathematicians think long and hard about the problems they encounter and often have to look at it from a different perspective to get out of a rut.
They also created a communal Sierpinkski Triangle (fractal) with each participant being represented in the whole piece by a tetrahedron they decorated to represent themselves.
They also created a communal Sierpinkski Triangle (fractal) with each participant being represented in the whole piece by a tetrahedron they decorated to represent themselves.
Lotería
This room was a special part of the evening. In our district, we are working on being culturally responsive in our teaching and student learning, and as it is a district focus, I wanted to make sure that this was part of our Family STEAM Night. Our high school Spanish Club planned to facilitate two rooms of Lotería, a type of Mexican bingo that many of our families play when together with their extended families. Students in the Spanish Club led games throughout the evening and did an awesome job of decorating and facilitating the game so that it was fun for everyone - whether you play Lotería every week or have never played before!
Glow Games
Glow Rooms are one of my favorite activities to do in the classroom, as it completely changes the environment with simply lighting. What is included beyond the lights really puts the learning in a new "light"! Based on survey results and from observations, this room was ranked the top as far as favorites.
The activities that we had in this room were:
The activities that we had in this room were:
- Bioluminescence - For this station, we had a sign with "Bioluminescence" on it and explaining what it is, and then a fun coloring activity to bring the idea to life. I had found some STEAM-related doodles online in which I projected and traced to create a giant coloring page (I am not the best at free-handing this kind of thing!). I also included the topics from our 6C Learner Profile (Collaboration, Communication, Content, Critical Thinking, Creative Innovation, and Confidence) in English and Spanish. Kids LOVED coloring with highlighters and bringing this image to life!
- Necklace and Bracelet Building - A great activity for fine motor skills and creativity, kids and their families were able to design their own necklaces or bracelets with yarn, letter, neon, and glow in the dark beads.
- Engineering and Building - These activities allowed students to practice engineering/building skills as well as critical thinking and confidence in playing games. I love using games in the classroom for student engagement, so giving them opportunities to play and build background knowledge for use in the classroom is fundamental. We had giant Jenga, giant Connect 4, neon building bricks (like LEGOs), and neon Plus Plus.
Circuitry
I love when a complex topic such as Circuitry can be presented in a way that is hands-on and really help kids understand how electricity works. I have used these in STEAM classes and kids LOVE them! When setting up this room, we started with the resource geared towards younger students (Power Tiles Circuits), then moved to the Snap Circuits, and then the littleBits (geared towards upper elementary students). This allowed the people to take what they had learned and use that knowledge as they moved up in complexity across the room. Without a doubt, the Snap Circuits fan challenge is always a hit because when you turn off power to the circuit, it sends the fan flying into the air. Who wouldn't enjoy that?!
The activities that we had in this room were:
The activities that we had in this room were:
Food
Last, but DEFINITELY not least, we offered food for sale (the only thing throughout the evening that had a cost associated with it). We all know that food is love, and when an event at school falls during dinner time, we wanted to make sure that we were providing an option for families so they did not have to choose between having a meal and attending an educational event at school - they could do both! We sold authentic tamales (so delicious!), drinks, snacks, and candy.
Last Thoughts
This was the first Family STEAM Night that I had organized and implemented, so there are definitely things I learned that worked well and areas that need improvement for next time. We had a fantastic turnout and I was so excited that we were able to provide this learning opportunity for our community. This night would not have been possible without the AMAZING teachers, staff, and students who volunteered their time and talents. For the most part, students were running the rooms and quickly became experts on the areas that they were in charge of for the night. I am grateful to be surrounded by a community that made this evening possible - I can't give enough thanks to them for all they did!
