Students designed some sort of transportation that would go down the hill as well as keep their little bunny mini eraser safe inside. We had many trial and error attempts where either the bunny fell out or the mode of transportation fell apart (or both). I was so impressed how the students did not get frustrated when things came apart, but rather picked up their pieces, went back to their table, and started fixing or redesigning. We found that larger, sturdier modes of transportation kept the bunny safe and didn't fall apart opposed to the smaller structures. Engineering for the win!
This week with my littles, we read the story Bunny Slopes. This book has been a favorite of my own kiddos for a long time, so I knew I would have to incorporate it during this winter season. I had seen several people share on Instagram about making a hill out of poster board and students designing something (I told my kiddos I didn't want to label it as a sled or something because I didn't want to limit their imaginations) to slide down the hill. I knew this would be perfect for my groups! I fancied up two pieces of poster board that I taped together with some trees, a mug, and snowflakes I cut out on my Cricut. I added a little "finish line" at the end (the colors coincidentally matched the blankets in the book!). Students designed some sort of transportation that would go down the hill as well as keep their little bunny mini eraser safe inside. We had many trial and error attempts where either the bunny fell out or the mode of transportation fell apart (or both). I was so impressed how the students did not get frustrated when things came apart, but rather picked up their pieces, went back to their table, and started fixing or redesigning. We found that larger, sturdier modes of transportation kept the bunny safe and didn't fall apart opposed to the smaller structures. Engineering for the win!
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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. Well, here we are already - the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year. It is crazy how fast the summer goes! This year my district is putting an emphasis on culturally responsive teaching. In a lot of ways, I think many educators are already doing some CRT as part of their daily teaching or part of their unit. One of my teacher besties recently completed her graduate program and wrote her thesis on CRT approaches and strategies. In sitting down and talking with her for a half hour, I had such a better understanding of what CRT might look like in the classroom and simple ways to start out using it to guide instruction and increase student engagement. The biggest take away that I had in our conversation is that "culture" does not necessarily refer to the culture of the student (Hispanic or African American for example), but rather the students' IDENTITY. Once it was explained in that way, something clicked and I knew I could start with something easy and small. When I met with my first 4th grade class of the week, I asked them to fill out simple quarter sheets of paper with their name, teacher name, and their seat number assigned to them. Then on the back, I asked them to write their favorite movie. By simply asking them this question, it shows them that I am interested in their interests and them as an individual. I told them this helps me get to know them, but also gives me ideas for things that we could do during STEAM time. They were all on board for that! The top ten movies from this class were:
With my second 4th grade class of the week, I asked them to fill out the same paper, but this time on the back I asked them to share what they would like to see in school and would make their learning fun. Their top responses were (in no particular order):
This was so insightful to me, especially some of the conversations I had with students later. Their desire to have games as part of their learning became apparent as well as their desire to be creative in different ways. I hope their STEAM time provides an outlet for them and I am able to provide different learning opportunities for them! The remainder of the class time we completed the Boats That Float activity. I think this is a great activity for the first STEAM time of the year as it allows me to move around and see how students interact with one another to complete a task. I frequently heard, "This is too hard!", "Can you tell us how to build the boat?", "Why does our boat keep sinking?!". It opened up some great dialogue as I was moving around and our wrap up at the end of class. I think they learned quickly that I am not going to give them easy tasks nor give them the answer. They were frustrated, but persevered! The fourth grade classes that I have been working with this year recently were wrapping up their unit on angles. They worked on defining and drawing acute, obtuse, right, and straight angles as well as using a protractor to measure angles. I thought this would be a great topic to work in a review activity with STEAM, but wasn't sure how I wanted to approach it...until I went to the Dollar Tree and saw the cutest little bunny mini erasers. I can't remember who shared it on Instagram, but I remember seeing a STEAM activity using clothespins and popsicle sticks to build a tower. I knew the bunnies would be a great addition to the resources they could use! I know these fourth graders are always up for a challenge, so I knew I could switch up the activity by telling them what I would like them to do (build the tallest tower possible that holds the most bunnies) with the provided materials (popsicle sticks, clothespins, bunnies), but then not give them any materials to complete the task. The looks on their face were priceless! Hello confusion, please meet irritation. I then told them they would have to "buy" their supplies from me by completing some task cards that are worth "Bunny Bucks." The looks on their faces began to soften a little. :) I told the students that they would each need to complete the task cards/Bunny Bucks individually, but the materials that they earned belonged to the group. Once they had earned their supplies, as a group they could then begin building their tower. I wanted to make sure that the students understood the content first, but also that their individual work contributed to the success of the whole group. We started with the clothespin Bunny Bucks (I did each set of cards on a different color paper to help the students quickly know which material cards they still needed to complete) and then the popsicle stick Bunny Bucks, and finally the bunny Bunny Bucks. The students did AMAZING with managing their time and resources. I asked them to turn in each set of cards and collect their resources before moving on to the next set of cards. It worked out really well and the students did a great job of coaching one another when they were having some struggles instead of just sharing the answer with their neighbor (we reviewed this first!). The creations that the students came up were awesome! It seemed that the groups all took a different approach and some were very secretive about their builds. I stressed with them that there is no "right" way to complete this task and they just needed to use their collective creative brains to find a solution. The bunny sandwich approach was highly entertaining, but obviously not the tallest tower!
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