Blog Archives

STEAM Cycle 10

10/30/2016

We took a break from our STEAM units to take part in some Halloween-y STEAM challenges.

Kindergarten-Pumpkin Pile

We read Patty's Pumpkin Patch to learn about the pumpkin life cycle and life on a pumpkin farm. In the story, Patty sells her pumpkins in October. The students were challenged to fit 25 pumpkin candies into a small square of "land" by piling them and creating a fence of toothpicks.

1st Grade-Spider Legs

Students used their knowledge from the unit thus far to look at a spider’s habitat, the features of its body, and its adaptations. The students learned how to draw a spider web and created a spider using construction paper, pipe cleaners, and googly eyes.

2nd Grade-Ghost Lift

Simple machines help us everyday. Pulley systems can help us lift things that are heavy or a number of objects at once. Using a paper plate, string, and binder clips, the students worked to create a pulley system to lift 10 cotton ball "ghosts" from the floor to the top of the computer cart.

3rd Grade-Flying Ghosts

We've been talking about flight in terms of machines, but how can we make a paper ghost fly? Each student cut out a paper ghost and got a paper clip. The challenge was to make the ghost fly, and twist and turn like a tornado. The students used a STEAM journal to track their investigation.

4th Grade-Bone Bridges

Working within criteria and constraints, the students were challenged to make a bridge of bones (cotton swabs, craft sticks, and pipe cleaners). Using a limited amount of supplies, the students worked to build the longest and strongest bridge.

5th Grade-Creature Catchers

The students designed a device to catch as many “creatures” as they could over a given time and area, working against criteria & constraints with a team.

STEAM Cycle 9

10/15/2016

Kindergarten-Feet Work

Using Dr. Seuss’s The Foot Book, students learned to identify left, right, and other position words. The students investigated, compared, and contrasted different ways we use our feet to apply force.

1st Grade-Bird Beaks

To learn about how different bird beaks (a hair clip, chopsticks, a toothpick, and a spoon) work for different types of food, students experimented with 4 different utensils. They tried to pick up each type of food: Swedish Fish, gummy worms, pebbles (seeds), and raisins. Students determined the right type of beak for the right type of food.

2nd Grade-Compare & Contrast Properties

During our last session, the students used adjectives to describe observable properties. Using a Google Drawing, the students compared and contrasted 2 of the items and filled out a Venn Diagram.

3rd Grade-Rosie Revere-Sharing and Proofing

We continued work on our Flying Machine designs and Google Doc. The students learned how to share the Google Doc with a partner and offered proofreading suggestions.

4th Grade-Backyard Volcanoes

The students explored major volcano patterns around the world to make connections about where volcanoes occur. We used Google Maps to locate and save each volcano and note patterns. Technology skills covered: copy, paste, and saving placemarks on a Google Map.

5th Grade-Khan Academy (cont.)

Each student joined Khan Academy and participated in “The Hour of Code” mission learning how to draw shapes using code. The students learned new concepts using a talk-through, a step-by-step challenges to practice newly learned concepts, and work on a project to get more practice and be more creative with the skills learned.

STEAM Cycle 8

10/15/2016

Kindergarten-Knock Down a Wall

The students learned about small pushes in contrast to large pushes by following along with a Mystery Science activity. Through an online lesson, students learned about the type of push it takes to knock down a brick wall. They experimented with changes of force and direction to knock down plastic cups without touching the paper buildings around them.

1st Grade-Camo Habitat

To continue our unit on animal adaptation, students chose an image of an animal that uses camouflage and designed a habitat using markers, crayons, and paper pieces.

2nd Grade-Describing Properties

We learned about using adjectives to describe properties of different materials. Using a number of objects, students identified the colors, shapes, textures, and flexibility. Using a shared Google Doc, the students worked as a team to fill out the chart for each item.

3rd Grade-Rosie Revere (cont.)

We continued work on our Flying Machine designs and Google Doc. The students learned how to format the document and type a paragraph explaining the design.

4th Grade-Rock Cycle Presentation Review

Each of the groups' presentations were linked to Google Classroom. The students chose 2-3 of the presentations, watched them, and then commented about what the groups did well and a way the presentations could have been improved. Because this was our first presentation, some of the groups struggled to stay focused on the essential question and keeping the presentation serious. All of the students were reminded to keep these thoughts in mind for our next presentations.

5th Grade-Khan Academy

STEAM Cycle 7

10/15/2016

Kindergarten-Push & Pull Online (cont.)

Learning to log in to the computers can be a tedious process, but once the students have it down, logging in will be a snap. We spent another week working toward this important goal, but once in, students had the opportunity to explore push & pull through online games.

1st Grade-Hiding in Plain Site

We continued our unit on animal adaptation by learning about camouflage. The students were the birds (predators) and searched for worms (prey). After catching the worms (colored craft sticks), students filled in a graph that showed the number of worms caught and their color. We also looked at web images of camouflaged animals and searched for them in their habitats.

2nd Grade-Fry an Egg on the Sidewalk

The students followed a Mystery Science exploration about materials that insulate and conduct. They tested different materials to determine which material would be the best for lifting a hot pan.

3rd Grade-Rosie Revere (cont.)

We continued work on our Flying Machine designs and Google Doc. The students learned how to format the document and type a paragraph explaining the design.

4th Grade-Crayons Rock (cont.)

Igneous-crayons-rocks were exposed after we peeled back the aluminum foil to see how our rocks formed after being subjected to their hot water "lava" exposure. The students continued working on their presentations in Educreations on the iPads.

5th Grade-Catch Up

The students worked toward completing any unfinished assignments in Google Classroom. When finished, they continued their progress on Code.org and were able to play coding games with Minecraft, Frozen, and Star Wars.

STEAM Cycle 6

10/5/2016

Kindergarten-Push & Pull Online

Learning to log in to the computers can be a tedious process, but once the students have it down, logging in will be a snap. We spent most of our time working toward this important goal, but once in, students had the opportunity to explore push & pull through online games.

1st Grade-What if You had Animal Hair?

To continue our unit about animal adaptations, we explored the book What If You Had Animal Hair? by Sandra Markle as a class. Learning to log in to the computers is important for first graders too. We spent time practicing, but once logged in, students used Acorn (an app on our laptops) to take a selfie, then use the drawing tools to add animal hair.

2nd Grade-Mad Hatter (cont.)

After the 2nd graders finished creating their hats they started last time, each time chose a speaker and presented the hats to the rest of the class, showing us how they used absorbing materials for sweat, materials to repel water, and something to protect their necks from the sun.

3rd Grade-Rosie Revere

Rosie Revere is a clever girl that spends her time engineering. When she thinks others are laughing at her inventions, she almost gives up. Her great great aunt encourages her to follow her dreams and create a flying machine. After listening to the story, the students designed their own flying machines, and uploaded the picture of the design to Google Docs. The students learned how to format the document and type a paragraph explaining the design.

4th Grade-Crayons Rock (cont.)

5th Grade-Getting Loopy

The students learned about repeat actions, learning how to take a series of steps and turn them into a single loop. We began with actions and movement, then moved to Code.org for practice using loops when coding.

STEAM Cycle 5

10/5/2016

Kindergarten-The Biggest Excavator

Using MysteryScience.com, the students learned about and explored the movements required for big machines to push and pull, making our jobs easier. After we watched some excavators at work and engaged in discussion about pushes and pulls, the students drew pictures of real or imagined machines at work and identified whether the machine pushes or pulls.

1st Grade-Animal Adaptations: Animal Coverings

Students investigated different animal coverings to understand that different body coverings provide different types of protection. We participated in a scientific investigation, gauging the temperature of feathers, hair, and fur at room temperature and the same coverings after sitting on ice. Each student colored a bar graph to show the investigation results. After the investigation, students searched nonfiction books for animals and charted them by covering.

2nd Grade-Mad Hatter

Using MysteryScience.com, the 2nd graders learned about different properties of materials used for clothing. Through discussion we determined the main reasons (aside from the embarrassing ones, of course) people wear clothing. We also discussed the types of materials that are best for absorbing and repelling water. As teams, the students designed a hat to protect them from the elements, that could be made if stuck on a deserted island.

3rd Grade-Flight Test

For this cycle the students ran flight tests to see which type of paper airplane could fly the furthest and which could do acrobatics. The students each took turns throwing the airplane over a set of measuring tapes. They had to do some math to determine how far the plane flew. Looking at the average distances, students determined that the long, narrow planes went the furthest, while the short and wide planes were more about dips and turns. We talked about the types of planes we would see at air shows and watched the Blue Angels doing a few tricks, too.

4th Grade-Crayons Rock

The 3 types of rocks and the rock cycle were introduced using an experiment with crayons. Students learned how rocks are broken down, compressed, and melted to form sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks. Using Educreations on the iPads, the students took photographs of each step of the process, then made video recordings to explain the rock cycle.

5th Grade-The Copy Machine

As a class, the students explored drag and drop coding directions to draw shapes on graph paper. Once we had a basic understanding of how drag and drop coding works, the students created an account on Code.org and started going through the tutorials to draw shapes online.

STEAM Cycle 4

10/5/2016

Kindergarten-Cross the Finish Line

The students reviewed the differences between push & pull. Through investigation, we determined which object required more force to be pushed and moved across a line. We practiced recording our results on a chart.

1st Grade-Animal Adaptations

In this unit, students explored animal adaptations including protection, camouflage, food obtainment, and locomotion. To introduce basic animal needs and adaptations, we watched Magic School Bus: All Dried Up Desert Adaptations, then used Switch Zoo to remix and create a new animal that would survive in a chosen habitat.

2nd Grade-States of Matter Collage

In this unit, students investigated different kinds of materials by their observable properties. To introduce this unit, students learned how to create a basic document in Pages including changing the font and size. Using Creative Commons, students found and classified images by dragging them to the Pages Document.

3rd Grade-Introduction to Flight

This introduction gave basic information about airplanes and things that fly. Students gained a basic understanding of the need for wings in flight. Online, step-by-step instructions guided students through the process of creating a paper airplane of their choosing. Students chose their airplane based on time aloft, distance, and acrobatics.

4th Grade-Rocks & Fossils Interactives

When students finished their avatars and word clouds that we started in a previous STEAM session, they spent time online exploring rock & fossil interactive websites.

5th Grade-Human Robots

As an introduction to writing computer code, each group wrote a 6-step dance, using code to teach the "robots" (other students) the dance. We worked in groups of 3-4 with each student taking a turn at writing a code and being a robot.

STEAM Cycle 3

10/5/2016

My goal this cycle was to learn about and get better acquainted with the students, while still focusing on STEAM concepts.

Take a Selfie

Kindergarten & 1st Grade
We created our own selfie portraits on a smartphone template. Students drew a picture of themselves and created a background that illustrated whether the selfie was taken indoors or outdoors. Students used a variety of materials to engineer a base for the new "phone" that would stop it from being floppy, but still fit in a pocket.

Classmate Interviews

2nd & 3rd Grade
Students worked with a partner to record an interview in Photo Booth. When finished, the videos were uploaded to Dropbox.

Word Clouds

4th & 5th Grade
Learning how to upload a jpg or other file will be an essential skill as we use Google Classroom this year. Students had a choice of 4 word cloud sites to create a word cloud that used words to describe themselves.

Kindergarten-Pumpkin Pile

1st Grade-Spider Legs

2nd Grade-Ghost Lift

3rd Grade-Flying Ghosts

4th Grade-Bone Bridges

5th Grade-Creature Catchers

Kindergarten-Feet Work

1st Grade-Bird Beaks

2nd Grade-Compare & Contrast Properties

3rd Grade-Rosie Revere-Sharing and Proofing

4th Grade-Backyard Volcanoes

5th Grade-Khan Academy (cont.)

Kindergarten-Knock Down a Wall

1st Grade-Camo Habitat

2nd Grade-Describing Properties

3rd Grade-Rosie Revere (cont.)

4th Grade-Rock Cycle Presentation Review

5th Grade-Khan Academy

Kindergarten-Push & Pull Online (cont.)

1st Grade-Hiding in Plain Site

2nd Grade-Fry an Egg on the Sidewalk

3rd Grade-Rosie Revere (cont.)

4th Grade-Crayons Rock (cont.)

5th Grade-Catch Up

Kindergarten-Push & Pull Online

1st Grade-What if You had Animal Hair?

2nd Grade-Mad Hatter (cont.)

3rd Grade-Rosie Revere

4th Grade-Crayons Rock (cont.)

5th Grade-Getting Loopy

Kindergarten-The Biggest Excavator

1st Grade-Animal Adaptations: Animal Coverings

2nd Grade-Mad Hatter

3rd Grade-Flight Test

4th Grade-Crayons Rock

5th Grade-The Copy Machine

Kindergarten-Cross the Finish Line

1st Grade-Animal Adaptations

2nd Grade-States of Matter Collage

3rd Grade-Introduction to Flight

4th Grade-Rocks & Fossils Interactives

5th Grade-Human Robots

Take a Selfie

Classmate Interviews

Word Clouds

Jamestown Elementary

Ms. Baker

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