This Week in STEAM

October 26-October 29

Early Childhood

Kindergarten continued with their coding unit this week.  

Next week they will begin working on another unit.  However since coding is important and helping Fuzzy is fun, students will be bringing home their password and log-on instructions to continue practicing.  (For more information on the Kodable program that students use please see last week's blog entry.) 

Kindergarten students are also encouraged to practice working with a mouse at home.  

Bees and Honey is a website we use in the Lab to practice the three main skills of click, drag, and drag/drop.

Lower School

Since October is All Abilities Month, Grade 4 started a unit on STEMpathy this week.  STEMpathy is a term to describe using empathy for those who have different abilities as guidance when planning solutions to STEAM challenges. 

@Namaste in School

This week students explored specific guided challenges and build solutions using Zometools.  

Virtual Learners used materials at home to complete the challenge.
Emmet used Legos for his solutions.

We discussed how it is harder to design solutions for differences in abilities that we can not see.  We discussed how during the Engineering Design Process we can use STEMpathy as brainstorm solutions and when we test solutions.

Grade 4 students will continue this unit during the next few weeks as they design an entertainment venue that is accessible and equitable for individuals of all abilities.  

@2017TheBestDays

Middle School

Grade 5 also completed their coding unit this week.  They had been coding in Scratch.  After the completion of their unit they worked on their digital communication skills by creating a pictorial presentation using Pixie.

Halloween Bonus

The following claymation video is posted for you to enjoy.  It was created by two Seventh Grade students, Tyler and Sophia.

This Week in STEAM

 October 19 - October 22

Another short week but still we are still "full STEAM ahead"!

Early Childhood

PreKindergarten and Kindergarten students have been developing their coding skills.  Students use a program called Kodable where they must create graphic code to help their Fuzzy friend through a maze.  The code blocks are simple directional arrows.  

Students learn that coding must be done one step at a time. PreKindergarten uses the iPad to code while Kindergarteners use the computers this year.  

Kodable allows the students to advance at their own pace in a pre-reading enviornment.  Some Kindergarten students have begun coditional statements ("if/then") using color blocks.  For example, if Fuzzy comes to a pink block then turn right.  

After mastering conditional statements students then learnt to code loops and functions - all with graphic blocks.

At the end of this unit, students will be sent home with a letter detailing how they continue to practice at home. Students will not be need to purchase Kodable to work with Kodable at home.  They will have a Class Code which will allow them to access their school account.  

I have included a video link if you are interested in learning more about Kodable.

Lower School

This week the Lower School classes took a break from the standard STEAM challenges to try Halloween themed challenges.  Grades 3 and 4 tried to escape a virtual Halloween Escape Room by solving puzzles and math logic problems. 

Grade 2 worked on a Halloween Structures and Mechanics Challenge.  After learning about the science of fall and discussing the constraints of building with rigid K'Nex pieces, students designed and built structures which reminded them of Halloween.

A Pumpkin Carving Tool

A Werewolf

A Spider

A Pumpkin Patch

A Skeleton

Virtual Learners joined us to design from home.

Middle School

This week Middle School students are finishing their first independent rotations.  At the end of each rotation students complete a Self-Assessment.  

This Self-Assessment asks students to examine how they used their 21st Century Skills of communication, time management and collaboration during their project.  Students identify their strengths and area of improvement within each skill.  This process was designed to help students develop these skills through awareness and ownership.