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.

This Week in STEAM

 October 13th - October 16th

It may have been a short week but there was still plenty happening in the STEAM Lab.

Early Childhood

Nursery 2 friends completed the Jack in the Beanstalk building challenge.  Students were challenged to build a beanstalk tower to the clouds using foam blocks and shaving cream.  They explored how the shaving cream helps the blocks stick together while trying to build tall towers.

  

This is one of my favorite activities.  It seems like it was a hit with the students, too!

Lower School

First Grade explored boxes this week.  The project was introduced through a reading of the book "A Box Can Be Many Things" by Dana Meachen Rau.  

Students were given a small box and challenged to turn it into something.  The only tools they had were markers, scissors, small paper circles and glue sticks, and their imaginations.  

They created jewelry boxes, shark cages, rocket ships, houses, cars, ramps and even a time machine.

Middle School

Eighth Grade is working with Epiphany House for one of their service projects this year.  They will be using the skills they have learned in STEAM with the resources available in the Lab to create marketing materials for the Epiphany House.  This week the students met with a representative of the Epiphany House via ZOOM to outline the project.

The students are excited to work with the Epiphany House.

This Week in STEAM

 October 5- Octrober 9, 2020

Each week I will highlight work of different classes in each division.  This week Nursery 3, Grade 3, and Grade 7 are highlighted.

Early Childhood

This week Nursery 3 had a challenge based on the book It's Not Easy Being Big! by Stephanie St. Pierre.  This book features the familiar characters of Sesame Street and highlights the concept of comparitive size.  Students were challenged to build a wall from LEGO blocks and balance plastic animals on the wall from biggest to smallest.

Bigger and biggest blocks

I read this book last spring during remote learning to the Nursery classes.  The video is below.  It includes another STEAM challenge on comparitive size that you can try at home. 

Lower School 

Grade 3 took advantage of the nicer weather to have STEAM class outside.  They explored the concepts of flight this week as they were challenged to create paper airplances from three different types of paper to see traveled the furthest and stayed aloft the longest.

Lower school students also began work on coding.  They used Kodable and Scratch.  Students will continue to work on coding skills throughout the year as strong coding skills will allow them to work on more complex projects in Middle School.  Coding was introduced in class.  To help further develoip these skills, students will be provided with optional coding homework challenges and in addition to lessons in class. 

Here is an example of a coding project created in Scratch by 4th Grader Juliana.  It used block coding and loops.

Middle School

This week students in Middle School started individual rotations.  During these rotations students work a partner but each pair is working on a different project. These initial rotations feature a variety of challenges so students can work to develop their breadth of knowledge of the systems of technology.  In Grade 7 projects included claymation, website design, digital graphics through the creation of comic books, mechanics and structures using Zometools and K'Nex, and scientific data and analysis using Vernier sensors to test their design of insulated cups.  All projects are designed to help students grow their 21st Century Skills.