Launching STEM with Students!

     I am teaching STEM as a special for our students K-5 this year!  Most of the students (okay, all) have never heard of this thing called "STEM" and what it stands for: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.  To start the year I made a Prezi to explain what STEM is all about and what we would be doing in our STEM lab.  You can find the Prezi here.

     This prezi includes a video that describes in kid-friendly words STEM and how its beneficial for their future careers.  It also includes a project that I used to kick off the idea where students built a tower out of only 10 post-it notes and nothing else.  I used this project for grades 1-5, but found it was too difficult for students in kindergarten right at the beginning of the year.  I had the kindergarten students try to build a tall tower with cubes that was freestanding, so they had to make a larger base than just 1 cube.

     I also used the book, Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis, which is a good example of thinking of common things in an extraordinary way.  It's about an animal that is using a stick to go fishing, ride a horse, and paint a picture...all in his imagination!  Which is exactly what we do in STEM!!!  A toilet paper roll is not just a roll - it can be a racecar, a bridge support, a flashlight, etc.