LESSON IDEAS

Electricity STEM

Students in my class have been learning about electricity. I wanted to give my students an opportunity to share their learning and explore a little more using STEM centers. These were the activities students had to choose from. They were allowed to build any project so long as they could explain the science behind what they made.

Paper Circuits http://www.instructables.com/id/Paper-Circuits/
Makey Makey https://makeymakey.com/guides/
Sew Circuits
Squishy Circuits
DIY Circuits http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-Simple-Circuit-from-a-Pizza-Box-No-Solder/
Scribble Bot http://lemonlimeadventures.com/scribble-bot/
Circuit Playground https://youtu.be/exlRjDKHGRg
Snap Circuits http://electronicsnapcircuits.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Snap_Circuits_Projects

Straw Towers

This lesson was so simple and so much fun. We did it with our SK/Grade 1 Learning Buddies. The conversations about stability, measurement and best use of supplies was fascinating. Students were given 30 straws and 1 meter of masking tape to create the tallest structure possible. If students ran out of tape and needed more they could trade 1 straw in for 10cm. of tape.

Spring Break STEM

Students had fun with creating in these Spring themed STEM challenges.
Challenge #1: Spirograph Rainbow Art- using the snap circuits, build a circuit that runs the small fan motor. Then tape a piece of cardstock to the fan blade and use different markers to create a spiral rainbow.

Challenge # 2: Micro:bit Leprechaun Meter- Students were given the link to this lesson and created a "leprechaun detector" meter.

Challenge # 3- Stick Bot Animation Studio

Challenge #4 - MicroWorlds Jr Code a Story

Challenge # 5 and 6- Build a Wee Leprechaun Village in Minecraft or Lego
The village needed to have the following in it.

A Green House with a perimeter of 12 units.
Shamrock Market with an area of 14 sq units
Golden Gate Park with an area of 10 sq units
Lucky's Bakery wdith a perimeter of 10 units
Mitzy's Restaurant with a perimeter of 8 units
Rainbow Flower Shop with a area of 9 sq units
Leprechaun Police Station with an area of 15 sq units
Leprechaun Fire Station with a perimeter of 16 units
Add two more buildings of your choice

Challenge #7: Celtic Knots- This project allowed for my artistic kids to combine art and math. Find the original lesson here.

Challenge #8: Sphero Light Writing- This is something I have wanted to explore with students for a while and it finally fit into a project nicely. The full instructions can be found here.

Micro:Pets

We have been learning more about computational thinking in our class and how it fits so well with STEM. Microsoft has created this little 14 week course that the students and I are enjoying going through. You can find this resource here. This was the project form Week 1 and my students loved creating their little Micro: Pet.

Flight Part 2 STEM

This was a little bit of a Maker/STEM challenge. I asked my students to create a flying contraption based on the knowledge they had acquired over our flight unit. I was amazed by the different designs and how students really went back and improved their designs after their initial testing.

Movement STEM

Our Grade 2 class was looking at movement in their science curriculum and I was asked if my students could run some STEM centres. The four centres we created were:

1. Marble Run- Students had fun playing with the marble run I created by gluing popsicle stick together to create different ramps.
2. Blue Bot Mazes-
3.

Structures STEM

Our Grade 1 class was looking at structures in their science curriculum and I was asked if my students could run some STEM centres. The four centres we created were:

1. Natural Bits- What kind of natural structure can you build?
2. Pencils- Using 100 pencils what is the tallest structure you can build?
3. Magformers- students were given some challenge cards to try and build different structures.
4. Lego- students were given some challenge cards to try and build different structures.
5. Keva Blocks- create a structure using 100 Keva planks.
6. Kinex- create a structure using the Kinex pieces.

100th Day STEAM Centres

100th Day was a great opportunity to bring out some more STEM activities in the class. I created 4 centres that students went to visit:
1. Keva Planks- create a marble run using 100 Keva blocks.
2. Lego- use 100 blocks of Lego in your creation.
3. Pixel Art- using a blank 100 chart. Create a pixel picture.
4. Structures- using 100 index cards create a structure that can hold 100 dimes.

Flight Part 1 STEM

Students started their unit on flight by watching this Science Max video which covers a lot of great principals about flight. In the episode students learn how to make a paper airplane which we made and tested. We then built bigger models of the planes using chart paper and discovered we needed to do something to help the plane fly. Students explored with different materials and we talked about the pros and cons of using each of these materials to help build structure.

The second day of our flight unit we looked at Bernoulli's Theorem, Gravity, Lift, Thrust and Drag with some simple STEM builds.

Blue Bot Mazes

The Learning Buddies for my class were working on procedural writing and vocabulary. These Blue Bot mazes helped have students think in a logical sequence and use direction words like left, right, up, down. The younger student acted as the programmer and the older students had to act as the robot. Once the program was written students could go over to the Blue Bot station and see how the program worked using a real robot.

12 Days of Christmas STEM

The holiday season has arrived and sometimes something a little different in class is what you might need to keep the kids attention. My students and I did a Christmas STEM Challenge Day and here are the 12 centers they enjoyed

1. Make Your Own Spinner Toy- The students loved learning about colour theory and playing with these little creations. You can get the templates here

2. O Christmas Tree- students must work together to build a Christmas tree out of cups. However, they cannot touch the cups with their hands.

Materials: plastic cups (red or green Solo cups recommended), string, rubber bands

3. Santa's Sleigh- In order for Santa to be able to deliver presents to the children you will need to build him a wind powered sleigh

Materials: Paper, Straws, Scissors, Tape

4. Lego Christmas Build Challenge- Can you build these designs? Hint online are lots of examples

Mini Nativity
Santa
Candy Cane Ornament
Present Ornament
Snowflake Ornament
Christmas Tree Ornament
Rudolph Ornament
Nutcracker Ornament
Stocking Ornament
Sleigh and Reindeer

5. Elf Zip Line- The elf must stay safely in the vehicle for the entire ride.

Materials: Styrofoam cups, straws, pipe cleaners

6. Geoboard Snowflakes - design an original snowflake on the geoboard

7. Jingle Bell Challenge- Santa needs to sneak into your house can you design a jingle bell ornament that is quiet? I got this lesson idea from here

Materials: plastic ornament (the clear ones you use for crafts), jingle bells, tissue paper, pom poms, tinsel, bows

8. Pipe Cleaner LED Ornaments - http://www.instructables.com/id/Pipe-Cleaner-LED-Christmas-Decorations/

9. Santa's Sleigh Sphero- Students had to navigate the "sleigh" a.k.a get Sphero through a course they created.

10. Ozobot Code a Tree- can you code the Ozobot to light up the tree?

11. Makey Makey Christmas Carols on Piano- Using the Makey Makey piano. Play Jingle Bells.

12. Gingerbread Man Coding- Blue Bot

Cookie Conundrum

1. What is the tallest freestanding structure you can build with your Oreos?

2.Using only Oreos create a winter sculpture of some sorts.

Cardboard Christmas Trees

Candy Cane Caper

Santa wants two unbroken candy canes shipped to him. Your task is to design a shipping method that is light and will protect the candy canes.

Materials Allowed: 1 Paper Bag, Popsicle Sticks, Pipe Cleaners ,Tape, Scissors

Baking

My students since September have been asking for a cooking class. What better way to bring in STEM! Students first learned about the science of baking with this little video.

Micro:bit Snowflakes

This year for our winter concert our school was performing at a community light festival. My students were doing a dance to an electronic version of 'Carol of the Bells' and I wanted to add a STEM component to this. Enter the Micro:bit. Students coded the Micro:bits to create a falling snow effect. We then made duct tape headbands to make the Micro:bits wearable and voila a STEAM activity was made :) The headbands looked great in the dark and added something different to our performance. This is the link to the coding lesson we used https://makecode.microbit.org/lessons/snowflake-fall

Minecraft for Education Edition

Minecraft for Education has so many great teaching opportunities that incorporate STEM into them. My students love the fact that I'm not anywhere near the experts they are and that they can teach me something. Students also like the portfolio and camera functions that allow them to record their work and show me what they have created.
This book has tons of great lessons that use STEM and Minecraft

Remembrance Day

This year our school focused on a theme of Prisoner of War Camps. In my class I developed 4 centers that helped teach the kids a bit more about the topic but also had a STEM Twist. Here are the task cards.

1. Blue Bot Code Break

2. Great Escape Tunnel Experience

3. Build a Tool to Tunnel

4. Lego Model Build

Halloween STEM

I set up some SPOOKY STEM centers in my class to keep students learning on a day full of excitement:

Skeleton Bone Bridges

Pumpkin Catapults

Spider Web Ozobots

Halloween Lego

Make a Monster

Halloween Tangrams

Bat Wing Target

Leaf Collectors

I loved this STEM challenge because there were so many variation in designs.

Problem: You have too many leaves in your yard. Your parents want to remove them but you don't have a rake. Create a tool that could help you remove the leaves in your yard.

Materials: cardboard, straws, Popsicle sticks, string, pipe cleanergs and scrap paper

Tools: Scissors, pencil, crayons, tape

Apple Baskets

Fall makes us think about about apples and so I gave my class a challenge that had an apple theme.

Problem: You are going apple picking with your family, but you must bring your own basket. Design a basket that can hold at least 3 apples and has a handle

Materials: Strips of paper, string, 1 piece of paper, 2 index cards, 2 pipe cleaners, 2 brads

Tools: Scissors, pencil, crayons and tape

Turkey Traps

This was a fun Thanksgiving themed STEM activity we did just before the holiday weekend.

Problem : The turkey is tired of being Thanksgiving dinner. Come up with a trap to help the turkey use against the farmer.

Materials: string, Popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, cardboard, Lego, scissors, pencils, crayons and tape

Rescue Boats: Treasure Island

My students have been reading the book Treasure Island this month to prepare for a trip to see it at the theater. They have also been writing a journal about their time on an island that they have been deserted on after a plane crash and creating a map of their adventures on the island. I wanted to build some STEM links into this literacy project as well so I gave them the following task:

Problem: Build a boat to help rescue you off the island you have been deserted on. The boat must float and hold weight.

Materials: 1 toilet paper tube, 10 Popsicle sticks, 1m. string, 1 sheet of tinfoil, scissors, crayons, and pencil, weights (I used glass marbles from the Dollar Store), tub of water to test boats

The winning boat held 40 marbles and floated. You can see by the pictures there were lots of different designs

Saving Fred! First Day of School STEM

This is a favourite lesson of mine the first day of school. Right away the students have to use communication skills, collaborate with each other, create, and think critically. The students always get excited.
Problem: Without touching Fred, the cup, or the life preserver, can you and your partner save FRED using only the four paper clips provided? What would you do?

Materials: 1 gummy worm (Fred), 1 plastic cup (boat), 4 paper clips, 1 life saver (life preserver)

SPARK: view this video to introduce the task.

I didn't create this worksheet but here is a link to a free lab sheet for the students:
Saving Fred Lab Sheet