The reality is not everything is pin-terest perfect. This week is one of those weeks.
My Halloween costume was a great conceptual idea...my team went as holidays...I picked New Years Eve. Here is last year's post of our yearly costume fun.
I had a great idea to use an old exercise ball covered in extra pieces of styrofoam to be the "ball drop" ball. Bella and Ben helped me but it did not stay glued and exercise balls just fall apart when cut. I try to remind myself that this is a great lesson/learning experience...
It is also a great reminder that we all have 24 hours...we must keep juggling everything...occasionally we accidentally or on purpose have to to drop a "ball". You can only juggle so many "balls" at one time.
I always reflect on what could be changed or improved when it doesn't work as well. On the costume, I would spray it with spray paint first, try a different adhesive, maybe use a different ball, and more...but you have to work with what you are going with at that moment.
In addition, parent life update:
This week was an insane homework/make up work week. I helped Ben for 4-5 hours on Sunday afternoon then 3-4 more hours on Monday night. He was behind in science and ELA and it is the end of the quarter. So this means CATCH UP TIME!
Plus regular homework all week with Ben (9th grade), Bella (7th grade), TJ (5th grade), and Lucas (2nd grade). Everyone has a STRONG opinion/feelings on homework. Many disagree with it...overall my children have a reasonable amount of regular homework....but two things make it go from normal to CRAZY 1 - AVOIDANCE and stalling. If they just did it when asked it would be much faster. 2 - Part of their "home" work is really completing projects and papers. Some of this is because we (my personal family) all work slower at school and some because I/we want them to complete quality work and they need some support to do this.
NOW ONTO STEAM!!!
First, I rearranged the room. 4 big tables with 6 seats at each. No more desks, mismatched tables, etc This means more floor space and equal tables for everyone. It seems like a great set up. No I did not get any AFTER pictures YET!! Here is the BEFORE!!
BEFORE PICTURE
K and 1 - are starting coding, working on counting/I Spy, and more...my science project was not working so I need to re-visit it and re-make it next week. I am trying to do small weekly science projects in K and 1. Pumpkin Jack should be back soon!
Another fun activity last week was the pumpkin stamps. We use the Color, Cut, Glue - then added potato stamps for extra pumpkins in our pumpkin patch. The magic of simple fall fun was contagious. Plus this worked on multi-step directions, algorithms, and more!
2nd grade finally finished their agamographs. Here is the link to the agamograph printable. This was a great lesson for on how to break down big projects into little steps and a lesson for everyone on how to stick with a challenging project. In addition, we discussed Sparky and fire safety, Kodables, and more!
Here is a brief video on agamograph - we watch just the first 2-3 minutes.
3rd grade is working a power point about simple machines - lesson one is how to get into TEAMS, open an assignment, and a little about power point. Then we search for simple machines images. The computer tries to use AIRPLANES instead of INCLINE planes. Plus WEDGE shows up as shoes not a simple machine. So this is a great set of lessons scrunched together. These are a few examples:
In addition, many classes did an upcycled pumpkin project that was inspired by my SHARENW group. It was not too challenging but lots of steps - still not sure of the best plan for teaching these steps.
I have been thinking a lot lately about this blog...about life...about my faith...I am following Tidy Dad on Instagram and on Friday morning he was talking about tough being a teacher is...this hit home!
I started this blog to document my journey as I created a STEAM program in 2016...6 years later...I am still in the same position.
It has been journey...but hoping to continue to inspire my students, families, and community.
This week I will share some of my educational wins from the past two weeks:
Apple Science Experiment - one goal this year is to do more science! Science is messy, material and time intense, but SO IMPORTANT!
2nd, 3rd, and 4th learned about the scientific method then discussed questions and hypothesis steps then conductied/reviewed my apple science experiment. The goal was to figure out how to keep an apple from turning BROWN!
Vinegar DID NOT work at all and lemon lime soda worked the best. I did forget milk on 1 day...Many classes really want to repeat the experiment with apple juice, apple cider, and apple cider vinegar. Teacher WIN!
Fourth grade also watched this cool Sci Show apple video. It was advanced science, but still cool to think about :)
Other fun lessons - fall Lego challenges for a variety of 1st and 2nd grade groups, first grade worked on scissor skills while creating an apple tree, and K read Leaf Man and practice using a leaf tracer...
Here are a few fun pictures from STEAM:
Wait until you see our agamographs, flying/ballooning spiders, pumpkin lava lamp, potato stamping, and so much more over the upcoming weeks.
I spent time today re-doing, re-thinking, re-finding new lesson plans!
I am re-invigorated and ready for 2 more weeks of October!
