I am back...after 8 busy weeks...let me start with an ah ha...
I was reflecting why I stayed in education through the stress of a pandemic and so much more...the students...the community...the families who are part of my family.
I stay late to set up for holiday events, text co-workers when a former student tries something new (a life skills student is playing basketball and educators love to hear about former students), research new lessons, and more!
SO why do I keep writing this blog...to document my journey, the activities that we are doing in STEAM, and so much more...
I went through a short phase where being an Instagram influencer sounded like fun...but I really am a private person and have watched many educators struggle with policies and procedures using social media...no need to complicate life.
I plan on keeping to share the highlights of STEAM :)
SO in STEAM, we have been busy with book fair, holiday concerts, and lots of lessons.
The traveling mural was completed as well...we decided on large paw prints ... it was just mailed...
And now we started getting pieces back!
DeSTEMber is also in full swing...upcycled trees, marble runs, gingerbread people, paper circuits, reindeer, and more!
Tessellation trees
Gingerbread fun
Marble runs
Reindeer
Dusk jacket trees
Balloons over broadway from November
Graphic design with vector (also in November)
Lots of fun...lots of learning...lots of reflection!
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.
