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Extend Your Read Alouds Through STEM and STEAM Explorations!

Presenter: Judy Ross, M.S.

jross.imaginethat@gmail.com

playfulteachingandlearning.com

Today we’ll explore…

� How to playfully guide students “into, through, and beyond” the text through “What if..?” and “I wonder..?” questions.

� How to incorporate creativity, innovation, collaboration, and problem solving- through STEM and STEAM explorations.

� LOTS of integrated, standards-based activities you can use “Monday morning” with your students!

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Taking Your Imagination Into,

Through, and Beyond the Text

� Into… Together we access prior knowledge, make predictions and observations.

We play with ideas.

� Through… We ask questions, make observations and connections, retell, and role-play.

We play with ideas.

� Beyond… We ask “What if…?” and “I wonder…?” questions, leading us to STEM and STEAM explorations.

We play with ideas, concrete objects, or both.

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Play develops creativity,imagination, and innovation.

“The truly great advances of this generation will be made by those who can make outrageous connections, and only a mind which knows how to play can do that.” (N. Jackson)

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Famous Players

What is STEM?(Ideas from Mr. Rogers)

� Science is…nurturing a sense of wonder, curiosity, investigation,

asking “Why?”- through everyday experiences.

� Technology is…a fancy word for “tools”.

� Engineering is…identifying a problem, thinking about solutions,

trying them out.

� Math is…more than counting! It’s mathematical thinking.

From Fred Roger’s Approach to STEM (Hedda Sharapan, Fred Rogers Institute)

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STEM Inventions!Can you identify the science,

technology, engineering, and math?

Through STEM and STEAM we…

� Promote play-based teaching and learning.

� Use a balance of literature and informational texts.

� Encourage project learning, and technology as a tool for interaction.

� Integrate subjects, and meet Common Core and content standards across the curriculum.

� We develop 21st century skills, and build close relationships within a dynamic teaching/learning environment.

� We set the stage for lifelong learning!

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Current Science Standards:Investigation and Experimentation

4. Students should develop their own questions and perform investigations.

4a. Observe common objects using the five senses.

4b. Describe the properties of common objects.

4d. Compare and sort common objects by one physical attribute (e.g., color, shape, texture, size, weight).

4e. Communicate observations orally and through drawings.

The Next Generation Science Standards for K

Forces and Interactions: Pushes and Pulls

K-PS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object. Examples could include: a string attached to an object being pulled, a person pushing an object, a person stopping a rolling ball, and two objects colliding and pushing on each other.

K-PS2-2. Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull. Examples could include having a marble or other object move a certain distance, follow a particular path, and knock down other objects. Examples of solutions could include tools such as a ramp to increase the speed of the object and a structure that would cause an object such as a marble or ball to turn.

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Marble Runs and Pathways

More Marble Runs

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The Maker Movement

� Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom

(Sylvia Libow Martinez & Gary Stager, Ph.D; www.inventtolearn.com)

� Tinkerlab: A Hands-On Guide for Little Inventors (Rachelle Doorley)

� Making Makers: Kids, Tools, and the Future of Innovation (AnnMarie Thomas)

� Loose Parts: Inspiring Play in Young Children (Lisa Daly & Miriam Beloglovsky)

Tinkering

“When I see something I don’t know how to use I immediately start tinkering with it. My mind doesn’t work like most kids. Instead of thinking basic (like the dog chases the ball for fun) I think beyond that (like what the dog is thinking). I look at where his eyes go and what he tries to do to get the ball.”

Megan Elizabeth Corette, Age 10

Hayden ID. Hayden Meadows Elementary

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“Makerspaces”: Hands-On Learning Workshops for Children

Create a Do Nothing Machine!

� Work with a partner.

� Create a “do nothing machine” with materials you have on hand.

� Be ready to share about your creation!

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Full STEAM ahead!What can you design with pipecleaners?

� Create something with pipecleaners.

� Will your design have straight lines, wavy lines, curves, spirals, zig-zags…?

� Be ready to share about your creation!

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Pipecleaner Designs

Shared Writing Idea: What Can You Do With a Pipecleaner?

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“What if..?” “I wonder..?” Extend Your Read Alouds

Through STEM and STEAM Explorations!

Story Categories

� Fabulous Fairy Tales

� Shapes and Blocks

� Just For Fun!

Activity Ideas

Fabulous Fairy Tales

� The Gingerbread Man

� The Three Little Pigs

� The Three Billy Goats Gruff

� Jack and the Beanstalk

� Rapunzel

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A STEM Idea to Try!

Engineering/Design Problem:

(K-S-ETS1-1)

What if… we created a flotation device to keep

the Gingerbread Man from dissolving, and help him

cross the river safely?

Can you predict the fate of the Gingerbread Man?

(We’ll check in on him later.)

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Build an Indestructible House for the Three Pigs!

� What materials will you use?

� Test the stability of your structure!

(blow on it, tap on it, shake the table, etc.)

STEM Kit Ideas

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The Three Billy Goats Gruff

How would you design a bridge strong enough for the three billy goats to cross and escape from the troll?

What materials would you use?

Jack and the Beanstalk

How would you grow a beanstalk and then support it so it would hold Jack’s weight?

(And perhaps the giant’s, too, so he could follow Jack and retrieve his things.)

What materials would you use?

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Rapunzel

How would you help Rapunzel to create a pulley so she could bring things up that she needs without using her hair?

What materials would you use?

Shapes, Blocks, and Engineering

� Shape Stories

� When I Build With Blocks

� Box Stories

� Jack the Builder

� Rollercoaster

� Engineering Books

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Shape Stories Explorations:Open House Displays

� When I Build With Blocks by Niki Alling

� A Box Story by Kenneth Kit Lamug

� Not a Boxby Antoinette Portis

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Story ScenariosWhen I Build With Blocks

Building With Floor Blocks

The Ice Cream Shop

Building With Recycled Materials

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� If it’s not a box, what could it be?

� Draw a box, and transform your drawing.

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Rollercoaster by Marla Frazee

Engineering Books

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Wheel Away!By Dayle Ann Dodds

Use a wheel or ball-shaped Tinkertoy piece, and make it travel a path.

“Oh, no, see it go”…down, through, in, over, under, across, between, on top of, on, in front of, in back of, climbing, slowing…back to you!

Tube and Marble Explorations

K-PS2-2. Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull.

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TK Problem Solvers

Wall Coasters

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What can you make with Legos?

Lego Maze

Just for Fun!

�Five Senses

Investigations

�Math and Science

Centers

�Art Center

Explorations

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Just for Fun!Five Senses Investigations

� My Five Senses (Aliki)

� What is a scientist? (Barbara Lehn)

� I Know a Scientist (Jean Feldman/Holly Karapetkova)

� I Use Science Tools (Kelli Hicks)

� Science Tools (J.A. Randolph)

� Simple Machines (Susan Canizares/Betsey Chessen)

What is the Scientific Method?

� Question: What do you want to know?

� Hypothesis: What might happen?

� Experiment: Test if your guess is right!

� Conclusion: Tell what you found out!

From I Know a Scientist by Jean Feldman & Holly Karapetkova)

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My Five Senses(Aliki)

see

taste

smell

hear touch

Five Senses ExplorationsMath and Science Center

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Math and Science Investigations

More Math and Science Center Investigations

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Art Center ExplorationsPlanning and Creating Art

TK Adventures with STEAM

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Art Explorations:Make a Beautiful Oops!

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What was the fate of the Gingerbread Man?

(Let’s check on him.)

“What if…?” “I wonder…?”Celebrate Curiosity, Imagination, Creativity, and Innovation!

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Share with someone an idea

you’ll implement from this session.

Conclusion

� Evaluation Sheets

� To contact me: jross.imaginethat@gmail.com

playfulteachingandlearning.com

� Thanks for playing- have a great day!