January STEAM Activities

Hello everyone!  I am back to write about my recently uploaded January STEAM Activities resource.  The STEAM Activities have been a HUGE hit in my classroom, so I cannot wait to continue them for the rest of the year!!  The January STEAM Activities set also comes with five activities.  I again tried to incorporate every letter of STEAM's acronym (science, technology, engineering, art and math) throughout the month's activities.

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The first activity in my January STEAM pack is Times Square Ball drop replica for New Years Eve.

In this activity, students will use toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls to build the tower part of the Times Square Ball.  They will then use 1/2 of a 12x18 piece of construction (cut long ways) to make the sphere.  The construction paper will be cut into thin rectangles and taped together to be a sphere.  Students can decorate the ball (even with glitter if you're brave!) and the index card to show the upcoming year.
  There is a graphic organizer included to help students plan and improve their creations!

The next activity in my January STEAM pack is Martin Luther King Jr.'s new podium.

To make Martin Luther King Jr.'s podium, students will use 24 Popsicle sticks, a jar of play-doh, tape and a 3 inch x 3 inch piece of card board.  Included is also a MLK figurine so students can stand him up behind the podium.

Before completing the activity, you can review who MLK Jr. is by reading the informational sheet included.

 The third activity in my January STEAM Pack is  Marshmallow Igloos.

During this activity, students will use campfire marshmallows and tooth picks to build an igloo.  To teach more facts about igloos, teachers can read the "What is an igloo?" page.  This can be a tricky task, so there are differentiated options such as gluing marshmallows to a toilet paper roll instead.  After the students build their igloo, they can place the given Inuit figurines in and/or around their igloo.  

Next in the January STEAM Activities is "Snowflake Showdown."

Students will use a coffee filter, shades of blue markers and a spray bottle to create a sun catcher Snowflake to hang in the class windows.  Before beginning the project I inform students that every single snowflake is different!

 The final activity in the January STEAM Activities is the Google Classroom and Lego lesson.

 Students will start on Google classroom.  They will move the colored Lego pieces from the left side of the screen to the puzzle on the right side of the screen.  This will help them build January winter images: a winter hat, a snow boot, a shovel and a hot chocolate mug!

While the students are completing the Google Classroom lesson, they can color the graphic organizer to then visualize what each winter item should look like.

Finally, they can use the graphic organizer to build with real Legos!  The Google and graphic organizer are a great way for students to plan what to build!

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I hope these January STEAM Activities make Science class extra fun for you and your students! Enjoy!

January STEAM Activities

December STEAM Activities

Hello everyone!  I am back to write about my recently uploaded December STEAM Activities resource.  The November STEAM Activities have been a HUGE hit in my classroom, so I cannot wait to continue them for the rest of the year!!  The December STEAM Activities also comes with five activities.  I again tried to incorporate every letter of STEAM's acronym (science, technology, engineering, art and math) throughout the month's activities.

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The first activity in my December STEAM pack is "Snowball Fight Catapults."

In this activity, students will use Popsicle sticks, rubber bands and a spoon to make a catapult.  If your students are unaware what a catapult is, you can read the "What is a catapult paper?" to your students.  I also think it is beneficial to search "kid created catapults" to see a variety of catapults to get their minds working!

The students will use a blank piece of paper to create snow balls to catapult at the snow ball fighter template.  Included is a graphic organizer for building the catapult and a paper if you think that your students are capable of measuring the distances the snowballs go!

 

The next activity in my December STEAM pack is "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?"

 For this activity, students will use a mixture of baking soda and hair conditioner to build a snowman.   Teachers will begin by explaining what they will be mixing.  Students can use the graphic organizer to predict what they will be doing with the mixture once it's created. They will then build a snowman and use different craft pieces to decorate their snowman!

 The third activity in my December STEAM Pack is "Winter Wonderland building" with pipe cleaners.

During this activity, students will use the provided Holiday task cards and given pipe cleaners to build Winter and Christmas images.  Teachers will review shapes that the students see within the images and how they will create a 2-D image!

Next in the December STEAM Activities is the Christmas Tree Art.

 Students will use triangles and rectangles to build an entire Christmas tree.  After the students put the puzzle together, they will glue it on construction paper, and finally color and design it like a Christmas tree!

 The final activity in the December STEAM Activities is the Google Classroom and Lego lesson.

 Students will start on Google classroom.  They will move the colored Lego pieces from the left side of the screen to the puzzle on the right side of the screen.  This will help them build December images: a snowman, present, tree and sleigh!

While the students are completing the Google Classroom lesson, they can color the graphic organizer to then visualize what each winter item should look like.

Finally, they can use the graphic organizer to build with real Legos!  The Google and graphic organizer are a great way for students to plan what to build!

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I hope these December STEAM Activities make Science class extra fun for you and your students! Enjoy!

December STEAM Activities

November STEAM Activities

Hello!  I cannot believe that October is almost over! The days can be long, but the months go by fast!

This is the first year that I am incorporating STEAM into my Science curriculum.  Many of my students told me at the beginning of the year that Science was their favorite class.  Then, as the year went on I heard "Science wasn't what I expected" from one of my students.  That was because our Science curriculum provided by the school is SmartBoard lessons followed up by activity pages.  BORING!  That comment gave me a swift kick in the you-know-what to create STEAM activities for our class.

I am SUPER excited about starting them next week.  Each activity comes with a set of directions, materials needed, how to activate prior knowledge and tips for the teacher.  My goal is to incorporate every letter in the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) acronym into each month's activities. 

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The first activity in my November STEAM pack is "Unbe-leaf-able turkeys."

With the Unbe-leaf-able Turkey students will go outside to find 10 leaves.  They will want to try to find as much of a variety of colors as they can.  When every student has 10 leaves and the class goes inside, each individual student will sort and graph his/her leaves.  They will then use the leaves to create the turkey feathers of the turkey template.

To activate prior knowledge before completing the Unbe-leaf-able Turkey activity, teachers can discuss the parts of a turkey and provided turkey facts.  The students will be even more excited about making them!

The next activity in my November STEAM pack is "Hayride Wagon Building"

 

During this activity, students will use parts of an empty cereal box (or any cardboard), a water bottle, four water bottle caps (or Ritz crackers), four toothpicks (or skewers) and tape to create a Hayride wagon.  Teachers will instruct the students that they will want to make a wagon that has the ability to roll.  Before having the students complete the activity, the teacher will want to describe the graphic organizer provided and activate prior knowledge by showing pictures of the hayride wagon.

  

 The third activity in my November STEAM pack is "Pumpkin Sun Catchers" or "Stained Glass Pumpkins"

During this activity, students will make "stained glass pumpkins" out of coffee filters, markers, green construction paper and a spray bottle.  They will color the pumpkin mostly orange, with a bit of yellow, and then spray the coffee filter with the water spray bottle.  It will create a tie-dye look and make it the perfect sun catcher for the window.  Included is a graphic organizer to discuss various aspects of the project.

Next in the November STEAM Activities is the Tee-pee Construction.

 Students will use a small amount of play-doh, a coffee filter, markers, two rubber bands and six Popsicle sticks to make a tee-pee.  They will first decorate the coffee filter and then build the tee-pee.   To activate prior knowledge, teachers can read the "What is a tee-pee?"page.  Students can complete the graphic organizer as they complete the activity.

 The final activity in the November STEAM Activities is the Google Classroom and Lego lesson.

 Students will start on Google classroom.  They will move the colored Lego pieces from the left side of the screen to the puzzle on the right side of the screen.  This will help them build Thanksgiving dinner dishes: a turkey (although it is a live turkey), a pumpkin, a carrot and a corn. 

While the students are completing the Google Classroom lesson, they can color the graphic organizer to then visualize what each Thanksgiving dish should look like.

Finally, they can use the graphic organizer to build with real Legos!  The Google and graphic organizer are a great way for students to plan what to build!

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I hope these November STEAM Activities make Science class extra fun for you and your students! Enjoy!

November STEAM Activities

Beginning Sound Cards

Hello!!  My apologies that I have been MIA on my blog, but sometimes I don't even know where my life goes?!

I have come to write about the beginning sound cards I use in my classroom.  I absolutely LOVE these cards because I use them for so many things!  In my Alphabet Beginning Sounds Sorting Centers product, there are 24 sound cards for every single letter and a sorting mats for each letter in the alphabet.  It has amazed me over the years how beneficial it is for my class when learning letters and sounds.

You can find my Alphabet Beginning Sound Cards: here

Here are the variety of ways that I use my beginning sound cards.

WHOLE GROUP:

The first way I use the beginning sound cards is whole group.  Every Tuesday (after we introduce our new "spotlight letter"of the week on Monday), we use the beginning sound cards to identify words that begin with our spotlight letter. Students are called up one at a time to identify a picture card that begins with the letter of the week.  This reinforces our reading strategies for figuring out unknown words:  they use Lips the Fish to get ready for their beginning sound and Eagle Eye to match the picture to the words.  After the individual student says the word on the picture card, we all together clap out the syllables of the word. The cards are hung in the pocket chart at the front of the room, along with the previous weeks letter to refer back to when needed.

CENTERS:

The current week's "Spotlight Letter" and the previous week's letter become a Pocket Chart center during Guided Reading centers.  Students remove all of the given cards and sort them together.  It is fun to see them play and clap out the syllables of the cards as they sort them.

TUTORING:

Another way I like to use the Beginning Sound Cards is for tutoring.  At the beginning of the year I assessed the student in my class that I tutor on letters and sounds.  Each week, we use different beginning sound cards to practice the letters that he needs extra work on.

I am so pleased, year-after-year, at how well these beginning sound cards have worked in my classroom.  I hope it helps you, also!

The beginning sound cards are a part of an Alphabet Bundle.  If you want even more alphabet resources click here.

**For advanced learners you may also find the Digraph Sorting Centers beneficial.  Find them here.**