STREAM Newsletter Fall/Winter 2022

Our Vision:

The STREAM committee is dedicated to developing a program that is inquiry based and that will develop students into confident, self-directed learners. In a safe and supportive environment our students will be engaged in a group problem solving with applicable solutions that develops independent thinking while fostering collaboration. Students will have opportunities to gain read world experience through community partnerships and internships. Our goal is to combine science, technology, research, engineering, art, and mathematics to prepare our students to be Life Ready.

STARTING FRESH IN 2023

We are dedicating our newsletter to starting the new year refreshed. Don’t wait until you’ve reached your goal to be proud of yourself. Be proud of every step you take toward reaching that goal.

20 Ways to Reset, Reflect and Refresh for the New Year

New Year's Resolutions for Teachers

11 Engaging STEM Activities that will Foster Curiosity

Teach Engineering

Try Engineering

STEM Resource Finder

We are Teachers

What’s STREAMing at...

ELEMENTARY

Chase School

Mrs. Furman’s class recently learned about habitats. Each student researched a habitat and then created a diorama to demonstrate what they had discovered.

In Mr. Scecina's classroom in September, the trout aquarium had been set up and closely monitored by students for water quality and temperature... the home was ready! Next came trout eggs, which hatched within two weeks. The alevin stage, where trout fry used their own bodies for food, lasted another two weeks before students began feeding! Now, they're entering the fingerling stage, and are quickly growing robust and healthy!

Ms. Kirk’s third grade class has been exploring life cycles. They began by dissecting a lima bean to learn the parts of a seed and their role in the life cycle of a plant. They planted pinto, lima and black bean in both soil and in plastic bags. The students measured and charted the growth for 20 days. In follow up lessons the students learned about animal life cycles. Then there were able to compare and contrast the life cycles of plants and animals.

Inspired by the book Balloons over Broadway by Melissa Sweet third grade students worked in teams to first design and then build their own balloons for the Thanksgiving parade. Students used balloons construction paper, tape, straws and craft sticks to make their creations. The “helium factory” was out of helium and they were allowed to use only craft sticks and straws to keep their floats aloft. After some frustrating moments each team was able to reach their goal. The class later discussed the challenge and voted for their favorite balloon.

Rutherford School

October was "legendary" in KLR as students in Mrs. Murray's Library classes learned about legends and read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving. After reviewing the design app, Makers Empire, students worked together to create a character, scene or symbol from the story! Mrs. Jamin was able to help to collaborate and facilitate printing some designs using the 3-D printer to bring the story to life!

Ms. Langro’s fifth grade class has been very busy this fall! They conducted leaf chromatography experiments to learn why leaves change color in the fall. The students and Ms. Langro worked together to design and create a bulletin board to display their findings. To continue their exploration of plant life, they are giving hydroponic gardening a try. They have started growing lima beans without soil. They will be tracking the growth of the plants.

After reading the book Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet that tells the story of the puppeteer who created the first balloons for the Macy’s parade, Mrs. Langro’s class designed and created balloons for their own Thanksgiving parade.

RJK Middle School

At RJK, as part of the STEAM curriculum, we have developed a bi-monthly STEAM Family Project concept in which the 6th grade students are required to work on a project with a family member(s). It is a terrific way to connect critical higher-level thinking processes between school and home. Projects vary to promote inductive (inventive) thinking skills that will result in a wide variety of end product designs to deductive thinking skills that instruct students to create similar products using their choice of designs and materials. As students construct their creations, they are encouraged to plan, test, and improve designs to the best of their ability.

Project instructions are simple and require nothing more than items around your home, such as paper goods, materials from nature, and basic crafting supplies. Students are allowed to design and construct their project on his or her own, or with the assistance of family members. Students were asked to create a model of a building or shelter and present their project in class. Some questions were provided to help stimulate higher level STEAM thinking. For examples, What can your project be used for? What purpose does it serve? What problem could your project solve? How can you test your project to see how it works? How can you improve your project to make it better?

As students presented their project, they were required to answer the following questions: What did you create? What materials did you use? Which intelligences or “smarts” did you use while designing and creating this project? (pictures/art, nature, music, self, people, logic/math, and science body, word)? How is your project useful? What problem could it solve? What is your favorite thing about your project? What was most challenging about this project? What would have done differently if you were to do this project again?

Monticello High School

In our IT Journey course, AP Computer Science Principles, students are making a password generator which creates passwords given specific requirements. The picture above is part of a student's code, written in Scratch, to accomplish the task. Students in every IT Journey course are assigned projects which involve tasks that IT workers perform every day.

Our SUPA Physics class explores the principles of projectile motion in a classic physics example, "Feed the Monkey". Can you predict where to aim the food? A zookeeper wants to feed a monkey that refuses to come down from a tree. They decide to slingshot the food to the monkey. At the moment the zookeeper releases the banana from the slingshot, the monkey decides to let go of the branch. In order for the banana to reach the monkey as it is falling, should the zookeeper aim above, at, or below the monkey? Email me to find out! kkeesler@k12mcsd.net.

The Principles of Health Science class presents their lapbook projects on health-related careers in the "Career Exploration" unit. This course, consisting of mainly tenth grade students is far exceeding expectations!

·

The Engineering Design Process is the heart of STREAM

Engineering Design Process

Appreciate

Credits:

Created with an image by Alex Stemmers - "Alley of snow covered trees and the road in November. Winter wonderland in Riga, Latvia."