Tips for making your STEM lesson "STEM'Tastic".
Happy Thursday Friends!! Hope your week has been stress free, productive, but most of all FUN!!! While there are so many stresses and challenges we face daily, our little kiddos are always there to bring a smile to our face and satisfaction for what we do everyday!!
So, you want to make your STEM lesson Fantastic?? Well first of all, we would like to share that STEM is not only an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, but also a philosophy!! The STEM philosophy is one that challenges students to use their creativity to solve real world problems. It is also the realization that failure is the beginning of success!!
We love integrating STEM into our weekly routine. The most important things we have learned about incorporating STEM include...
Assign Jobs that ROTATE
Assign groups that are HOMOGENEOUS
Keep it SIMPLE
Rotating jobs are key!! The kiddos love being the Designer, Tester, Builder, and Recorder. Because STEM focuses on try, try, try, and try again, kiddos get lots of opportunities to participate in different roles. The designer draws the initial design that the group discusses, the builder puts together materials based on the design, the tester tests what was built, the recorder records all of the information on a recording form and sometimes even takes the digital pictures as part of the technology. We use cute little tags put in clear necklaces so that kiddos know their job and then can change jobs easily. The tag helps the kiddos remember their role!
Check out our simple, but cute tags. Feel free to click the image and grab the tags for yourself.
Homogeneous groups you may think will not work because you worry about your kiddos that may not be as strong as others. Prepare to be amazed. One time we created groups where some were meant to be the leaders and others the followers, but this was nothing but a disaster. The strong kids just did everything. When groups are not mixed ability, everyone shines. It was really funny with the group of all leaders. They really had to duke it out (not physically) to make sure each person's voice was heard!! We had one group of students who were super quiet and often struggled academically. Their STEM creations were amazing and their ability to do all the jobs was impressive!! Give all your babies a chance!! Put them with like ability peers. Let us know what you see/think??
Keep it simple by checking out TPT! There are so many awesome STEM lessons ready to go. We created a few and use ones on TPT because they incorporate some sort of real life problem based on a nursery rhyme or short story!!
Make learning fun and meaningful!! Incorporate STEM often!! We hope you love STEM as much as we do!!!
Thanks for READING!
Page and Cristy
Kindergarten Squared
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