STEAM Report
Innovation at Work
Singapore Math: Bar Models
I have been teaching the following steps to students when tackling word problems:
1. Stay calm!
2. Read the question.
3. Read the question again with an attempt to understand the problem.
4. Start with a pencil in your hand! Be a detective by identifying facts and clues by circling, underlying, and/or writing them down. (Facts tend to be numbers and clues are usually the words that let you know what to do with the numbers.)
5. Try to make a visual that represents the problem to help your brain simplify the problem. Start with what you know and then work one step at a time.
See examples of Bar Models below.
2nd Subtracting
basic facts
counting up
2nd Adding
counting by 100
3rd grade Subtracting
3rd Missing Number
Mystery Science
Each lesson begins with a mystery question, so the students are hooked from the very beginning. An outstanding real-world video with narrator lead the students through the Explore portion of the lesson. The narration stops frequently to encourage and direct students in The 4 C's: Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity. The lesson then leads to a well-planned Activity that allow the students to discover information for themselves, and then ends with a Mystery Assessment that includes a few key questions to help students make necessary connections.
This resource is free until June. Please check it out and let your science rep. know what you think!
2nd Grade STEAM
Mystery 1: How are Clouds Formed?
Students have been exploring and discussing how clouds form and what are they made of. This lesson also teaches the 3 states of matter and the water cycle. They have been able to use vocabulary that you have taught them in class and add to their understanding by making a cloud in a jar, watch skydivers jump though clouds, see the water drops from the clouds cover up the helmet cam lense of the skydiver, watch puddles evaporate in front of their very own eyes, and act out the process of the water cycle.
https://mysteryscience.com/weather/weather-climate-water-cycle#anchor
3rd Grade STEAM
Mystery 4: Where do plants Live Best?
Students used 36 different Plant Game Cards to explore various plants and their varied needs. Students had to take into consideration what adaptations each plant may have and which type of ecosystem/habitat that the plant would grow best in by meeting its needs.
https://mysteryscience.com/plants/mystery-5/adaptations-habitat/41?r=1498214
Mystery Science: Animals Through Time: Habitats, Heredity, and Change Through Time
Mystery 1: Habitats & Environmental Change:
Where can you find whales in a desert?
In this Mystery, students will explore the idea that the rock under our feet sometimes contains fossils. These fossils reveal how habitats have changed through time.
Student will also explore 3 types of fossils, types of ecosystems: forest/jungle, polar, ocean/aquatic, desert, and grasslands, types of animals that have lived and still live, their needs, what they ate based on teeth, and more!
https://mysteryscience.com/animals/mystery-1/habitats-environmental-change/31?r=1498214#slide-id-0
4th grade STEAM
Mystery 1: How did a Tree Travel Halfway Across the World?
In this Mystery, students will learn why seeds must get away from their parent plant in order to survive. Students will make 1 of 3 models to test. If their seed lands in the "Zone of Darkness", students will need to improve their model and test again until their seed successfully plants (lands) in a safe place where its needs can be met.
https://mysteryscience.com/plants/mystery-1/seed-dispersal/14?r=1498214#slide-id-0
Mystery 3: Light, Leaves, & Competition
Why do Trees Grow So Tall?
In this Mystery, students will learn the importance to sunlight to plants, which is collected by their leaves. Students will predict what will happen to seeds and plants in the dark compared to seeds and plants in the sunlight. Students will use visual clues to infer why the plant in the dark may have grown taller. What can trees/plants do to combat the competition for sunlight?
Knowing how plants respond to sunlight, students will build creative Grass Heads giving them faces, growing hair, beards, and style! This sure to be their favorite lesson of the year!
https://mysteryscience.com/plants/mystery-3/light-leaves-competition/69?r=1498214
5th grade STEAM
Mystery 1: Volcanoes, Rock Cycle & Earth's Surface
Could a Volcano Pop-up in your Backyard?
In this Mystery, students will explore the patterns of where volcanoes exist in the world today and where volcanoes have existed in the past. In the activity, students will use coordinates to locate volcanoes in different regions of the world to identify a major pattern of volcanoes known as the Ring of Fire.
So far, discussions have erupted about fault lines, Panagea, how islands such as Hawaii formed, trenches vs. cracks due to drought, the ocean floor features, underwater volcanoes, the layers of the Earth, the temperature at which solid rock becomes liquid rock (3,000 F), volcanologists vs. seizmologists, and so on.
https://mysteryscience.com/rocks/mystery-1/volcanoes-rock-cycle-earth-s-surface/53?r=1498214
Mystery 2: Volcanoes, Rock Cycle, and Earth's Surface
Why Do Some Volcanoes Explode?
In this Mystery, students will investigate how differences in lava types explain differences in the shape and eruption patterns among volcanoes. How does the thickness/thinness of the lava affect the shape of the volcano (shield or cone), affect how it erupts, and determine what type of rock will be formed. Students will develop an appreciation for the processes that shape the Earth’s surface.
https://mysteryscience.com/rocks/mystery-2/volcanoes-rock-cycle-and-earth-s-surface/55?r=1498214
MES Science Fair Judging
Monday, Mar 14, 2016, 08:00 AM
Mauldin Elementary School, Holland Road, Simpsonville, SC, United States
SIC Science Night
6:30 RMSC's Mrs. Romatelli will present "I Fought the Laws.... and the Laws Won"
MES Science Fair Awards will be announced! Presentation boards will be on display.
Vendors will also be present in the main hallways.
Monday, Mar 21, 2016, 05:30 PM
Mauldin Elementary School, Holland Road, Simpsonville, SC, United States
RMSC Science Fair Judging
Students who wish to participate in the oral presentation will need to be present at an assigned time.