S.T.E.M. Highlights
Friday, August 5th, 2016
Round I: The Bear Necessities
Here it is, people... your very first S.T.E.M. Highlights of the 2016 - 2017 school year!
What this includes: resources specific to each grade level AND aligned to your first unit of study; also, two additional tools pertaining to the start of the year (classroom setup + some awesome class management videos). Enjoy!
Grade Level Resources
NOTE: Only necessary to read and investigate your own grade-level resource.
TK & K:
Unit 1 for both TK and K is all about rote counting and numbers within 10. Check out this super fun activity relating numbers in object form to numerals. In brief, students see a card with fun objects printed (i.e. 7 little monsters) and have to select which numeral matches the number of objects. They're usually given three numerals at the bottom to choose from, the correct answer plus two close distractors (i.e. 6, 7, 8, for the little monsters example). Students can select the correct number by moving a clip (or circling) to indicate which numeral represents the number of objects. Idea: Print on card stock so they're a little sturdier, and have a parent cut them out at home.
First:
As your students engage in addition and subtraction within 20 and making tens, a SUPER beneficial skill they can utilize is subitizing! To subitize means to look at a small number of objects (i.e. within 10) and automatically "see" how many there are without counting. As adults, we do this all the time without thinking, though this is actually a skill we can build within our students that can save them loads of time + create in them better mathematical habits. Use these "subitizing plates," print on card stock so their a little sturdier, and show them to students as a fun and helpful math meeting activity.
Second:
We all know Unit 1 is about concepts of place value, as well as bundling and unbundling numbers within groups. We're providing two resources that simply need to be printed and stuck into a sheet protector (you'll NEED these this year). The first is this printable hundreds chart. If inside a sheet protector, students can use white board markers to identify ten more/ten less than a given number, as well as any number of patterns pertaining to tens and ones. Use this as a math board drill, or incorporate it into a "you do" practice. Similarly, use these printable ten frames during the "you do" with counters, so that students can actually manipulate and physically bundle ones into a ten.
Third & Fourth:
Since Unit 1 for both G3 and G4 involves rounding to the nearest multiples of 10 and 100, the resource for these GL's will be the same. It's very simple: a large, blank number line. Have a parent slide these into plastic sheet-protectors (a SUPER helpful teacher item), and BAM- your students can now use white board markers to label these number lines with the appropriate tens/hundreds, round accordingly, erase, and repeat for the next problem. These could also be used for ordering numbers within a certain range.
Fifth:
Among other things, Unit 1 brings with it converting between different units within a given measurement system. This conversion cheat sheet can be attached as a reference into homework packets, or printed out on the poster printer for classroom reference.
Shout Outs + Best Practices
Typically, this is where you'll find amazing video footage from our very own classrooms, inspiring photographs of our kiddos from the past week, or even a brief note from a guest-teacher / author.
This week, we have two SHOUT OUTS: The first goes to Barbara Powell, first grade teacher at RFZ, for her OUTSTANDING performance and WIN during our mental math show-down this past Wednesday. It's exciting that we're equipping our students with mental math strategies they can use in everyday experiences as well.
The second SHOUT OUT goes to our STEM Common Planners: Monique Castro (kinder), Albert Perez (first), Emilie Letourneau (second), Danielle Borja (third), Rhandy Siordia and Fairley Nickerson (fourth), and Mel Hang (fifth). These teacher-leaders have been putting tremendous time and effort into ensuring ALL our kiddos have high-quality lesson plans starting from Day 1. Keep crushing it, people.
Additional Tools:
Classroom Architect
Classroom Architect allows you to see exactly how your classroom would look if you arranged it a certain way.
The main point: to see if your carpet, desks, kidney table, bookshelves, etc. will all FIT the way you want them to. You can drag pre-made objects onto the layout, or you can just draw boxes to represent the items.
Helpful tips: when we experimented with this tool, we found that if you choose to drag pre-made objects onto the classroom "floor," you could not then adjust their size. What seems to work better is simply to use the "draw bar" to draw squares and rectangles to represent different objects in the room (you can also label them with the "text tool"). This way, you can choose exactly what size each object is and you can draw it to scale. Also, to delete an object, click and drag to the trash can at the bottom of the screen.
Rockstar Management 101
Our students need structure. Within these systems, routines, and habits, we are able to transfer more and more ownership back to them, in order to create outstanding learning environments within our schools. BUT, it begins with structure, and great structure begins with solid management skills. In order to see some great management practices and strategies (including most if not all of what you worked on in summer PD with your school leaders), check out this blog! If there's something specific you have in mind, just punch it into the search field on the right, or just peruse and you'll no-doubt stumble upon some great practices.
Helpful Links:
Mission Control - find out about your teacher benefits, perks, staff directory, summer PD resources, etc.
Box.com - where to find you "shared resource" folders, charts and chants, etc.; also where common plans are housed
Contact the STEM Team
Have a great idea you'd like to share with other STEM teachers? Something you'd really like to see in the STEM highlights? Please reach out!
Email: jrahaeuser@rsed.org