THE STEM CENTER
In Wayne-Westland 10/25/23
thestemcenter@wwcsd.net
The STEM Center Team
11-22-23
Check Us Out On Facebook! Wayne-Westland K-8 STEM Center
Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
National STEM Day was Wednesday, November 8th. We thought that would be the perfect day to celebrate the district STEM Center and cut the ribbon marking a day that will begin endless opportunities for students. Opportunities that will help them grow, and opportunities to realize new inquiries and passions that may lead them into their future careers.
Mrs. VanDoorne's Class visits the STEM Center:
Mrs. VanDoorne's POHI class visited the STEM Center this week. They not only practiced their coding skills, but designed their own courses for their mice, got a sneak peak at the planetarium, AND helped Mrs. Dickelman with a problem she was having with her Big Green Garden. Students helped Mrs. Dickelman make bird feeders to keep the birds and squirrels away from the STEM Center garden. Mrs. Dickelman plans to keep in touch and share her data collection with Mrs. VanDoorne's students to see if this solution will help keep the squirrels away from the garden!
Sphero Global Challenge
Mrs. Christy's class representing Franklin Middle School and Mrs. Gantchar's class representing Walker-Winter Elementary School, are taking risks and thinking outside the box! They are competing in Sphero's Global Challenge. Each teacher checked out Bolts or Indi's from the STEM Center and were given lessons using those robots. Once they complete a few lessons, their students will be put into small groups and each group will receive 5 challenges they must code their robots to complete. They will record their tasks and send them into Sphero for a virtual competition. While they are participating in this, they are covering a handful of standards at the same time!!
Have a great time learning!!!!! We can't wait to hear how it is going!
*** If you are interested in doing the same thing, we can share the archived challenges with you and you can create your own mini challenge within your room or grade level team. Email Karen Dickelman for more information at dickelmank@wwcsd.net
Optional Teacher Collaboration/Learning Opportunities
The STEM Center analyzed the data from our last poll. We are offering collaborative learning opportunities on some of our resources. These are items you are free to check out whenever you would like.
Below is a link to the dates, times, and topics of those scheduled learning opportunities. SCECHS will be provided to those who attend. Please feel free to click as many boxes as you would like to sign up for these collaborative gatherings. Hope to see you soon!!
Quick Fun Fact!
Did you know that many of the NGSS design and engineering standards also cover social studies Arc of Inquiry AND other core standards? When students question (social studies inquiry), research and gather information(ELA), analyze data (math), and present their findings (ELA listening/speaking, writing, & social studies communicating and taking action), you as their teacher have guided students to apply and practice the skills they are learning across the board.
The more this occurs, the more students have the opportunity to apply their learning :)
YOUNG SHARKS
Wayne-Westland has a great opportunity for our 4th and 5th grade students. Young Sharks will engage your students, help strengthen 21st century skills, is cross disciplinary, and is all wrapped up in a Project Based Learning Economics Unit.
We have many schools already signed up, but our goal is for ALL elementary schools in the district to participate this year.
We will be starting the unit in January. There will be building competitions, and the finalists from each building will participate in the district finals that will be hosted by LTU on May 7th.
The collaboration day for staff will be on January 16th at the STEM Center.
With the STEM lab and makerspace available, feel free to sign up for a date to bring your class to build their prototypes! Your classroom will stay clean and you have a larger room to facilitate your building prototype day.
Please click on the link to sign up to have your class participate.
Family STEM Night
Walker-Winter invited the STEM Center to host their November Family Night! Fun was had by all! Families experienced STEM activities that were electronic and non electronic. Another one is already in the works. If your school is interested, please reach out to us and we can begin planning. You can come to us, or we can come to you. Since it is an evening activity, we will be booking a limited amount of family nights.
( Yes, the planetarium can be booked for an evening event as well, you will need to reach out to Linda Willman at John Glenn. She is gracious and passionate enough to donate her evening when she can, to share her passion with others.)
SHOUT OUT!!!!!
SHOUT OUT to Edison and Hamilton for helping out the STEM Center with a collection bin at their building. Each of their buildings will be collecting empty paper towel rolls and empty toilet paper rolls. Thanks for helping the STEM Center reuse & upcycle!!! We can't wait to show off some of the creative designs students build using these items!!!
An additional SHOUT OUT to Mr. Chris' class for donating cardboard to the STEM Center!!!
Suggested Reading:
Contact Us Today!
Email: thestemcenter@wwcsd.net
In District Website: https://sites.google.com/wwcsd.net/stem-center/home
Website: https://www.wwcsd.net/schools/educational-programs/stem-center/
Location: 36105 Marquette Street, Westland, MI, USA
Phone: 734-419-2447