Tech Talk Tuesday 10/13/20
From the Office of Dr. Rachel Evans
Dates to Remember
January 15 - Governor's App Challenge Due (Click HERE for more info)
February 1 - STEDTrain Grant Application is Available (Click HERE for more info)
March 13 - Alabama Wildlife Federation Grant Due (See below for more info)
Techie Teacher Tools
Community Connections
The Alabama Wildlife Federation partners with public schools to organize and build outdoor classrooms to enhance STEM learning. I was a part of this process last school year as they surveyed the teachers to pinpoint which STEM learning stations we would plan, organized donations for the project, and planned Outdoor Classroom Day when all students and teachers and many AWF and community volunteers came together to build the outdoor classroom. Below are some fun pictures from that day.
For more information about partnering with the AWF to build your STEM outdoor classroom, please contact April Waltz at aprilwaltz@alabamawildlife.org.
Garden Time
Walking Trail
Lowe's Haul
Hands-on Learning
Collaborate
Construction
Below is the finished product!
Click HERE to view students in action on Outdoor Classroom Workday, organized by the AWF!
The STEM outdoor learning stations that we built last year include the following: songbird sanctuary, sensory garden, vegetable garden, worm bin, compost bins, weather station, bog garden, pollinator garden, butterfly garden, box turtle habitat, and a limestone walking path. The students enjoy learning in this new environment!
Do You Offer After-School STEAM Clubs?
There are several organizations in Huntsville that make great partners when it comes to after school STEAM clubs. These organizations provide highly-trained club leaders that will engage your students in hands-on STEAM learning activities. Below is the contact information for each of the STEAM clubs that we brought to RES last school year.
Thanks to Dr. Rhonda Booth at Mt. Carmel for sharing this club information with us!
If your school partners with other organizations to provide additional STEAM learning opportunities, please let me know so we can share those with other schools!
Huntsville STEAMWorks
Bricks 4 Kidz
The Knight School
Fantasy Playhouse
Stem Supplements for Teachers
Did you know that our school board provides STEM supplements for teachers at each school to sponsor before - or after-school STEM clubs and activities?
High schools - 5 supplements
Middle schools - 3 supplements
Elementary schools - 2 supplements
If you are interested in sponsoring a STEM club, look below to see if your school has any available STEM supplements, and talk with your administrator. These supplemental contracts ($600) will need to be board approved, so you can vanmail or scan/email them to me. To receive the supplement, the club must meet at least biweekly before or after your contract day and should provide activities related to science, technology, engineering, and/or math.
BMS - 2, Central - 3, Endeavor - 2, Harvest - 2, HGES - 2, HGHS - 2, Legacy - 2, LFES - 2, MCES - 3, MCHS - 2, MES - 2, MMIS - 2, MMS - 1, Mt. Carmel - 2, MVMS - 2, MXR - 2, NHES - 2, NHHS - 5, NMS - 2, OXR - 2, RES - 2, RIS - 2, SHS - 5, SMS - 2
Some of the STEM clubs that our schools currently have in place include Rocketry, HOSA Club, Computer Science, Green Power, Cyber Security, Agriscience, Robotics, Green Team, Math Team, STEM Club, and Math/Cyber.
FUSE FUN
This summer, teachers from each of our middle schools attended FUSE training and received loads of STEAM equipment including dozens of FUSE kits, two 3D printers, an iPad Pro, a laptop, robots, etc., to engage students in STEAM creative learning. These FUSE labs will help us expand our Computer Science course offerings at the middle school level.
“FUSEing K-12 STEAM for Tomorrow’s Innovators,” is a project that emphasizes science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics academic integration along with 21st century skills through the creation of FUSE studios. Our school system received a grant from Boeing to support this initiative.
The students in Mrs. Morgen Perez's FUSE Lab at Central School engaged in the Spaghetti Structures and Rollercoaster Boss lessons last week.
Mrs. Perez's students just finished working on their Chromebooks on the Dream Home (architecture) and Beats Builder (coding) labs. Check out their finished products below!
Ms. Amber Bryant's FUSE students at New Hope High School were working hard before Fall Break! This student is trying out their brand new 3D printer for the first time. As you can see on his screen, he is printing a skeleton that he designed.
Computer Science
Above are pictures of two students in Ms. Alice Cagle's Exploring Computer Science class at Sparkman Nine who taught the class binary code. They did a fantastic job! This is S9's first course offering of Exploring Computer Science, and needless to say, it is going very well!
Techie Teachers on Twitter
STEM Standouts!
myon
All of our elementary schools have access to myON, which is a website that houses thousands of digital books for our students. Get with your library media specialist if you'd like to incorporate myON into your lessons.
First & Second Year Teachers
- Digital Citizenship
- Classroom Management
- Innovative Teaching and Technology Integration
- Student Engagement
Registration opens on October 19th! See flyer below.
PPG STEM Grant
Each school within Madison County is eligible to obtain up to five $1,000 STEM grants per year from PPG! Be sure to take advantage of this for your kiddos. Click HERE for more info. Click HERE to view a template for the grant.
This grant is available until the five grants for your school have been claimed each calendar year. Contact me for help submitting the grant.
Teachers across the county have used this grant to aid with the following initiatives: Robotics Team, Greenpower, paying for AP exam fees, creating an outdoor classroom, adding Makerspace options to the library, purchasing STEM kits for the classroom, etc.
SchoolsPLP Support
Some helpful links are below:
- The Schools PLP Video Resource Catalog can be found HERE
- SchoolsPLP support email address: support@schoolsplp.com
SchoolsPLP Knowledge Base: https://schoolsplp.helpscoutdocs.com
Archived Tech Talk Tuesdays
Contact Me
Email: revans@mcssk12.org
Website: www.mcssk12.org
Location: 1275 Jordan Road, Huntsville, AL, USA
Phone: (256) 852-2557
Twitter: @RachelEvansEdD