The students in room 217 enjoy completing weekly theme related STEM activities. Stem activities help us to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills and to explore these skills through hands-on learning. Following a simple scientific method, students are encouraged to make a guess (hypothesis), perform the experiment, and draw a conclusion after observing what happened. Our science journal is completed by using picture cues to answer the prompts “I wonder, I think, and I see”. Here are some of our favorite experiments so far this school year.
In September, we had fun building an apple tower after reading the story Ten Apples Up On Top. The students took turns using play doh and plastic apples to balance one apple on top of the other following the “abab” pattern apple then play doh.
October was a time of exploring pumpkins. The students enjoyed carving up a pumpkin and taking turns labeling a model on the SMARTboard. Using blocks and small pumpkins, we became engineers and built a fence. We then placed the pumpkins on to see if we could balance Five Little Pumpkins on our fence.
During November, the students took turns mixing liquids and solids to make cranberry slime. In anticipation of winter, we used ice cubes and salt to build an igloo in December after reading Ikiaq and the Igloo. To ring in the new year, the students performed an experiment called Confetti Eruption to review liquids, solids, and gasses. First, we mixed baking soda and confetti and put it into our fancy glasses. Next, we used a dropper to add the vinegar.
Lastly, we observed the chemical reaction of the bubbling eruption! Everyone is excited to do more STEM activities in the upcoming months. Happy New Year!