Massachusetts STEM Week

#MassStemWeek

October 22 - 26, 2018 | #massstemweek

"In an effort to boost students’ interest and raise awareness of STEM education, the Baker-Polito Administration will declare a statewide “STEM Week” from October 22-26, 2018, and is asking educators at all grade levels to participate by planning lessons, events, and activities focused on science, technology, engineering and math throughout the week." (Source)

Students and teachers at Fuller Meadow School and Howe Manning School participated in Mass STEM Week throughout the week.

I worked with Kindergarten and 1st grade teachers and students to add a STEM project to our reading in Global Read Aloud.  Using the book, You Hold Me Up by Monique Gray Smith and Danielle Daniel, we discussed the double meaning of the title.  In the book, examples were given for boosting up our emotions and lifting our hearts.  Our project took the literal meaning of lifting something up and we designed an activity to hold something up.

Students were challenged to create the tallest tower with 40 wooden blocks. Some classes took the challenge further where their tower had to hold up a cup.

First graders had the challenge to build the tallest tower with 40 wooden blocks that could hold up a pumpkin.  After they had success a couple times, they built the tallest tower to hold a cup.  We discussed why the tower with the cup could go higher than the one with the pumpkin.  Great conversation about weight and height.

Classrooms throughout Howe Manning were active with STEM projects.  Our Math Coordinator, Keira Clemenzi, has been working with our teachers to integrate Lego WeDo 2.0 kits to enhance their science curriculum.  Third graders are learning about "Parents and their offspring and Life Cycles" which matches perfectly with the "Frog Metamorphosis" lesson on Lego WeDo.  They built a tadpole then modified it to a frog.  Students coded their frog to move forward.  Some even added sound effects.  Watch our video below.

Our third graders had the amazing opportunity to have 6th grade students help them with their building.  These kids worked so well together.  It was fun to see our 6th graders take a leadership role

This week, 6th graders designed an amusement park with K'Nex.  They organized, designed and created rides, games and eateries at the "Butler Nature's Amusement Park."

Some students used Green Screen by Do Ink to create a video with their project.  Check out their video below:


This has been a week of collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity.  We have enjoyed our hands-on exploration and designs to help us with our curriculum.