Full STEAM Ahead: Gingerbread Man Trap

Kindergarten – STEAM

Lesson Plan

Teacher: Mrs. Yandell

Date: 11/29/16

Overview & Purpose

With Christmas in a few weeks, our kindergarteners will be reading books about the gingerbread man.  In this activity, students work through the scientific method to create a trap to catch the sneaky gingerbread man!

Education Standards

Science

Experiments

The students will observe the world around them by using their senses and various tools.

The students will ask questions, make predictions, and represent/record data.

The students will analyze and explain the data from an investigation.

Objectives

1. Learn the steps of the scientific method
2. Observe a problem, and find a solution

Materials Needed

1. Recycled Boxes, and other used supplies
2. Gingerbread man

Verification

Steps to check for student understanding

1. Did your group work well together?
2. Were you able to share ideas?
3. Did your trap successfully catch the gingerbread man?

Activity

Describe activity that will reinforce the lesson

In groups, students will work together to execute a solution to prevent the sneaky gingerbread man from running away.  They will work through the scientific method to design and build the most successful trap to catch the gingerbread man.  

Part 1:

http://viewpure.com/Tu3hvHEfQTo?start=0&end=0

We will spend the first class discussing the problem, and students will work with their partners to think about different types of traps.  Each group will draw a blueprint of their trap design and gathers supplies they will use to build it.  

Part 2:

Students will work together to build their traps from the recycled supplies they gathered.  Then they will test their traps to see if it works.  Finally, they will have the opportunity to trap and catch their gingerbread man!  We will use Seesaw to document this activity.

Kindergarten Gingerbread Trap Project Recap written by Jessica Yandell:

In December, the kindergarteners read many different gingerbread man books. Even in their classrooms they had houses for their own class gingerbread man.  I love opportunities where we can integrate engineering, math, and literacy all in one project.  This activity was split into two weeks. The first part of the activity we focused on reading comprehension; students developed a story map of what occurred in the beginning, middle, and the end. We also discussed problem solving.  The class decided that in the story, the gingerbread man kept running away and no one was able to catch him;  they agreed a trap could solve the problem.  

I let each student draw out a blueprint for a trap that would catch the gingerbread man. In the second part of this activity, the students were able to have a hands on opportunity to engineer the perfect trap!  It was fun watching them choose the perfect recycled materials to build their project, and of course they were excited to test the traps on their very own small gingerbread man!