Full STEAM Ahead: The Mitten - Comparing Contrasting and preschool reading comprehension

The Mitten

Lesson Plan for Preschool

Prepared by Mrs. Yandell

OVERVIEW & PURPOSE

In this activity, students will explore the story “The Mitten” with an interactive project. Children will focus on comparing and contrasting objects of differents sizes and make inferences about what they think will happen.  

EDUCATION STANDARDS

1. Comparing and contrasting measurement of objects
2. Literacy- reading comprehension, ability to reference and retell a story
3. Fine motor skills

OBJECTIVES

1. Be able to retell the story
2. Ability to reference main characters in the story
3. Distinguish sizes of objects as smallest, big, biggest
4. Infer what object would hold more based on its size

MATERIALS NEEDED

1. Sock mittens
2. Animals or objects of all different sizes
3. “The Mitten”

VERIFICATION

Steps to check for student understanding

1. Are you able to recognize which sock is the smallest and which is the largest?
2. Can you identify which sock will hold more objects?
3. Which sock will hold less objects?
4. Why will one sock hold more and one hold less?
5. Will a sock hold more larger object or more smaller objects?

ACTIVITY

We will start this activity by reviewing the book “The Mitten.”  Students will be asked what occurred during the beginning, middle, and the end of the story, as well as, reference main characters.  Next, we will compare and contrast socks of different sizes, and students will identify which sock will hold the most and least amount of objects based on its size.  To start the activity, each student will be given a sock mitten ( all are different sizes), and be asked to fit as many animals into their sock as they can.  Encourage them to observe the difference in size of the sock when there are no objects and when it has objects inside.  

The Mitten Recap by Jessica Yandell

Our preschool students have been reading the book “The Mitten,” so we took the opportunity to do a STEAM activity based on the story.

 

This was a great opportunity for the children to practice comparing and contrasting objects of different sizes, as well as, practicing fine motor skills.  The kids loved trying to fit all of the crazy bugs and animals into their sock mittens! They were able to observe that smaller socks will hold less objects, and the larger socks  hold more objects. What a fun and interactive way for preschoolers to integrate literature and math in the same project!

Full STEAM Ahead: Ozobot Community Helpers (first grade)

STEAM  1st Grade

Lesson Plan

Teacher: Mrs. Yandell

Date: 11/16/2016

Overview & Purpose

In this activity students will learn how to give commands to the Ozobots via Ozocodes, while exploring various community helpers in our community.  

Education Standards

1. SS:N:1.4 The students will describe how the work that people do (police officer, firefighter, soldier, mail carrier, baker, farmer, doctor, and teacher) benefits a neighborhood.
2. Robotics
3. Computer Science
4. 21 Century Collaboration Skills
5. 21 Century Communication Skills

Objectives

1. Give commands to the Ozobot by Ozocodes
2. Become more familiar with the Ozocodes
3. Recognize various community helpers in our community
4. Know how to use the QR code scanners

Materials Needed

1. Blue, Red, Green Stickers
2. Poster board & Black lines
3. Ozobots
4. I pads
5. QR codes

Verification

Steps to check for student understanding

1. Did your group work well together? Did you share ideas and listen to each other?
2. Did you take turns scanning the QR codes?
3. Was your group able to give the Ozobot correct commands from the ozocodes?
4. What community helpers did you observe after scanning the QR codes?
5. How do those community helpers benefit our community?

Activity

Describe activity that will reinforce the lesson

In this activity, students will work in groups of four or five.  Each group will have one Ipad, four QR codes, two Ozobots, a Ozobot command coding chart, and a “Ozobot command board”.

Prior to the activity, the teacher should have the Ozobot “command board” already drawn out and prepared for the students.  ( I suggest laminating if they are going to be used in multiple classes)  On the command board, there should be four places the Ozobot will come to a stop ( command code (greenred)).  At each stop there will be a QR code.  

The activity:

Part 1: Have the students spend time in their groups, and each person will choose two commands off of the ozobot code chart to place on the “command board.”  (We used color stickers for this activity, because we were able to peel them off and reuse the boards)  Encourage the students to use different commands, that way they can observe different behaviors and actions the ozobot will perform.

Part 2:  Students will then place their Ozobot on the “command board” and watch their robot interact with its environment.  They will observe its different behaviors depending on the code.  Each time a robot comes to a stop (at a QR code), students will use the Ipad to scan the QR code and determine what community helper their ozobot encountered.  Students should take turns scanning the QR codes.

This is an exciting way to learn about how community helpers benefit our community!

Full STEAM Ahead: Christmas Tree Engineering by Preschoolers

Christmas Tree Engineering

Lesson Plan for Preschool

Prepared by Mrs. Yandell

OVERVIEW & PURPOSE

Can you build a Christmas tree that will stand up by itself with the material you have been given?

EDUCATION STANDARDS

1. Children will express their individual creativity
2. Practice fine motor skills
3. Children will experiment and find the best solution for the activity
4. Children will explore engineering through interactive play

OBJECTIVES

1. Ability to roll four pieces of playdough into balls
2. Ability to stick four straws into the balls
3. Ability to build a standing Christmas tree using the materials given

MATERIALS NEEDED

1. Playdough
2. Four Straws

VERIFICATION

Steps to check for student understanding

1. Did your Christmas tree stand up
2. How do we remain persistent through challenges

ACTIVITY

Describe activity that will reinforce the lesson

Students will work individually to build a standing Christmas tree out of limited supplies. They will be given playdough and four straws.  First, roll four balls out of the playdough.  Next, place four straws into the balls of playdough.  Last, gather all of the straw at the top and put playdough around them so they conjoin to make the top of the Christmas tree. To finish the project, each child will be given one star to play on top of their standing Christmas tree.  

Christmas Tree Engineering Recap by Jessica Yandell

Students were able to explore engineering through interactive play, express individual creativity, and find the best solution to completing the activity.  This is a great activity for preschool children to practice fine motor skills and the ability to manipulate different materials using their hands.  The task was to build a standing Christmas tree using the given materials, and if they accomplished this task they were given a sparkling star to go on top of their tree.   There was so much excitement going on in the room because everyone wanted to earn their star! If students finished early, they were encouraged to take apart their tree and rebuild it a different way.  Students were really engaged and loved this participating in this lesson.  

Full STEAM Ahead: 2nd Grade Builds Lego Campus Model

STEAM 2nd Grade

Lego Campus Model Lesson Plan

Teacher: Mrs. Yandell

Date: 11/21/16

Overview & Purpose

In this activity, students across three 2nd grade classrooms were challenged to design and build the buildings here at CCS.  Students will investigate the properties of building sturdy structures by constructing lego walls.  Good communication and collaboration are necessary to complete this project.

Education Standards

1. 21st Century Communication and Collaboration
2. Engineering Design Engineers typically work together to solve the problems that face society. Engineering design is the process of creating solutions to human problems through creativity and the application of math and science knowledge. The basic steps within the design process include:
1. Identifying a problem – Observing a problem and seeing a need for a solution.
2. Researching possible solutions – Coming up with ideas to address the problem.
3. Picking the best solution – Determining which idea best addresses the problem. This decision may involve monetary, practicality, material, and property concerns.
4. Building a prototype – Build a working model of the chosen design v. Testing the prototype – Be sure the working model solves the problem and holds up to any important material property tests.
5. Repeating any steps needed to improve the design – The engineering design process is not always a step-by-step

Objectives

1. Determine the best design for a sturdy structure
2. Define engineering design as the process of creating solutions to human problems through creativity and the application of math and science knowledge.

Materials Needed

1. Legos
2. Building board

Verification

Steps to check for student understanding

1. Did your group work well together?
2. Was your building structurally strong, or did it fall apart?
3. What is something that your group could have done better?
4. Was your group able to complete the project?

Activity

Describe activity that will reinforce the lesson

The goal of this project is to build the CCS campus using lego bricks.  Students will work in groups of four to five students and be assigned to build one of the buildings here at CCS.  Students must address the critical steps to a design process, and they must build structurally strong walls.  When all classes have completed their buildings, we will put them all together on a poster board to represent our campus.  We will display this projects at grandparents day!

Overall, I want this projects to represent how God created us all differently. Each person has unique God given talents.  Let this project be a representation of how when we come together, united under Christ, we can do great things!

Romans 12:4-8

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Recap written by Jessica Yandell:

The goal of this project was to build the CCS campus using lego bricks.  Students worked in groups of four to five students and assigned to build one of the buildings here at CCS.  Students addressed the critical steps to a design process, and build structurally strong walls. Engineering design is the process of creating solutions to human problems through creativity and the application of math and science knowledge. The basic steps within the design process include:

1. Identifying a problem – Observing a problem and seeing a need for a solution.
2. Researching possible solutions – Coming up with ideas to address the problem.
3. Picking the best solution – Determining which idea best addresses the problem. This decision may involve monetary, practicality, material, and property concerns.
4. Building a prototype – Build a working model of the chosen design v. Testing the prototype – Be sure the working model solves the problem and holds up to any important material property tests.
5. Repeating any steps needed to improve the design – The engineering design process is not always a step-by-step

Excitement filled the room during this project; each students was eager to participate and accomplish the task.  If there was conflict among any of the groups, I reminded the students to revert back to conflict resolution contract, such as a game of rock paper scissors to settle the conflict.

Prior to the project, I reminded the students to take into consideration the height of the buildings here at CCS.  I asked the students, “is the highschool gym shorter or taller than their classroom building?” I wanted them to build strong structures, but also accurate representations.  However, by the second week we were running low on legos, so I asked the groups to build the outline of the exterior walls, and then build the walls taller if there were remaining legos.  During the project,  I provided a poster board with a simple sketch showing where each building would be placed, as well as rough dimensions.  This was used as a guide to for each group to know the size and shape of their buildings.

Once all of the classes completed their buildings, I placed their structures on a poster board to display the CCS campus.

**Overall, I want this projects to represent how God created us all differently. Each person has unique God given talents.  Let this project be a representation of how when we come together, united under Christ, we can do great things!

Romans 12:4-8 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Full STEAM Ahead: Building Baby Bears Chair

Goldilocks and the 3 Bears: Building “just right” chairs for baby bear

Lesson Plan for Preschool

Prepared by Mrs. Davis

OVERVIEW & PURPOSE

Preschoolers recently read “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” and continue to talk about the book. Building off their excitement for the story, we are going to have the preschoolers create “just right” sized chairs for baby bear. Students will learn how to interpret size needed based on size of the bear.

EDUCATION STANDARDS

1. Introduction to engineering
2. Introduction to building
3. Introduction to problem solving
4. Critical thinking and transfer

OBJECTIVES

1. Students will compare and contrast size of chairs to size of “bear”
2. Students will learn through trial and error the basics of creating sound structures
3. Students will work to create a structure that best fits the baby bear’s body

MATERIALS NEEDED

1. Baby bears
2. Playdough

VERIFICATION

• Did you compare your structure to the size of baby bear?
• Does baby bear fit into the chair easily?
• How did you make sure your structure would stand up?
• What did you do?
• What did you learn?
• What questions do you have?

ACTIVITY

Students will watch a baby bear be placed in two different size chairs (Daddy Bear and Momma Bear) to compare and decide which chair best fits the bear and talk about how they still don't fit well. Each student will then be given a bear and playdough to create their own chairs for their bear. Teachers will work the room to help students create good chair structures by asking questions to help them process what needs to be done.

(adapted from https://www.lovestemsd.org/fairy-tale-steam-goldilocks-and-three-bears)

Recap written by Julie Davis

Students received more than enough clay to create their chairs and each child received one bear. We talked about how big the seat should be and that there is a back to chairs. Then we talked about creating legs and how tall the legs needed to be. Students then started creating their chairs. Some students quickly understood the concepts and others needed a little extra help to understand the size needed. As some students finished early, we then had those students create beds that would fit baby bear. Students seemed to enjoy learning the concepts of sizing and engineering through this activity.