1. World Landmark Engineers
For the past few years, I have been having bi-weekly STEAM landmark competitions. It has been a fabulously exciting way to get students thinking. Every other week I introduce a new famous landmark that I have visited. Together I show them some pictures and learn about the history. Students are then given opportunities during their free time and centers to choose to work on the project. Each student will use QR codes I created to learn more about the landmark. Next, they fill out a planning sheet and create a plan. Then they try building their landmark with the different materials from the STEAM bins. Finally, they take a photo and upload it. At the end of the two weeks we go through all of the projects and the top few are selected for our Hall of Fame.
At the science fair we wanted to share this experience so that other teachers and families could see and have the opportunity to incorporate it themselves. Students ran the centers and explained to others how to give it a try. This was so exciting to see elementary students so involved for the first time at the science fair.
2. Butterfly Project
As many of you know, I am extremely passionate about butterflies and restoring their habitats. Each year we raise butterflies and release them. Last year our first grade classrooms planted and restored a butterfly habitat at a local park. This year the new first grade studied the monarch caterpillars we found at the park. Together we tracked their migration down to Mexico (if you would like to read more about this refer to my other blog post!)
The second grade came down to help create a student made bulletin to teach those at the Science Fair all about the migration track and how they helped! It was amazing to see this come together because it was almost entirely student made.
