Where you are challenged to grow as a problem solver and maker.
Teacher email: [email protected]
Photo website: https://wakelet.com/LHSSTEM
Short link to this website: https://tinyurl.com/LaurelHillSTEM
Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/4492335948?pwd=NE5VdEJnLzBaalo3QTNwTUM1eTV0UT09
Meeting ID: 449 233 5948; Passcode: STEM
Middle School assignments are found in the STEM Google Classroom. Lower grades typically don’t have STEM homework. When they do, a note will be sent home.
Important events:
February 25th: STEM Showcase Grades 6-8
April 7th-9th: STEM Showcase Grades 1-5
February is the month of snow delays, sledding, and the LHS Middle School STEM Showcase! On Tuesday, 2/25, our middle schoolers will present their work on important water-related inventions. They will guide the audience through history, starting more than 100,000 years ago until today, and share their research on the significance of their chosen inventions, technical details about the inventions, and showcase models of the inventions. All models are designed and created by the students, giving them real-world experience of the Engineering Design Process. Younger students will be invited to visit the showcase on Monday, 2/24, or Tuesday, 2/25.
Kindergarteners are about to finish their practice clocks and will start another project for which we’ll need to learn to use a hammer and nails. In first grade, we experiment to figure out what shapes and materials work best to build a tower for Aristotle the Evidence Owl. Second-graders build windmills, and third-graders create seed dispersal devices. In fourth grade students make hourglasses. Our fifth-graders discuss variables as they design their dormancy projects.
In Middle School STEM, students are hard at work creating their invention models. They challenge themselves to master new tools, carefully selecting materials with the right properties for their projects, and refining their plans as they encounter and overcome obstacles along the way. Designing and building a model from scratch is far more demanding — and rewarding — than assembling a pre-made kit.
Through this process, we engage in the Engineering Design Process repeatedly: planning, building, testing, and then starting the cycle again until a functional solution emerges. This iterative approach not only fosters creativity and resilience but also helps students develop real-world problem-solving skills. You can find more photos of their progress at https://wakelet.com/@LHSSTEM.
On February 25, there will be a Middle School Showcase! The elementary showcase is in April.
In Kindergarten, we discuss algebra and time this week, and we build practice clocks. Before we can attach the hands of the clock, we need to use the drill - this is always very exciting. First graders are busy figuring out how we can use axles to make our race car wheels spin fast. Second graders explore some fundamental material science as they try to determine what materials are the best to first pick up and then drop off pollen for our hand pollinators.