Teaching STEM concepts can be frightening, but they can also be a lot of fun. I'll admit, that sometimes it's really hard to fit STEM into my day because it's so jam packed with everything else I HAVE to teach. My solution? STEM Days!
One of the biggest things we do in 4th grade (that we've done the last two years and I'm going to push for for this coming year) is have a STEM morning outside the day of our school wide Field Day. During Field Day they break our entire school into two groups. One group had Field Day in the morning and the other in the afternoon. During the morning half is when we do our STEM Day. We usually only pick two big activities because it is the entire grade level outside having fun and collaborating. Here are the two activities we pick.
Solar Oven S'mores
Sounds amazing right? It is! We simplify it for the 4th graders because honestly, I don't trust some of my kids with a knife to cut their boxes perfectly and we don't have the time it takes to do plastic wrap, tape it, prop it, make the cut nice and neat, etc. etc. that you find in a lot of the online solar oven s'mores projects you find. We keep it to the basics: pizza boxes (I bought mine from amazon at this link https://www.amazon.com/Packaging-WPPB12K2P-Kraft-Plain-B-Flute/dp/B073XLDYKR/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1532970463&sr=8-20&keywords=pizza+boxes but they are currently unavailable. Hopefully they get more in soon!), aluminum foil, mini paper plates, Hershey's bars, graham crackers, and square marshmallows (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Kraft-Jet-Puffed-S-moreMallows-Marshmallows-17-5-oz-Bag/43852216 they seriously make things so easy to build!). Here's what the kids did after getting their materials and finding a partner:
1. Put a hole in the top of your pizza box (can do ahead if you want to add in the plastic wrap and black paper).
2. Line the box with aluminum foil.
3. Put your s'more in the box on a paper plate.
4. Leave in designated area until after the second activity, then it's time to put together and eat!
We let their s'mores bake while we did our second activity and then had a treat before we went in to lunch! It was messy but tons of fun! I would suggest putting the chocolate in the freezer a couple days before you do this so it doesn't melt before the kids can unwrap it.
Tornado Shelters
I love making outdoor s'mores with the kids but my favorite activity has to be our tornado shelters. It is so much fun watching them struggle and problem solve! Yes, I love to see my kids struggle because then they're learning and learning how to work through their problems! We used very basic tools for this: bamboo poles (these ones here https://www.amazon.com/Bond-425-Bamboo-4-feet-25-pack/dp/B00004R9WN/ref=sr_1_21?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1532971255&sr=1-21&keywords=bamboo+poles), duct tape (which I got at the Dollar Store), 3" binder clips (which seem to be a unicorn today because I can't find my link to them), and giant trash bags (these are the ones I used https://www.samsclub.com/sams/member-s-mark-simple-tie-drum-liner-55-gal-80-ct/190752.ip?xid=plp_product_1_6). That's it! You divide students into teams of 4. From there you give them the rules. Here were mine:
1. At least one person has to fit inside your tornado shelter and I cannot see them. Not even their shoes!
2. Your shelter has to have a doorway so that you can get in and out of it easily and quickly.
3. You cannot just put one whole bag over someone in the shelter, that's cheating.
4. You must work together. No one should be sitting aside while everyone else does all of the work.
5. Bonus points go to the teams who can fit everyone inside of their tornado shelter.
6. You do not get extra supplies so don't ask for them!
That was it! Then I let them loose and it was so much fun to watch them try and figure it out! Oh and no giving extra supplies to anyone! They get 4 bamboo poles, 1 roll of duct tape, 2 trash bags, and 4 binder clips. That's it. Period. After letting them struggle for a good 45 minutes then we stop and eat our s'mores. It's a win-win really. All in all this takes up a good 2 hours of the day. The kids have fun and are exhausted but that's okay. That's what this is all about!
How do you use STEM in your day? Or do you make a day of it like we do? Let me know so I have some more fun ideas to try out!
One of the biggest things we do in 4th grade (that we've done the last two years and I'm going to push for for this coming year) is have a STEM morning outside the day of our school wide Field Day. During Field Day they break our entire school into two groups. One group had Field Day in the morning and the other in the afternoon. During the morning half is when we do our STEM Day. We usually only pick two big activities because it is the entire grade level outside having fun and collaborating. Here are the two activities we pick.
Solar Oven S'mores
Sounds amazing right? It is! We simplify it for the 4th graders because honestly, I don't trust some of my kids with a knife to cut their boxes perfectly and we don't have the time it takes to do plastic wrap, tape it, prop it, make the cut nice and neat, etc. etc. that you find in a lot of the online solar oven s'mores projects you find. We keep it to the basics: pizza boxes (I bought mine from amazon at this link https://www.amazon.com/Packaging-WPPB12K2P-Kraft-Plain-B-Flute/dp/B073XLDYKR/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1532970463&sr=8-20&keywords=pizza+boxes but they are currently unavailable. Hopefully they get more in soon!), aluminum foil, mini paper plates, Hershey's bars, graham crackers, and square marshmallows (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Kraft-Jet-Puffed-S-moreMallows-Marshmallows-17-5-oz-Bag/43852216 they seriously make things so easy to build!). Here's what the kids did after getting their materials and finding a partner:
1. Put a hole in the top of your pizza box (can do ahead if you want to add in the plastic wrap and black paper).
2. Line the box with aluminum foil.
3. Put your s'more in the box on a paper plate.
4. Leave in designated area until after the second activity, then it's time to put together and eat!
We let their s'mores bake while we did our second activity and then had a treat before we went in to lunch! It was messy but tons of fun! I would suggest putting the chocolate in the freezer a couple days before you do this so it doesn't melt before the kids can unwrap it.
Tornado Shelters
I love making outdoor s'mores with the kids but my favorite activity has to be our tornado shelters. It is so much fun watching them struggle and problem solve! Yes, I love to see my kids struggle because then they're learning and learning how to work through their problems! We used very basic tools for this: bamboo poles (these ones here https://www.amazon.com/Bond-425-Bamboo-4-feet-25-pack/dp/B00004R9WN/ref=sr_1_21?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1532971255&sr=1-21&keywords=bamboo+poles), duct tape (which I got at the Dollar Store), 3" binder clips (which seem to be a unicorn today because I can't find my link to them), and giant trash bags (these are the ones I used https://www.samsclub.com/sams/member-s-mark-simple-tie-drum-liner-55-gal-80-ct/190752.ip?xid=plp_product_1_6). That's it! You divide students into teams of 4. From there you give them the rules. Here were mine:
1. At least one person has to fit inside your tornado shelter and I cannot see them. Not even their shoes!
2. Your shelter has to have a doorway so that you can get in and out of it easily and quickly.
3. You cannot just put one whole bag over someone in the shelter, that's cheating.
4. You must work together. No one should be sitting aside while everyone else does all of the work.
5. Bonus points go to the teams who can fit everyone inside of their tornado shelter.
6. You do not get extra supplies so don't ask for them!
That was it! Then I let them loose and it was so much fun to watch them try and figure it out! Oh and no giving extra supplies to anyone! They get 4 bamboo poles, 1 roll of duct tape, 2 trash bags, and 4 binder clips. That's it. Period. After letting them struggle for a good 45 minutes then we stop and eat our s'mores. It's a win-win really. All in all this takes up a good 2 hours of the day. The kids have fun and are exhausted but that's okay. That's what this is all about!
How do you use STEM in your day? Or do you make a day of it like we do? Let me know so I have some more fun ideas to try out!
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