Full STEAM Ahead! with 5th and 6th Graders!

On Friday this past week, I took an amazing group of 5th and 6th graders to Keystone AEA's Full STEAM Ahead workshop.  I could not have enjoyed the day with these students more!  They were so engaged in the learning in each of their sessions, it was so great to watch them try new things and meet new people all day!

Getting six 5th/6th graders to all look for a picture
at one time is like trying to herd cats! 

The students participated in four unique sessions during the day.  They were split up into different groups so not only were they trying things they have never done before, they were working with people they have never met before!  I know when adults are put in that type of situation, there is usually some whining involved, but these students jumped right in and I didn't hear any complaining.  They had some great conversations with other students from schools in our area.

One session was an engineering based experience.  The students were given the task of building the tallest tower they could out of only straws and masking tape.  The challenging part of this task was their tower had to support a tennis ball as well.  There were so many unique and innovative designs out there!  It was interesting listening to them discuss and problem solve their design! 

Beginning of Tower Challenge!

Another session explored the science behind sound.  Students discussed what they knew about sound and how it was made and represented visually.  Then, the fun began.  They were given the opportunity to make their own instruments.  First, they made a wind instrument out of straw.  By changing the amount and placement of the holes in their straws they discussed the change in pitch and volume of their creation.  They also were able to use a peg board and different weights of fishing line to make a string instrument.  They experimented with the tension on the lines, the different weights, and the length of the strings. 

My favorite session of the day was when the students were asked to create their own Weather Report using a DoInk Green Screen app on the iPad.  The students were asked to work in groups with new people and they were able to create some pretty awesome weather forecasting videos.  I have some 6th graders that already have plans to use this app to create their Ancient Egypt project and I can't wait to see how it turns out! 

The last session was a favorite of almost all the students! I knew they would enjoy it and I can't wait until next quarter when we really start to get into our programming and coding lessons so we can bring these awesome resources to our school for all the 5th/6th graders!  Using the Tickle App the students were able to do some programming within the animations of the app on the iPad, and of course, their favorite part, using their programming to control the various robots they had access to.  It was a fun session for the kids, and it was entertaining for me walking around during it because you always had to be alert or you could run into by many different types of robots as they cruised around the room and hallways.  This was perfect for the 6th grade students because it was a continuation of what they had worked on with the Hour of Code and www.code.org last year.  It was also a great introduction for the 5th graders as we will be starting those things soon with them.

It was a great day for the students and for me as well.  I want to thank the Keystone AEA for all the work they put into making a great day for so many students and teachers!  Here is a video I made to share with the teachers and students back at Postville to share what amazing things these students were able to do and will sharing with everyone soon.  We have already been planning the STEAM Night for our school and the students had some great ideas about what we could add to what has already been a successful event at our school the past few years.

Playing Catch-Up.... Presentations, Coding, an Award, and more to come!

Where to begin??  It's been over a month since I have wrote a blog post, but that doesn't mean I don't have many blog-worthy things going on, it just means that I have been too busy and/or too tired to take the time to sit down and write!  I started this blog partially because I wanted a way to document things I have done with my classes that went well so I could modify and improve them to use again in the future, but now that I have started this, I also want to use it as a way to showcase some of the AMAZING things my students have accomplished.

Most recently, that includes seven of my 5th and 6th graders that were brave enough (or too scared to say no since the principal was asking them the question) to present various projects to our Board of Education at a meeting this past week.  I was SO PROUD of them for being able to do it, as a 10-12 year old I'm not sure that is something that I could have done! Not only that, I was blown away by how well they did!  They are my rockstars! A few of them shared the Genius Hour Projects and some others shared some Stop Motion movies they had created.  I will link up some of the projects/presentations in a different post.

Another proud teacher moment for me recently was when my classes were participating in the "Hour of Code".  Not only did almost 110 5th and 6th grade students spend one hour learning to code on December 12th, 2014, but our school was awarded with a $4,000 grant from @IowaStem and @Google to purchase any instructional technology we need for our students!  During that day we have some guests in our classroom from the University of Northern Iowa and Iowa Department of Education STEM offices as well as both of our school principals, our curriculum director, and our superintendent.  It was a busy and exciting day to say the least!  I would have to say that the "Hour of Code" did it's job in getting students excited about coding too.  In my 6th grade classes we have started working in www.code.org and the students are really loving it.  (That's a whole other post which will hopefully come soon!)