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STEM

The Results are In!

I promised you results from the strawberry jars a while back. While the strawberry jars did not stink near as badly as the rice jar experiment I did previously, they didn’t reveal quite as important a message in my opinion. You could again definitely tell a difference in the scent of the jars, but the inside of the jars looked very similar. When I started this experiment all of the jars had fresh strawberries, so it is certainly possible there could have been a difference in bacteria etc. on the strawberries. If I were to do this again, I would have used frozen strawberries to make sure this wasn’t a factor. What surprised me the most is that the love jar smelled worse, in my opinion than the hate jar. There is probably some explanation for this. If I were to use fruit again, I would have used the blueberries. Also, if it was the first time for the experiment, I would have used the rice because they all smelled different and looked different reflective of the words love and hate.

Here are the backs of the jars pictured in the same order.

Engage 100% of Your Students with this lesson!

I just repeated this lesson from a few years ago. Students DO NOT FORGET this lesson and will beg for more. This is great for a day when student’s attention span will be minimal such as the holiday season.

This lesson will take you about 30 minutes or you could stretch it out if you like. First warn by saying, “Do not stick these up your nose or in your mouth! Do not mash these.” (my warning comes, of course, from a student who did stick one in his mouth.)

  1. Give each child one Mexican jumping bean. Tell them to lay it on the table and observe.
  2. On paper, ask them what they think the mystery item is. Some will answer what they think it is. Common responses I have heard are a nut, an acorn, a rock.
  3. On paper ask them if it moves. By this point they will probably have discovered it moves because another student will probably have exclaimed that it moved.
  4. On paper, ask students to explain why they think it moves.
  5. Have the children draw a picture of what they think the mastery item looks like on the inside. I never call the object the master items until after I have shown them the story.
  6. Show students the Mexican jumping bean story.
  7. Bask in the fact that you are currently the children’s hero for bringing something so cool to look at.

Where do you get these beans you ask. You can actually get them off of Amazon. Mexican grocery type stores most likely also have them, but I got mine from Amazon here.

Will You Start the Year with Love or Hate?

This year instead of saying “I love you” and “I hate you” to jars of rice, I decided to try something new. Strawberries! I thought it would probably smell WAAAAY better than rice when it had rotten. The students enthusiastically say “I love you” and “I hate you” before they leave the room each day. We first wrote predictions about what we thought would happen after 30 days of talking the jars. Did I mention we have a blank jar? Yes, we have one we don’t speak to as our control group. Here they are! The jars after a couple of weeks. What do you think will happen? I will post more after we finish the 30 days of talking to the jars.

Low Cost High Pay Off Lesson

One year I decided to collect some old computers for children to take apart. The local computer repair shop had plenty of old computers for us to choose from in their recycle bins. I also was able to collect items from parents who had old electronics for us to use. First I have students research several internal components, draw a picture, and write about the purpose of the item. Students LOVE dismantling computers and talk about it for years later. I like to do this with 4th and 5th graders. Third graders aren’t as strong to take items apart. You will need screwdrivers and pliers. I had students label the internal components first after they took their computer apart so that I could check and see if they correctly identified them.

See some of their work here….

Try this Fun STEAM Lesson!

This is one of my favorite students’ lessons I teach with second graders, and you are sure to love it, too! This incorporates math, science, and engineering! First, set the stage by showing students the video book of the invention of Crayola Crayons.

Then, have children build a paper cover box to cover a snap cube so that students have the idea about how the paper should cover the box. Also, describe how graphic designers decorate packaging so that it will cover a cereal box and make children desire what is inside. I also bring in a cracker box or cereal box cut on the edge so that they can see the net shape of the box. I tend not to bring in a cut up crayon box so that students can think from using a similar box but not the exact shape. I do however bring in a crayon box whole so that they can see what I am wanting them to build.

I get all kinds of creations because I tell the students their job is to design a box that will hold 24 crayons. Below you will see a student’s cartoon that took the graphic design part very seriously! This was one of the best creations!

How Can You Build a Quick, Easy Barometer?

I did this blindly–not really knowing if it would work. I was in search of interesting weather activities and thought I could make this barometer work. When the air pressure is high the arrow points above the middle mark. When the pressure is low the straw points below the middle mark. Here’s the one I made at home. The best thing is that it really works!!!!

A few easy materials:

1.jar

2. rubber band

3. balloon

4. straw

5, tape

6. paper/index card

7. ruler ( and/or grid paper)

8. tape

After I built this I had my doubts about it working. I build one at home first. Get a jar (larger jars are better but I used baby food jars because I had some on hand). Snip off the bottom part of a balloon so that you have a wider surface to stretch latex over the mouth of a jar. Get the balloon as smooth as possible across the lid and put a rubber band around the balloon to seal in the air as tightly as possible.

Here’s the barometer I made at school.

Some places say that you should use double sided tape to attach the straw, but I used regular Scotch tape, and it worked fine. Cut the end of the stew into a pointed shape so that it works as a pointer towards the marked paper. You can incorporate measurement and be as precise about it as you like. With the barometer I made at home I just build the barometer and put a mark where the stars was pointing after I first built it. Then I put another mark about a cm above and below the initial mark. I found mm graph paper online as a free download and used that at school. This makes for a great measurement discussion. Enjoy building your very own barometer!

How You Can Build a Worm Farm at School

Recently I taught some lessons about earthworms and ecosystems. I did this in a series of short lessons that you will enjoy. Even your children that don’t like to do their work will work for you if they get to touch a worm. 🙂

Lesson 1: We read the Diary of a Worm. This book is so fun and helpful to boost creativity. Students gladly named their worm. Next, we learned about the anatomy of a worm. You can find diagrams in lots of places showing worm anatomy. Then we observed a worm wih a magnifying glass to see how it moved.

Lesson 2: We did three simple worm experiments with our worms in a plastic Dollar Tree dish covered with another clear dish so that it made a kind of petri dish. 1. Does the worm like moisture? Half the dish is covered in wet paper towel. Students place one worm inside and see which way it travels. 2. Does the worm like darkness? We covered half of the roof with black construction paper to see if the worm would like dark or light. 3. We tapped one side of the dish with a pencil to see if the worm would like or not like sound.

Lesson 3: We build a worm farm/ecosystem. I used old lettuce containers that can be found at the grocery store like these. On the bottom of the container, we placed brown paper to soak up any water from when we added a fine mist. Then of course we added some dirt. I let several children come and add a cup of dirt so there would be lots of involvement. Next, I let children add their worm. Finally we added some food such as celery leaves and fallen oak tree leaves. Ta-da! Earthworm Academy is open for business!

Moon Pie Phases

Do you need a simple moon phases lesson. This is it. First we discussed how the moon reflects the light of the sun and how the moon is orbiting around the earth and how the earth is orbiting the sun. Then I used a flashlight to reflect off the aluminum foil paper plate moon I had made so that the students could see how this worked. This video helped discuss the moon phases.

Next, we discussed the simple phases of the moon and shaded in eight circles to represent each phase. We also discussed the reason for the name “quarter” and related it to fractions. Here is a great website to visit about moon phases.

*Full moon

*waxing gibbous

*first quarter

*waxing crescent

*new moon

*waning crescent

*3rd quarter

*waning gibbous

Finally, I assigned students to look at the night sky each night to color in their moon calendar which I downloaded for free here. I had students watch the moon for an entire month, color, and label the phases. I told students I would have a “little something” for them if they brought their paper back completed.

How Can You Build a Turkey Gobbler with Your Students

First, what does a turkey even sound like. We mislead students many times by saying, “gobble, gobble,” when in fact they sound nothing like this. Show students this video so they can hear a real turkey.

Then I have them practice making a turkey sound. Next I hand out toilet paper rolls to everyone and ask them to see if they can make the turkey gobbler sound. We discuss how something must be missing. I direct students to feel their throat and discuss what they feel. Some students will be able to name what they feel as the word vibration. I then have them make their turkey gobbler after we talk about how sound is made from vibration. Oh and by the way, did you know that turkeys only “gobble” when they are looking for a mate OR lying down to rest similar to the sound we make when we are stretching to lie down.

After they receive their cardboard roll and unsuccessfully make a turkey sound, I come by and attach wax paper over the top with a rubber band directing them to be careful with the wax paper. If they are not, it can tear, of course. While I am attaching wax paper, I let the students decorate the cardboard with markers etc. I also tried this with red tissue paper so that it looks more like a turkey and while the sound works, I didn’t trust small children not to make a hole in the tissue paper with their wet mouth. 🙂

I did this lesson with kindergarteners and first graders. It actually worked best with first graders and they were able to have more self control with stopping their turkey gobbler sound. I have them put the “gobbler” in their backpack after we have made it and after they have all made a little sound together–for the sanity of the classroom teacher (wink, wink) and me.

Happy Thanksgiving my teacher friends!

A Worm Named Oreo

Leaving school one day I hear a discussion among kids on the playground. “What did you name your worm? I named mine Oreo.” The girl says she named hers Oreo because it looked like an Oreo with all the dirt on it. Paper plates seemed to work well for containing the worms for observation. You have to be careful though because the worms can wander off if you don’t watch them. I found one trying to crawl off of a student desk. I lost another one, but the custodian found it on the floor. Hey, I added excitement to his day! LOL!

This discussion came as a result of me teaching them about worms and them looking closely at the body parts of a worm. To add an element of creativity, I had students name their worm. We did this after watching the Diary of a Worm on video. I love this book for it’s imagination into the creative world.

Students are studying ecosystems, so I plan to build a worm farm of sorts in their classroom. For now, I am just holding onto the worms until we learn a little more. To build a worm farm, you need a container, dirt, old newspaper, and some vegetable scraps. Of course, you need worms. I purchased mine at Wal-mart in the sporting goods section. Until we learn more I am storing them in the refrigerator on a not too cold setting in some dirt. I have given them an old banana peel in case they need a snack. This website has some good information on worm farming. You will need a container, dirt, old newspaper, and some vegetable scraps. Until we learn more I am storing them in the refrigerator on a not too cold setting in some dirt. I have given them an old banana peel in case they need a snack. This website has some good information on worm farming if you want to build one.

The great thing about showing students worms is that I got some work out of some students who don’t normally produce work just so they got to look at a worm. I will give you more information soon about our worm farm adventures.

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