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stem classroom back to school prep

3 STEM Classroom Back to School Prep Ideas [ep.110]

by Naomi Meredith

3 STEM Classroom Back to School Prep Ideas [ep.110]

stem classroom back to school prep

Check out the full episode on 3 STEM Classroom Back to School Prep Ideas:  

 

 

Episode Summary

Episode Summary

Back to school time has officially arrived, which means you’re in full on prep mode. There are certain things you can do to prep for the new school year that will help set the tone for the school year. In today’s episode, I am sharing three STEM classroom back to school prep ideas. I'll be sharing personal experiences from my own K-5 STEM classroom, discussing everything from setting up a functional classroom environment to organizing maker space supplies.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • 3 STEM classroom back to school prep ideas
  • Tips and strategies for implementing these STEM classroom back to school prep ideas
  • My experience with implementing these three STEM classroom back to school prep ideas

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:


It's back to school season, and it's time to set up your classroom. Maybe this is your most favorite part of the school year or your least favorite part. It was one of my favorite parts, but I'm gonna be giving you some ideas of what you can do when you are setting up your STEM classroom. When I first got my elementary STEM teaching position, I was a bit unsure about how I should set up my classroom. I really wanted to make sure that my room was functional and efficient from my littlest learners in kindergarten all the way up to 5th grade. It's a little bit harder than you think, but not impossible. Spoiler alert. Less, here's more. So let's jump into the main things that you can do for your STEM classroom back to school prep.


Naomi Meredith [00:01:23]:


I am all about having a functional space that is clean and accessible to all my students. When I had my K through Five STEM classroom, I only had a couple of teacher areas. There was my desk that I moved to this back awkward corner that I wouldn't put kids in. It was just a weird little corner. but perfect for my teacher's desk, which was a k, a table. And then I had underneath my TV, my screen where I would project things for students, there was a shelf underneath blocking all the cords, and that's where I put my teacher's computer so it was out of the way, and I could project what I wanted. But other than that, the rest of the classroom was available and accessible to all the students who came into my classroom throughout the day. If you wanna take a peek at what my K through 5 STEM classroom look like, this is a very requested thing from all of you, and I finally did it. I did take a video of my classroom and put it together into a video so you can see the layout of what I taught in all day in my fishbowl. I'm saying fishable because one of the walls was completely glass, and everybody could see what I was doing all day, which is totally fine. and a couple of little things for you to be aware of. I did take this video when everything was cleaned up, so there are not any projects going on. So, realistically, how it'd be at back to school or the end of the year when everything is cleaned up and organized? It did not look like this every single day. There are some main things that were pretty much the same, but everything is all clean, so you can get a feel of what the classroom was when it was set up. 


Also, I got very, very lucky when I got this elementary STEM position. During the summer, when I was getting hired, I actually got a newly remodeled classroom. So when I say I got a brand new classroom with limited and 0 curriculum, it was actually brand new, which was awesome and a little overwhelming, too, because I had to fill it up with all the things. So it is very fancy, schmancy. So I know that's not the case for everybody. However, I think this video will be helpful for you to get a feel for what a layout could look like and kind of where to put things and go from there. The 1st STEM classroom back to school prep idea is organizing your makerspace, and you can still do this if you don't have any makerspace supplies. When I am talking about makerspace, it's all of those recycled materials, and a lot of it actually can be reused, but lets get you all organized so you know the space that you are working with so that you're not overflowing with materials. You actually don't need as much as you think you do. In fact, I go into great detail about setting up your makerspace. 


Back in episode 5 is all about your organization and really some major tips and tricks I'll be sharing some of those here, but if you really wanna get into it, go and check out episode 5. And then the next one after that episode, I go on to explain how to manage the makerspace. So the purpose of today's episode is to discuss what you can do to set up your classroom. makerspace is one of those things. But again, those 2 episodes are really good to listen to after this one to really think through the organization and all the systems and processes that come along with it. But let's set you up for success. So looking at your classroom and the space that you have, the furniture that you have going on or hoping to get, you really want to have labels on those things. And this can be a little bit annoying and making all those labels or whatever and, like, sure, I'll get a label maker. Sure. You can do that. Get a label maker. I recommend having a label maker for some things, but not in the case of makerspace supplies. Think about all of your learners, not just kindergarten. There is so much value in taking that extra little step of having labels on your drawers that have pictures and words to what is in those buckets. It also helps me as a teacher too because sometimes I'll move drawers around because they are interchangeable where I had some of my things stored. And so I'm like, oh, okay. That's where things go. Or there are teachers helping in my classroom helping support students they also understood where the materials went. So, yes, it is a bit time consuming to make all those labels with the pictures and the words, but this will help with that environmental literacy where students are able to access that information, no matter what their abilities are. 


And it looks really nice as well. Let's be real. It does look good, but really it's to help out the students. Along with that, make sure that your things when students are in a makerspace project, they are all accessible at kid height. When I was jumping into makerspace projects, or there were some makerspace materials that I needed, I didn't have to go climbing in my shelves to pull everything down for the kids because most of the things were actually out in drawers for the majority of the school year. So what I could do is if we were shopping for supplies, they were able to open the drawers on their own. Or if I needed a specific material, I just pulled out the drawer that had those things for kids. And in the long run, setting this up now during back to school, maybe you're listening to this at the end of the school year, you can do this now at the end of the school year too, but getting this all organized, have it at kid height will save you so much time in the long run when it becomes to lesson prep. When it came to makerspace lessons, I hardly prepped anything. I was refilling things while the kids were working if I had refill options, but again, this is a definite life changer. if you do happen to have extra supplies, maybe you got an abundance of donations or collected things over the summer, create a nice place where you can keep most of those things in the same area. So if you do need to refill, you're not, again, tearing out your cabinets trying to find it. I had a shelf in one of my cabinets that were closed at a couple of cabinets, but I had a shelf where I kept those extra makerspace supplies. 


So if I happen to have something, I could refill it. It wasn't very often, but I knew it was in the same spot. Also, depending on your space, if there are certain materials that you know you're going to use again and again and they require specific safety rules, you can consider hanging up those posters in that area as well. So students are exposed to it, and then they know where to reference it when they're ready to go. things like a cardboard saw, maybe a hot glue gun. I have somebody who I've talked to on social media who actually has my hot glue gun posters, and they put them in cute picture frames from Dollar Tree, which I thought was a really nice touch, a really cheap touch, but a nice touch to make a poster look a little more welcoming and fit the space very well. Along with your makerspace, you do wanna make sure you save room for student projects. And I know that this can be a very hard thing, especially if you're teaching all the kids in the school, But keep that in mind as you are setting things up in your classroom, you'll notice in the video that I have some empty shelves because that is where students would put their projects throughout the week. Also, you're gonna wanna figure out a system for your general supplies. These are things that are used over and over again, maybe not just in makerspace, but all the time. Things like your pencils, markers, crans, glue sticks, scissors. I have done quite a bit of things with this. and what worked well in my classroom was keeping the crayons separated from everything else, and I had little buckets that were placed on the tables that students could come and grab. And then I also kept scissors and glue sticks in their own separate container. 


I used to have things combined and in these pencil boxes where each kid could get a pencil box, but then things got mixed stuff. The tops were breaking off. Kids weren't putting them away. It was way more work for me. They wouldn't stack them correctly. And then also I realized having scissors and glue sticks always available is a disaster for hair cutting. So don't do that. for markers, I actually kept them out all the time. They aren't used very often. I hardly restocked markers, but I got those drawers that you can put the paper in. You know what I'm saying? I'll go get 1. If you're watching the video, I just went and got the drawers. So it's the drawers that you put, like, Printer paper in. There are 3 drawers typically. They're plastic made by sterile light very often, but if you get I'm showing it in my video, But if you get these drawers, I sorted all my markers by color, and then it was super easy for kids to find the color of marker that they needed. and then clean up was extremely simple because they would sort the markers, and they actually liked that organization. Had a lot of kids Tell me they liked my marker drawer. So a fun little tip for you. After you have your maker's space under control, let's get to those building supplies. Oftentimes these are things that can be reused over and over and over again. If you can write a grant or maybe have a little bit of funds, I totally recommend buying the same size buckets that are about those shoe box sizes for everything. And even if some of your materials are in multiple buckets, That is okay. For 1, it looks really nice on your shelves and everything stores nice and neat. So it's all organized and ready to go. I also started labeling these buckets again with pictures and words when I could, and then you can put movies around as needed. So you'll see in the video I have them in certain ways on the shelves. I would move these around based on the unit that I was teaching. 


So, again, they would stack nicely, but I could pull them out for station rotations very easily if there were things that were missing on the floor. I could pick them up and put them inside really fast. One little tip about that, this is part of your supplies. invest or just find something at your house, a small bucket that is your lost and found bucket. So I put mine by the tissues because kids, I don't know why I put it by the tissues, but I have a small bucket. And if kids find random things on the floor, which they will, they're gonna come bring them to you, and then I would say, okay. Go put it in the bucket, or I would take it and go put it in the bucket. And then, at random times throughout the day, I would go through the bucket and put all of the supplies away. So having all of those random materials in those clear buckets that you know you're gonna use over and over again is extremely helpful. Sometimes I will actually keep the original boxes for certain supplies if they're really awkward in size, like my dash robots, Those little boxes they come in are a great size, but more often than not, I will take everything out, recycle those boxes, and then put them in the same size so everything stacks nicely and they are easy to find. Along with those fancy materials like robots, I don't leave all of those things out all the time. For 1, I don't need my robots to be charging for months, months, months, If I know I'm gonna be using them in October, I don't need them out. that way, they're also safe, and very curious hands aren't playing with them all the time, but it's very nice for me every unit, I would set things up and get them ready to go. So if it's robotics, I would put the last units' things away, and it helped me keep things nice and clean throughout the year, so the end of the year was really, really easy to clean up. 


Then I would set up my robots for the month or so that I needed them. So consider that too because if you're having so many students come into your space, if you can keep things put away, I think it's definitely okay because it's not as stimulating, especially for students who obviously need that less of that stimulation, STEM has a lot going on already. And so if you can keep some of those distractions away, well, you'll get to them at some point, but you don't need to have them out all the time. Trust me. And finally, my personal favorite part is adding in that little bit of decoration. It's okay to have that little flair when you are decorating your space, but I will say less is more. and even investing in a little bit of paint, and you can add the color to the walls. I had one wall that was blue. That was perfect for blue screen. I had another wall that was green that was the wrong shade of green for green screen, but it looked cool. It had too much yellow in it, and so, the coloring was definitely off. but even having a pop of color can actually help with the decoration because I didn't need to hang up very much. When it came to things for actual units, that certain grade levels needed. I had one place on my wall where I would hang up those things like what is the challenge we're working on, special directions that work for specific grade levels, I would have one spot on the wall where that would change out all time and students knew that was going to change and, understand what they are learning. Then I went and have another spot when it came to content specific incur charts or posters related to the learning. More often than not, I actually would use a lot of digital posters when needed and pull those up for students based on the grade level that they're at. So I had two places where those things would change. 


Now when it comes to your actual setup or your classroom of things that you wanna have all year, again, less is more. One thing that I had when students came into the classroom is there was a STEM affirmation station. So I purchased one of those floor length mirrors pretty cheap at Walmart. It was $7. Purchased one of those hanging up on the wall, and there were different affirmations around there of different things that they could believe in their selves. Like, I am a scientist. I am a mathematician. All of these little resources, too, I'm mentioning. They will be linked in the show notes you don't have to go and create them. Save yourself some time. I got them all done for you. So that was something really fun. They would come in, and then while they were leaving, they would look at your themselves. I would check my hair in between classes. So with the teachers, when they're picking them up, so invest in a STEM affirmation station, It's always a good time for everybody. Along with that, something that I would keep up near my door, and then it also switched to the hallway just based on how I was feeling, but having a monthly bulletin board where you could switch that out easily, you can print cut, and hang, based on the different seasons of the year or what is going on in STEM is just a great way to keep engagement and spark that conversation. If you could hang up something like that where students line up, again, it gives them something to look at that has a learning experience, and it could possibly tie in with what you are learning as well. So once I printed all those out, I printed. I laminated. I cut them out, and had them in ziplock bags. So then, each month, I could easily switch those out. Took me 5 minutes. Switch those out. You can have a parent volunteer do that for you. and just a nice flair to think of STEM in a different way. 


Again, I have all these made for you, so don't even worry about it. Another great thing that I referred to throughout the years is having growth mindset sayings, and there were different things that we would focus on in our or things that I would say over and over again as it related to our Sam lessons and really to life. So having that available, again, All of these things that you have would be accessible to all grade levels, things that would connect throughout the years, and then you could, keep referring to them and the kids knew where to refer to them as well. Another cool addition is having a STEM and technology alphabet so how they can think about STEM in the real world, and if you wanted to even adding in key vocabulary that you're learning throughout the year. I started adding in the vocabulary. It got to be too much as contents change quite often. So just leaving up the vocabulary was a great place to start. and really helped along with different ways when we were spelling in our plans or doing some research that could help us with what we were working on. And also adding in a little bit of flair is totally okay. I mean, it's your classroom. Come on. You're there all day. so having things like, I would find things all over the place, Michaels, Amazon Hobby, or whatever. I have a, oh, man. I have a hard time saying no to these things, but, I'm holding up a sign that I loved. It says be the maker, and that was just a cute little wooden sign that I had. So even adding those little pops in there, conversation starters, one time when I was in Chicago with my teacher, honey, We were walking in this random place. They had little shops, and I paused. I'm like, oh my gosh. I know what that is. It was the patent for the Lego brick. And so when you look at a patent, they have to make sure they describe every part of the invention to make sure that people don't copy it. So super cool is on a board, and it was burned into the wood, and it was all about Lego bricks. 


So I ended up buying it, and I put it over by my 3D printers. I know they're not 3 d printed, but it was a cool place to put it. but it brought a lot of conversation. Like, kids would sit down there and talk about it. I used it a lot when we were talking about our plans and why we wanna have a detailed plan. and really think through our design. So it was just a cool piece that, yes, it was decorative, but it also brought good conversation. I also had these posters. It said boys can and girls can. And I found this Addie Farmer's market, actually, and it was really, showing and breaking down those gender stereotypes and how girls can really do those things that are traditionally that are made for boys. Like, we think a boy's doing and vice versa with the girls, and the kids loved this one. And that one definitely had a lot of, inspiration and great conversations. And I always started off. What surprises you about this? so just things like that where, yes, you're decorating your space, but how can they have a dual purpose? can there be a learning experience from that? So, very intentional about the things that I would hang up on my walls and keep all the time. Sometimes I'd hang things up for a little bit and then take them down. Like, I had a solar system. I kept up for a bit for a space unit. And, again, good conversation. And I took it down for a bit just just to change it up and keep it fresh. As a rate cap, here are those 3 STEM classroom back to school prep ideas that you can get started for the school year. First is setting up your maker's space and how you want that organized. Next is those building materials. And again, getting organized and having things in places that make sense and are usable. And finally having some decoration that is very purposeful and can relate to many lessons and grade levels. I hope the best for you when it comes to back to school season This is a very fun time when you are anticipating the students that are going to be coming into your classroom seeing ones that you might already know and it is such a very, very unique time that we as teachers get to enjoy. To help you with all of this back to school prep, All of those resources that I talked to you will be linked in the show notes where you can grab all of those things individually I also have them bundled together. There's a whole big STEM posters bundle that has all these back to school things and even more I didn't even share that can help you with your STEM space along with other content specific posters that can help you in your lessons as well. Thank you again so much for being here, and I will see you in the next episode.

stem classroom back to school prep

 

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More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a former classroom teacher turned current K-5 STEM teacher and coach. Her role not only includes teaching over 500 students in her school, but also leading professional development and co-teaching with teachers to help them integrate STEM & Technology.

With over a decade of experience along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM certificate, she helps teachers navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM & Technology in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

Are you tired of scrolling online for your next great STEM lesson? Do you feel like there is no time to plan, research and test meaningful STEM lessons, so you throw together a hands-on activity and hope that it works? What systems and routines should you set in place to help students be creative, critically think, and collaborate? 

The Elementary STEM Coach is a podcast for K-5 STEM teachers, classroom teachers, GT specialists, and homeschool parents looking for actionable STEM solutions. Each week, Naomi Meredith will share tools, resources and lesson ideas that are actionable in your classroom and create highly engaging experiences with your students. You’ll learn systems and routines that will create control in the chaos and that will keep you organized all year long. 

Your mindless scrolling days are over! Your new STEM-best friend is now here in your ear buds!

back to school stem activities

3 Back to School STEM Activities You Need [ep. 109]

by Naomi Meredith

3 Back to School STEM Activities You Need [ep.109]

back to school stem activities

Check out the full episode on 3 Back to School STEM Activities You Need:  

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

Have a STEM question? Leave a voice message for the podcast!

Episode Summary

With back to school right around the corner, many of you are planning, prepping, and gearing up for the new school year. In today’s episode, I am sharing three back to school STEM activities that are great for helping your students get to know one another and set the foundation for many of the lessons you will implement throughout the school year.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Ideas for back to school STEM activities
  • The benefits of implementing these back to school STEM activities
  • How to effectively implement these activities in your STEM classroom

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:


With so many options out there, which back to school STEM activities should you be doing with your students? There are those typical one-day challenges like building the tallest tower or flying the fastest paper airplane, which are all awesome. Keep doing those activities. But in this episode, I'm gonna be sharing with you a different take on back to school activities that you can do in your STEM space. So let's jump in on those creative ideas.


Naomi Meredith [00:01:04]:


Before we get started on this episode, I wanted to read another awesome review that was left by one of you over on Apple Podcasts. and this is from the vendor librarian. If you're new to STEM or just need some great ideas to keep your lessons fresh, Naomi can help. I am a school library media specialist and was asked to start incorporating STEM into my curriculum about 2 years ago. I have not had a lot of formal training and was basically piecing it together. I was excited to find Naomi's podcast earlier this year and really enjoy listening to ideas on how to teach and structure STEM in the classroom. Thank you so much for this review I think I've mentioned this before, but one of my top love languages is words of affirmation, and this definitely fills up my bucket. But not only that, writing a review like this, so if you guys wouldn't mind pausing the podcast, go and write a 5-star review over an Apple podcast. This helps other teachers like you who are in the STEM space are getting into this in their classrooms and help them know that this is the podcast that they're looking for.


Naomi Meredith [00:02:16]:


I've said it many times on here before, and even some of my podcast episodes are based on this, but I love a good theme. And my friends can definitely attest to that there are many times. We have done themes for things, and that even goes back into the classroom, and I think back to school is its own theme. I know right now, during this back to school time, you have all the prep, all the meetings, getting your classroom set up, which we're actually gonna talk about in the next episode things to do to prep. But when you are ready for that lesson planning, and you don't wanna feel overwhelmed, what are some things that you can do that are stand based that will actually work? So these 3 big main ideas that I'm gonna be sharing with you were favorites of my students and the most successful. So let's dive into these 3 back to school STEM activities that you can do with your students. First are those get to know you activities. And if you are a STEM specialist and, of course, as a classroom teacher, you know how important this is.


Naomi Meredith [00:03:23]:


But even as a STEM specialist, this is something that you can do in your room. Now there are a couple of benefits to this, actually. Think about your students who are coming into your space during this back to school time. They're working on community building and getting to know each other in their own classroom. So the same is true in your space. And maybe you've been doing this for a few years now, and you already know all the kids, but they might not know each other in that class setting. Here and there, you might have a class set loops, whatever. But for the most part, they mostly don't know each other when it comes to being in the same class together.


Naomi Meredith [00:04:05]:


So doing these get to knowing activities in a STEM way is a cool way for them to learn about each other and even themselves and for you that you might not have known before. So how can you do this? How can you do some get to know activities in your STEM space? Well, you can make the experience, of course, hands-on. A very big top favorite, and I know another STEM teacher that I talked to this summer, this was also a favorite of her students. It was an all about me Lego Brick Build. So I have different questions that I display on the screen, and buckets of mixed Lego bricks around the room, or you can give kids their own little buckets if you're worried about the sharing piece, But, anyway, they have mixed buckets of LEGO bricks available to them, and each of the questions will ask them something, and if it's true about them, they grab that many bricks or that color of bricks. So something like grab 5 orange Lego pieces if you saw a movie this summer. Now the way that I wrote these questions was to help them not be exclusive.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:14]:


A movie you watched this summer is more inclusive. Maybe you went to the theaters. Maybe you watched a movie at home. Maybe you watched a movie at Grandma's house. Maybe you watched it on your iPad. So that can have a lot of different interpretations and help kids get involved. And while they're digging for their legos, they are talking to the kids at their table, and then this frees me up as well.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:34]:


I'm talking to the kids. So if you're worried about kids wanting to talk in your classroom, this is a good way to get kids to talk. And there are also some math extensions too if you wanna get to the rows and columns of the LEGO bricks, add that little bit of math piece in there. So I've created those different slides where it’s easy literally, like, no prep and so much fun. And then, of course, once they have all the LEGO bricks, they get to build with them. Another thing that you can do with the same LEGO bricks. You could do this on the same day, is have different items that represent the school, and students can build those things like a back to school engineer inspiration. So, again, you can display those images up on the screen or even send it to students digitally, and then they can build how they think those items should look with the LEGO bricks or whatever building materials you have on hand. Now maybe you'll want to take your back to school STEM activities in a digital way, which I am all for.


Naomi Meredith [00:06:36]:


I love a mixture of paper, but also a mixture of digital. This works really well if you have devices available in your classroom or even if your students are one to 1 and they are carrying devices into your room, this is a good way to sneak in those little tips when it comes to logging into technology because I know that that can be a whole struggle in itself. and any extra work with that in the STEM space, you're definitely helping out the classroom teachers as well. So you can assign a digital activity that will help you get to know your students in a STEM way. The first way is going through, and you could do a different letter a day. This actually would work really well, a different letter a day. But go through what STEM means, and you have a different slide, one for each letter, And you, as the teacher, this is what I did. But I had my slide completed, and I had it up on the screen when students came in.


Naomi Meredith [00:07:32]:


and it just had a picture of me, like, just sitting there on the screen with the different things that I liked about that letter and STEM. So, for example, science. I had up on the screen the slide for science, and there was a big picture of me. Now it was funny the kids were like, who's that lady at all? That's me, guys. So that was a good introduction. And then this was for the letter s in STEM for science. And we talked about the things in science that I really, really like and what science means. And so I had things up there like, oh my gosh.


Naomi Meredith [00:08:07]:


I love sea lions. They are my favorite there, like, what slippery puppies. Raise your hand if you also like sea lions. I'm like, awesome. Good job. I also like the solar system. It intrigues me. I probably would never want to go into space, but I love learning about it.


Naomi Meredith [00:08:25]:


Hands up, thumbs up if you agree with me. So things like that were they got to know me. That was the introduction, and then they got to complete their slide as well. And it also embedded those skills like logging in, getting to the assignment, and also inserting an image in the text box, which are really good skills to have because they can carry into different platforms. Likewise, another one that I did with older students is we did an apps about me activity. This could be printed too, but adding in those digital components is really, really fun, and the students really love this and learn new things from each other. So with this one, there is no coding involved, but you send the kids a template that has different apps I'm putting in quotations. but different apps that they are going to create, and they are all about them.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:15]:


So one of the apps, one of the slides that they are designing, is the food ordering app. And if they could have their perfect menu and where things are delivered from or they are served, what would that app have, so learning their favorite foods. So those types of things are really great. I actually mix these in throughout the week, so day 1 is where I'll really focus on a get to know me activity. And then I might cycle this through even the 2nd month I see them. I've talked on here that I had kids 5 days in a row, so I had the same 5 kids all Monday through Friday, but I would mix those in throughout the week. So if it was a fast finisher, if they are finished with that part, they could go and work on this project throughout the week. So it's good to have that on hand.


Naomi Meredith [00:10:02]:


And then kids are even working on it in their classrooms, which is awesome. They are super excited about this activity. Another back to school STEM activity that you can use in your classroom is outdoor learning. More likely than not, you are going back to school. and the weather's still hot and nice. And kids have been used to playing outside. So why not take that to your advantage? I've talked about this before here on the podcast, specifically back in episode 4, but that is STEM survival camp. One of my favorite units that I have ever taught, and I also love sharing with teachers.


Naomi Meredith [00:10:42]:


this was kind of a happy accident. Go back and listen to that episode. You can hear how I actually started STEM survival camp, and I actually didn't start my year off with this. I used to do digital citizenship, which we'll talk about super important, but this was an awesome, awesome way to start off the year. So if you have ever heard of STEM survival camp, all of these challenges involve things where students are collecting items from outdoors. So you are providing a few of the makers' space materials, but the majority of the things they are finding outside. And if you even want to, depending on where you live, you could have students build outside. So that's a really great bonus as well to be out in the fresh air because most of us in the STEM space are in classrooms without windows.


Naomi Meredith [00:11:30]:


So the different challenges k through 5 are different things that if they were left alone out in the wilderness, what are those types of things that they would need to know how to do to survive the elements? So we start off with kindergarten across the river challenge. 1st grade, design a fishing pole, 2nd grade, protect the food challenge. 3rd grade design a game from the land because if you're out long, your phone's probably gonna die eventually, and you need to stay entertained. 4th grade's a little bit different. They actually learn a life skill, and they are designing a hiking backpack. So I actually teach them how to sew hand stitching. And then 5th grade is the build a shelter challenge, where they design a shelter to withstand the elevates.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:14]:


So lots of different fun things going on, so every grade has a different challenge. And, again, some of the materials are from outside. Some are the things that I provide them. which is a great way to embed how to use materials in the maker space. It is not a free for all for this challenge. In fact, It is never usually a free for all entirely. But with this one, I have very specific materials that they have the option of using in addition to the things that they buy on that side. And this helps them learn the management of those things, like managing the tape allotment that you have, how to cut tape, and how to measure the string that you need for your design.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:55]:


So those types of things are really helpful with minimal tools so that they're still being creative, but creativity with constraints. Another great thing too is that this naturally promotes collaboration and creativity in a hands-on way. So I'm not telling them, alright. Be creative. Good luck. Here's how you should design it. We're looking at examples from the real world, showing examples that past students have done, and having them work together to complete this challenge. Likewise, if you are hoping to teach the engineering design process as the process that you're using in your classroom when it comes to project learning, then this, again, is another way to go through those steps where I'm not saying, alright.


Naomi Meredith [00:13:38]:


Ask is a step of the engineering design process. Imagine is the next one. It's all embedded in there. So I'm all about embedding things and having them come to life instead of having things in isolation. And this whole unit is definitely a way to do that. And bonus, if you're already setting up your classroom anyway, I actually would set up my whole classroom as a camping theme. So again, go back to episode 4. I tell you all about it there.


Naomi Meredith [00:14:07]:


And the last back to school STEM activity theme that you can try in your classroom is all about digital citizenship. This involves quite a few things, and you don't need to do this all at once. It's overwhelming for you as a teacher, but it's also overwhelming for the kids. They're tired at the end of the day. There's a lot of new information coming at them. So put it in bits by bit by bit that will make sense for them So, in the long run, they can be successful. Back in episode 10, I talk about the top technology skills that your students need to know, and these are perfect for what you can do throughout the week or the first couple of months of school when they are handling technology appropriately. So it's just those basic things like how to manage your headphones, things like that, where are they stored in the classroom? Are you having students bring those in from their homeroom classroom? How is that working in your class? I actually have little mini lessons tied to these and little technology badges that they can earn physically or digitally.


Naomi Meredith [00:15:14]:


So that will be linked in the show notes for you. So you can actually see And even some of them, I have, like, the videos of me teaching them, like cleaning devices, things like that where your students can hear or you as a teacher can hear the language and then present that to your students in your own way. Also, don't forget your classroom rules I think have fun is kind of a weird rule. I don't think it should be a rule to have fun. It might not be fun all the time. You might be frustrated. That's not fun. but think about your classroom rules.


Naomi Meredith [00:15:45]:


And a few of them actually might involve technologies. So I have some kid-friendly posters that I use with my students, k through 5, again, linked in the show notes for you. Maybe your school or district is thinking about having a device contract for using devices or borrowing them. You might need to talk through those types of things. Is that part of your role, or do you need to reiterate that in your space? I have an editable one that you can grab that has a great starting point, and also some posters that go along with that, so some reminders. when they are using technology, what are those things that they need to do? And, finally, what do you need to do as a teacher? Now this isn't really you teach, but I just wanted to put this in there. Think about your own digital citizenship. And maybe you are in charge of the schoolwide technology.


Naomi Meredith [00:16:36]:


I was also that I talked about that in the last episode. A big part of my role is that I was the technology person, and so think about those things that teachers need to know so that they can be successful. And I highly, highly recommend doing this. I know it takes a little bit of work upfront. But if you can find videos or you can record videos of you answering commonly asked questions, then this is gonna save you time in the long run because you have that on that checklist. And then if teachers are asking you throughout the year, especially if it's things that are related to two things that they're working on with students, then you can send them that video link again or say, oh, it's over here on this checklist. Here's the link to the checklist. So then that's ready to go.


Naomi Meredith [00:17:20]:


So I'm just putting that in there. That's a side note. But keep that in mind because this is something I would resend to people all the time because I already answered it. So there's that resource for you. I am like Google, apparently. So here's the here's that link that'll help you out. So back to the kids, you have those basic technology skills that you were constantly teaching and re-teaching, and this goes the whole year. This isn't going to go away.


Naomi Meredith [00:17:46]:


But keep that in mind. That's something that you were doing starting out with back to school. but then you also want to get into those digital citizenship lessons. How are they interacting with the online space? Again, that is something that is not going away. That is something that kids need to learn how to be successful, and they might not be learning this at home. So think about those very specific digital citizenship lessons. I do have an episode all about digital citizenship that can help you out with this. When you're thinking about my year and how the order of things that I taught, I started off the year with STEM survival camp.


Naomi Meredith [00:18:22]:


So having that collaboration and working on the engineering design process, all that fun, then the 2nd month was specifically about digital citizenship. I actually used to teach digital citizenship as a unit first because some survival camp didn't exist yet, but then I actually switched it to month 2, and it worked so much better because the kids are settled into the school year. The teachers are ready to use more technology, and they were ready for these types of lessons. So there are some great resources out there, but I'm thinking about adding a STEM twist. How can you make these lessons interactive and hands-on? So I created different things that go along with private and personal information. How can we be kind online? What does it mean to have safe websites that we can explore? So those types of things that a hands-on way is really beneficial to really make it stick in their brain. Hopefully, the classroom teachers are talking about this too. Maybe you are a classroom teacher, and you're like, oh, and you talk about that.


Naomi Meredith [00:19:24]:


But, hopefully, this is just another way how can you reiterate this very, very important information. If you are wondering exactly how I lay out my year, the order of things, and what graded levels get what, you can download my year-long plan for absolutely free, and you can grab that at naomimeredith.com/yeardlongplan. And this, again, will be linked in the show notes. As a recap, here are those 3 back to school STEM activities that you can use in your classroom. First are some get to know you activities and have your STEM twist. Next is outdoor learning Take those kids outside. It's probably still nice out. And finally, different ways to teach digital citizenship.


Naomi Meredith [00:20:11]:


All of these lessons that I have talked about are linked in the show notes for you, and you can grab those individually if there's a specific one that you really, really loved. or I've also bundled them up nicely so you can have a whole collection of things, especially if you teach a lot of kids, you need a lot of stuff. If you wanna hear about more back to school STEM activities, you can actually go to episode 7, where I talk about more things that you can use in your STEM space. Thank you again so much for being here, and I'll see you in the next episode.

back to school stem activities

 

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More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a former classroom teacher turned current K-5 STEM teacher and coach. Her role not only includes teaching over 500 students in her school, but also leading professional development and co-teaching with teachers to help them integrate STEM & Technology.

With over a decade of experience along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM certificate, she helps teachers navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM & Technology in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

Are you tired of scrolling online for your next great STEM lesson? Do you feel like there is no time to plan, research and test meaningful STEM lessons, so you throw together a hands-on activity and hope that it works? What systems and routines should you set in place to help students be creative, critically think, and collaborate? 

The Elementary STEM Coach is a podcast for K-5 STEM teachers, classroom teachers, GT specialists, and homeschool parents looking for actionable STEM solutions. Each week, Naomi Meredith will share tools, resources and lesson ideas that are actionable in your classroom and create highly engaging experiences with your students. You’ll learn systems and routines that will create control in the chaos and that will keep you organized all year long. 

Your mindless scrolling days are over! Your new STEM-best friend is now here in your ear buds!

classroom-teacher-to-stem-teacher

From Classroom Teacher to STEM Teacher: My Journey in Education [ep.108]

by Naomi Meredith

From Classroom Teacher to STEM Teacher: My Journey in Education [ep.108]

Check out the full episode about the transition from classroom teacher to STEM teacher:  

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

Have a STEM question? Leave a voice message for the podcast!

Episode Summary

Ever since I was little, I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher. I was fascinated by all things SCHOOL. From the exciting lessons, the organization of the classroom to even how the day ran and was fairly predictable, I was ALL about it. So how did my childhood dream become a reality? I’ll be sharing with you my journey in education from classroom teacher, to K-5 STEM teacher, and what’s in store for the future.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Years spent as an elementary classroom teacher
  • Transitioning from classroom teacher to K-5 Elementary STEM Teacher
  • The roles that I had while being a K-5 STEM Teacher
  • Next steps for me and my role in education

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Ever since I was little, I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher. I have always been fascinated with all things school, from the organization of classrooms to the exciting lessons and ways to learn, and even just how the structure of the days at school were super predictable and something that I could count on. I was always all about school, so it was an easy decision for me to become a teacher.

So how did my childhood dream really become a reality? I'll be sharing with you my journey in education from starting out as a classroom teacher, my transition into being a K-5 STEM teacher, and what is in store for my future in education. Welcome to the Elementary STEM Coach Podcast, a show that will help you with lesson ideas, systems, and actionable tips to apply to your classroom. I am your host, Naomi Meredith, a former classroom teacher turned current STEM teacher and coach.

With over a decade of experience teaching and a master's degree in STEM leadership, I am here to coach you throughout the year to help you gain back more time to create innovative experiences for your students. Grab your earbuds and let's get started. I was a kid growing up who would go to school all day and then come home and play school.

My students were either the Barbie dolls that I had or my not-so-willing siblings. I am the oldest of five, and so there was always somebody to teach. Fun fact, I actually taught one of my brothers how to read.

So before he got to kindergarten, he was already reading, which is pretty exciting. Fast forward many years later when it was time to declare my major in college, I declared it right away going into my freshman year that I knew I was going to be an elementary teacher, and I stuck with it for four years. And the rest is history, which you're going to be hearing about in this episode.

So how did it all begin? When I was in my final year of college, when it came to student teaching, the program that I went to actually placed us in schools, and there were partnerships with my college and other schools in the area. I ended up getting hired at the school that I student taught at for a year, which was a super great experience since I already knew the layout of the building and a lot of the staff already there. I ended up teaching a second grade at this Title I school, and I had such an amazing team.

These two years in second grade really set the foundation for the rest of my teaching career. I really figured out what it meant to have strong systems and routines within your classroom. And really looking back on that, it doesn't really matter what type of classroom you have.

This is important for all classrooms and really having powerful lesson planning and being prepared for what you're going to teach. I really valued those two years and the wonderful people that I worked with. But I ended up moving somewhere else in the state and I needed to teach somewhere else that would be a bit closer to home.

I ended up landing a job at a school teaching third grade. And I think I've mentioned this before, I mentioned this quite often, I love kindergarten. They are still one of my favorite grades.

And when I applied to the school, I actually really wanted to teach kindergarten. But I ended up knowing somebody on the third grade team. And I didn't apply to the school knowing I knew them.

I just found out when I got there. So I ended up teaching third grade. And I was super nervous because to me, they seemed really old.

I did do some student teaching in it. I wasn't sure if I loved it. I loved kindergarten.

But I actually ended up loving third grade. And they are still a favorite age of mine, along with kindergarten. But I ended up teaching a third grade for four years.

And at this time in my teaching career, this was super powerful for me because I really became into my own as a teacher, figuring out my teaching style. And this is where I really discovered that I love technology and innovation, and hands on learning, which looking back even into my school years, I loved those kinds of classes back then. I even took a few STEM classes, they weren't called STEM back then.

But I've always been intrigued with this type of learning. And so I was using this with my students, and they were as obsessed as I was. And all that project based learning, hands on learning, going to conferences, taking every free and paid training that I could to really enhance my learning as a teacher, and then put that back into my classroom.

During this time, I was just so excited about this. And I could see the positive impact that it had on my little small classroom of 25 or so. But I knew that I needed to take these skills and knowledge and push myself as an educator and go bigger.

I really wanted to teach more students and try other things with them. I happened to find a job in a neighboring district that had a STEM position since we didn't have that available at my school. And it wasn't super popular in my district at the time.

So I ended up finding a K through five STEM position at a neighboring district, where I didn't know anybody, I didn't know any of the kids, but I went for it anyway. If you want to hear more about my interview and how I think it went, spoiler alert, I got the job. But if you go all the way back to episode one, I tell you exactly what happened in that interview and my thoughts about it.

So like I said, I got the job as a K through five STEM teacher. And I didn't know any of the students, any of the teachers didn't know the Wi Fi password, and didn't know what I was getting myself into, which I was ready for the challenge. I came into this K through five STEM role.

And here where I live, you actually don't need to have a STEM teaching degree to get a STEM role. And I feel like that's a bit common at the time of this recording, but I feel like that's going to change. Just like if you were to teach PE, art and music, you have to have those qualifications.

But luckily for me at the time, I had my bachelor's degree in K through six elementary education, had a valid teaching license. And eventually a few years later, I did get my master's in STEM leadership along with a STEM certificate. So if it came down to it, I'm qualified.

But really, I didn't have that specific STEM experience, just the other trainings and things that I was working on and was passionate about and helping other teachers, but landed this role. And it was way more than I knew, not in a bad way. But there are so many things that I learned, and various leadership positions that I took a hold of, and different types of committees to really create this STEM program from nothing.

So I was given a brand new classroom with limited supplies and absolutely no curriculum. And one of the things I have always loved as a teacher is designing and creating curriculum. Even back in the days when I was babysitting for my neighbor kids and all the kids at my church, I would actually create things and bring them to their houses and teach them.

So creating and designing things is also, has always been a passion of mine. So creating a curriculum was a big feat, but also very exciting for me. Now I've hinted here and there at things that I've done in this role, but I don't think I've actually talked about what I actually did in this position.

So yes, I was hired as a K-5 STEM teacher. That was the title, but there's a lot more that comes with it when you are developing a full cohesive program. So there's a whole lot of different hats that I did in this program.

So first of all, I was actually our school-wide technology point person. So we didn't have a separate tech person or whatever to manage all the school-wide technology. Now we do have some district support, but when it came to in-house situations, that was something that I had to develop and create systems and processes on my own.

And it took years to really get to a place where we were on the same page with devices. Everything was cleaned up, getting rid of old things that haven't been used in 10 years, managing ways to troubleshoot and how that's not disruptive, but also productive for not only me, but also the students and the teachers. So really figuring out that system where we could be successful with technology.

And I was teaching full-time, wasn't getting paid extra for this tech position, but figuring out those systems where it could definitely work for the building and also empower teachers to learn those things, to learn those skills, and also put that back into their classrooms for their students. Another big part of my role, especially the first few years when I got started and just with the type of schedule that I had, I would not only teach K-5 STEM as a specials, but part of my schedule was also co-planning and co-teaching with teachers. This was an awesome way for me to build relationships with teachers in my building that I didn't know.

And the kids could actually see me in another environment. So that was pretty fun seeing them in different ways. And we knew each other and got to learn all of their 500 plus names.

So that was really exciting to help teachers implement STEM and technology and even just innovative practices in their classroom to really think about the lessons that they were teaching. Are they actually the standards that should be teaching or are they things that we have always done forever? So rethinking those things and just adding in those ways that we can boost up the learning to really empower them and just have those exciting ways to learn. There's so many times when the content is actually really, really good, but the delivery could definitely be improved on or there's just ways to make it more engaging and put all the ownership on the kids.

So that was really, really fun doing that with teachers. I wish I got to do that more in the last two years in STEM. Since my schedule changed, I didn't get the chance to teach with people, but it was such a great, great time having that experience.

Also thing of interest in curriculum first semester, I also taught GT science. So I did have a cluster of kids where we worked on their science schools and a lot of project-based learning. During state testing time, I was part of the troubleshooting support.

So got a lot of steps in on those days, helping figure out headphones and computers and all of those things during that state testing time. A lot of you listening also know it was very interesting teaching during COVID. So that was interesting in my role since that was definitely unique teaching specials online, but also having this coaching support.

So when I wasn't teaching the students online, I was actually supporting the teachers in my building by hosting weekly online workshops based on attending the meetings that I went to, the grade level meetings, hearing those things that they were really needing help in, whether it was certain technology or ways to improve engagement online. And I hosted these quick 30-minute workshops so teachers could learn different strategies while they were at home and then have those workshops recorded and be able to help share those with the other staff in my building. And what was really cool too, is using those trainings and helping all my other teacher friends who were in the same situation, but using those recordings to help support them.

And then in turn, they didn't feel so lost with their students in this new to them situation teaching online. And then of course, all of that technology management that came along with it. So definitely a lot of curve balls being thrown at me in these five years.

But another thing that I've always really been passionate on, and I have a whole series that will come out in not too much longer, all about afterschool clubs. And I've always, as a teacher, even when I taught second grade, I did a science club, which was funny because now I'm a STEM teacher, science. But I've always done clubs as a classroom teacher and the value of that and having kids feeling seen and trying out new passions.

That was a big way to boost up my program and help kids understand what STEM can be and just help them discover things that they like, or maybe they don't like in STEM. If they didn't like it, then they're like, you know, this isn't for me. I'm like, that's okay.

It doesn't have to be your passion. So having things like robotics club, coding club, makerspace, one of my most favorite, which I'll even do a whole episode on this because it was my most favorite club that I ever did, but even hosting our school wide news, which was such a great way to build community in our building and really get to see the kids in a different light. When clubs weren't a possibility, I improvised and created take home STEM kits that the kids could work on STEM with their parents in actionable ways with very simple materials, but using them in innovative ways for different projects.

So a lot of different ways to help create that engagement and really bring STEM to life for the kids. And just having my little STEM buddies year after year was so much fun. I definitely ended this last school year with a bang and I will also do an episode about this, but creating a whole STEM career day experience where I brought in parents from our community and they presented on their STEM careers or ways that they support a STEM company or a STEM business and how they use those STEM skills in their current modern day roles.

So really rethinking how, yes, it's this little STEM class, but there's so many ways that you can broaden this and bring it to life even if it's not just in your specials rotation. Also, if this wasn't enough, I was on some committees. I hosted my own committee at school, my innovation and tech committee, where I could help teachers or grade level representatives be on the same page of updates that are coming in the district and things that I had planned for them and how I could best support them in their classrooms, along with collaborating with other teachers in the district, whether it was doing presentations or helping with big events that were happening for all the kids in the district.

So really trying to be involved and help STEM education grow in this elementary space so that they do want to keep going through middle school, high school, and hopefully beyond in their own way. Now back to past Naomi, the little kid who would go home and play school. There's a part about my childhood that I didn't share with you.

And that was the other side of me where I was very entrepreneurial and loved things about business. So when I was a kid, yeah, there's a typical lemonade stand, but I would take it to the next level. And I actually had a snow cone stand and made some good money for a kid, like not a few dollars here and there, like a lot of money.

Even the ice cream people would come and buy snow cones from us because they didn't serve snow cones, but doing things like that. I had one year I was collecting things from our house and asking my parents, can I sell this? Can I sell that? And then hosting a garage sale to try to make some extra cash. Of course, babysitting and nannying.

I was a cart girl doing all the things in college, but a golf cart girl in college, worked at Build-A-Bear, figuring out ways that I can make money to pay for my college. But all those different things, I've always had this side of me of like, okay, there's ways that we can make money and also help people, but I also love education. Those are just two very, I feel like different things all about helping people.

That's very much the same, but two very different sides of me that have always been me as a person. And so when I actually became a classroom teacher teaching second grade, I started up my own online shop on Teachers Pay Teachers and started selling my teaching resources because, okay, I knew this was working for my students. I could help other teachers and in turn make a little bit of money about it.

So if you go on there, my store name has changed a few times. You can't get anything that I first made. Those don't exist.

I bet the content's actually pretty good, but the fonts and everything are really, really ugly. Then when I moved into the third grade realm, when I really was starting to find my passion for STEM, innovation, hands-on learning is where my store shifted. Some of you here might actually know this.

I know that when I talked to Kelly Hogan back on the podcast, you can go check out that episode. We'll link it in the show notes. She knows this username because I knew her old username, but it used to be Marvelous Miss Meredith and that's where I started sharing my ideas out to the world.

So taking it from, okay, I have this little cute store and then, okay, let's see how we can share this with each other. And I changed that. I actually just changed it to my real name.

Well, that's my real name, Meredith, Marvelous Miss Meredith, but to Naomi Meredith because people thought Meredith was my name. So it's Naomi. That's my real name.

So it really shifted into that and really helping teachers. I was focusing a lot on technology and ways to help with tech tools. And funny enough that the website that I started then actually helped me land my K-5 STEM job.

And from there, like I said, when I got that K-5 STEM position, I walked into the space that had limited supplies and zero curriculum. And not only that, I was the only teacher in my building who had this type of role. And what I've come to find over the years being in this position, and especially to talking with you all online and in my emails, is this is a very common narrative is you're expected to do all of these really big and amazing things, but you don't have anybody else to collaborate with, or there's no training when it comes to lesson planning, or there's not any STEM specific standards yet.

There's a few, but you don't know how to implement that altogether. Not to mention, what should that progression of learning look like? How do you fit all of this in? I know because I've lived this and I've had these same questions. So through those needs, this is why I created this big shift in my teacher business to support all of you.

Past Naomi would have wanted all of these things to help me in the STEM classroom. And so this is my big way that I've been giving back over the years is supporting you with my content and all my lesson plans, this podcast, but providing you a place where you can feel seen and heard, and also have the tools that you can be successful as a teacher. And then of course, your kids can be successful.

As my K through five STEM teacher role was growing in demand, you can see all those things that I was doing. And I've loved, loved, loved teaching. I love education.

Likewise, my needs and my business has also grown in demands and just all of those connections and filling in those holes and those future holes that are needed in the elementary STEM space. And especially the past couple of years, just knowing that we all have the same 24 hours in a day. And my job is to be this most excellent, excellent teacher for my students as such a priority for me.

And also being the best teacher business owner that I can be to serve you. And there definitely has come a point where those two things require so much of my time to do them at the best of my ability. So thinking for a long time, years on this, talking about it, really contemplating the pros and cons and really thinking about, okay, I am so passionate about STEM education.

What if I can actually continue this passion and continue to help teachers and students in a bigger way, always trying to challenge myself and do the next thing. And what if I really did go all in on this? What if there are so many, oh my gosh, so many desks that I'm actually getting a little bit and I'm really not an emotional person. So if you're watching the video of this, I'm really trying not to tear up about it, but I'm the kind of person, if I'm going to do something, I'm going to do the best of my ability and put all of my energy towards that.

And with all the demands, with teaching and with the business, there really came a point where I have to choose one or the other, but also still really come down to it, make the impact that I want to make. So really trying to looking for other opportunities. There weren't any that were available for me to grow my district and also having all of this that I've built up for you guys and all the things that I wanted to do.

So after my 11 years of being in the classroom, I made the decision to take a step back and continue to support education from behind the scenes and pursue my business and collaborations with companies full-time. I love elementary STEM so much. And the things that I really realized about my business, of course, the students are the best part, but the things that I really love is the things that I've always loved in teaching.

And that is creating content and connecting with teachers. I love lesson planning and I love connecting with teachers. And that's an amazing thing that this business has definitely brought opportunities where I get to do those things and have the mental capacity and have the time to really, really full-fledged support you where you are at.

So if we haven't connected in these ways before, you're here on the podcast or you're watching here on YouTube, but definitely connect with me over on Instagram at Naomi Meredith underscore, but there's so many ways that already have created for you and continuing to grow so that elementary STEM can be the meaningful place that it is and that your admin really sees value in it, but also you see value in it and your students do as well. So different ways that we can support. I have that, my K through five STEM year long plan where you don't have to worry about what you're teaching.

And again, there's some fun updates that are going to be coming this next year that I have been planning out and figuring that out for you. So if you get it now, you get updates for free. I also have coaching spots available.

So maybe think about talking with your admin. Um, if that's a possibility that, um, getting that support where it, maybe you need help with your systems and routines. Maybe it's your classroom setup.

Maybe you want to work on a lesson plan together. We can work together for a week, four weeks or a few months if you want to, but we can definitely set up, set aside time so that you don't have to do this alone because it's hard. It's a really hard position to bring alone.

And of course, fun workshops along the way on demand ones that are live. And also my current course, the STEM teacher one-on-one to help you set up your whole systems and routines. So everything's linked in the show notes for you.

But my goal is definitely to be here for you, um, from being your cheerleader, being your support system, somebody that you can look on. I am still involved in education. I have some ways that I actually can get into classrooms.

So I'm not currently going to be in the classroom with students every day. My goal is to be here, involved here in education, to be supporting you with my resources and content and all the things up and coming so that you can feel success and really thrive in elementary STEM. Thank you so much for being here.

This was definitely an episode that I've been putting off, um, holding on to since I've known for a while about this. I've been really nervous about saying all of this that I just said. I'm really, really sweaty and I'm trying not to cry.

Um, but I'm just super passionate about this and definitely am excited. Oh my gosh, I'm getting emotional. I'm definitely excited for the future and what that holds and how I can continue support and give it all my all.

So thank you again. And I will, you can definitely reach out and I will see you all in the next episode. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of the elementary STEM coach podcast.

I would love to connect with you over on Instagram at Naomi Meredith underscore, or send me an email to elementary STEM coach podcast at gmail.com. Also make sure to check out my website, Naomi Meredith.com to see all the show notes from today's episode and shop my K through five STEM resources. Any questions you have needs for resources or ideas for episodes, get in touch. I'll talk to you soon.

 

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a former classroom teacher turned current K-5 STEM teacher and coach. Her role not only includes teaching over 500 students in her school, but also leading professional development and co-teaching with teachers to help them integrate STEM & Technology.

With over a decade of experience along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM certificate, she helps teachers navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM & Technology in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

Are you tired of scrolling online for your next great STEM lesson? Do you feel like there is no time to plan, research and test meaningful STEM lessons, so you throw together a hands-on activity and hope that it works? What systems and routines should you set in place to help students be creative, critically think, and collaborate? 

The Elementary STEM Coach is a podcast for K-5 STEM teachers, classroom teachers, GT specialists, and homeschool parents looking for actionable STEM solutions. Each week, Naomi Meredith will share tools, resources and lesson ideas that are actionable in your classroom and create highly engaging experiences with your students. You’ll learn systems and routines that will create control in the chaos and that will keep you organized all year long. 

Your mindless scrolling days are over! Your new STEM-best friend is now here in your ear buds!

1st year STEM teacher

3 Things I Wish I Knew as a 1st Year STEM Teacher [ep.107]

by Naomi Meredith

3 Things I Wish I Knew as a 1st Year STEM Teacher [ep.107]

1st year STEM teacher

Check out the full episode on 3 Things I Wish I Knew as a 1st Year STEM Teacher:  

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

Have a STEM question? Leave a voice message for the podcast!

Episode Summary

As I reflect on my STEM teacher role, I can’t help but think about what I wish I knew as a 1st year STEM teacher. I faced so many challenges in my 1st year as a STEM teacher and learned so much along the way. In today’s episode, I’m sharing three things I wish I knew as a 1st year STEM teacher.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • 3 things I wish I knew as a 1st year STEM teacher
  • How not knowing these strategies impacted my STEM teacher journey
  • Tips for applying these strategies in your STEM classroom

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:


When I first got started as a K through Five STEM teacher, I was a classroom teacher for six years, and I was excited to start a new adventure in teaching. So I applied to this job, where I ended up interviewing and getting the job. If you want to hear all about it, go back and listen to episode one. I spill all the details on how that interview went, but I ended up getting the job as a K through five STEM teacher and coach, and I was absolutely thrilled. But in turn, this was a brand new to me school, brand new classroom. I didn't know any of the students or the teachers, and there was limited supplies and zero curriculum, and not to mention I was the only STEM teacher in the building and I had to figure it out all by myself. Now, spoiler alert, I did figure it out. It took some time and a lot of trial and error, but if I were to go back and tell myself past Naomi, past STEM teacher Naomi, at the very beginning of it all, what are some things that I wish I knew at the time? And lucky for you, if you are first getting started in the STEM space or if you are thinking about that back to school mindset and you are wondering what to work on, what are those things that Past Nami wish she knew when she first got started in STEM? Well, in this episode, I am sharing that all with you, and I think that you're really going to be able to relate to all of these things.


Naomi Meredith [00:01:36]:


Whether this is your first year jumping into STEM or if you've been doing it for a while, there are some connections that we are going to make together. Before we jump in real quick. I get emails when I get new podcast reviews, which is super exciting, and I wanted to read this one for you. Now, the podcast reviews are really silly with the usernames. They just make something up.


Naomi Meredith [00:02:30]:


So maybe you made this up or maybe you didn't. I don't know how to change it when I write reviews for people, but I love this review so much. So this is from C Waddell 14, and they said the STEM teacher job opportunity was sprung on me out of the blue at the end of the school year. And although I was excited to try something new, I was feeling very lost and overwhelmed. As I had no idea where to begin, I stumbled upon Naomi's podcast, and I'm so glad I did. She has a great way of connecting with her listeners and making you feel less stressed and more confident. Thank you, Naomi, for creating this podcast and helping guide all of us to the amazing STEM world. Thank you so much for your review and taking the time to do that out of your busy schedule.


Naomi Meredith [00:03:24]:


I appreciate it so much. Not just selfishly hearing nice things about the podcast, because the weird thing about a podcast is, like, we're not talking together. You know what I'm saying? You're hearing me, and I'm looking right at my camera when I'm doing this, so I'm pretending it's you, but I don't know who it is. So leaving a review really helps not only letting me know what you're enjoying on the show, but also helping other teachers who are just like you be able to find something that can help them in their STEM journey and make this whole elementary STEM world a little bit smaller. So thank you so much for writing that review. All right, so what are those things that I wish I found out sooner when it came to the elementary STEM space? Now, maybe they will seem obvious to you. They kind of are and kind of aren't. What's super interesting about being in the STEM space, especially if you're a classroom teacher before, there are so many similarities, but there are a lot of differences.


Naomi Meredith [00:04:26]:


And I've talked about this before in a past episode. Like, what surprised me the most when I became a STEM teacher, these are the things that I wish I actually knew. So, yes, there were surprising things, but these are the things that I wish I knew. And once I figured them out and created a system and structure for them, then it was literally like magic and changed my life in the STEM world and really outside of teaching in general, let's be honest. So the first thing I wish I knew my first year teaching STEM is that there are a lot of different structures when it comes to teaching a STEM lesson. Like I said, as a classroom teacher, you use all of these structures, stations, working with students one on one, whole group instructions, splitting the class in different ways. All of those different ways where you structure your class and structure lessons can actually still apply in the STEM setting. What I was starting with a lot more often than not, was whole group lessons, and especially when you don't know any of the kids.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:31]:


So when you're teaching over 100 kids a day and you're doing whole group, that's actually really hard. And that's where I started. There's all these materials and all these things I wanted to try and to get to know the students. So I quickly realized that I can do a station model where it is smaller groups of kids and really setting up those parameters. And that way I could really test out the supplies, get to know their skills, get to know their names, and really help them navigate all of those things while I was navigating it myself. Let's be real, the things that I did my first year, there are a lot of things I don't do anymore. But a big thing with that is you don't have to teach whole group all the time. It is really helpful to teach whole group.


Naomi Meredith [00:06:15]:


It's obviously the quickest. But again, when you set up those structures and think about STEM stations, especially with the younger kids, I talk all about this in my K through two STEM planning workshops, which you can grab. And everything I'm going to be talking about is in the show notes. All my workshops are at naomimeredith.com/workshop. So upcoming recorded. But STEM stations were a huge game changer for me, especially for the younger students, because whole group doesn't always work well for 45 minutes when you are under the age of seven. And so that was something that was definitely a game changer for me.


Naomi Meredith [00:06:50]:


And the way that I plan STEM stations, I wish I knew that a lot sooner, where I could be more successful and really my kids could be more successful as well. Another thing too, when it comes to the structure of your lessons, is there's one day lessons and multi day lessons, and there's a time and place for both. And I've had some really weird schedules over the years. One year I was funded through a grant only on Mondays, and with that I was providing an extra plan time. And so I got students for that one day. It didn't really line up with their specials rotation, so I really considered as a one day of a week. And I taught eight classes a day in one day. And so that was the case where I really did need a one day lesson that just made more sense, maybe.


Naomi Meredith [00:07:39]:


I just saw a class last week, we just finished their project. Does it make sense starting something new? So a one day lesson really made sense there. But when I saw kids Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, the same six classes in a row, that's when it really made sense to do multi day lessons. And you can still do multi day lessons if you see everybody in the week and just once a week, maybe your multi day is among the different weeks. That can definitely be a possibility too. So with that one day option, for me, it was once a month. So I saw eight classes a day. It was once a month.


Naomi Meredith [00:08:16]:


So we kind of modified things after they got a little crazy. After eight classes, I don't even know if I got a lunch. I don't really remember, but it was crazy. So definitely knowing the difference between one day and multi day lessons can actually help out your planning as well. Another model too, if you have the opportunity, is co teaching and all those structures within co teaching in itself and what other teachers are used to. My good friend Becca, who is on the podcast on episode 40, she actually does co-teaching 100% of the time in her STEM role, which is really interesting and not a wrong way, but just another way that STEM can be taught. And that's also something that I did in my role as well. I told you my schedule is really weird over the years.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:00]:


But having that co teaching model can be really interesting, and especially when you're getting into the planning and making sure the content is aligning, teaching those lessons, modifying, coming back and reviewing, that's a whole different way of planning as well. Also part of that coplanning and co teaching, maybe you're copanning with those teachers. They're doing something in your STEM classroom, and then they're taking that thing from the STEM classroom into another place. Or maybe you're coplanning and co teaching. They're creating something in art. This is something I actually recently did. They are creating something in art. They're bringing it into STEM, and they're adding on some different components.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:40]:


So if this is something you're interested in, send me a message if you're interested more in coplaning and code teaching when it comes to STEM because this is definitely an interesting model and I feel like it can go this way a lot, especially if schools don't have a lot of STEM. So this is something that I definitely figured out my first year. Another thing that I wish I knew my first year teaching STEM is that high quality lesson planning is an absolute game changer at first. Just like most of us in this STEM space, you get this position and not only are you thinking about the lessons, but how should you set up your classroom? How am I going to learn all these kids names, all these meetings I have to go to? Maybe you're in charge of technology. You have all of these things going on that a lot of times it's easy to get into this bad habit where I'm going to tell you why, but easy to get into this bad habit where you are literally planning day to day. And sure, you have lessons go out on the table, but when it comes down to it, you might even be wasting more time than you think. You're going day to day today, not thinking ahead far enough. And then you might be spending your weekends lesson planning.


Naomi Meredith [00:10:50]:


Maybe you're coming in and instead of enjoying a nice day out in fun in the sun with your dog, you're bringing them into your classroom and watching The Bachelor rewinds. Not to say that I did that more than once, but that can just really create the cycle where you're doing more work on yourself. And that even goes back to the different lesson planning structures. You don't have to do a brand new lesson every single day. It doesn't have to be a brand new thing, a brand new experience think about, especially if you were a classroom teacher, you're not doing something brand new every single day. In fact, you are building up on those sySTEMs and routines the whole entire year. And maybe you're switching up the content. Your STEM space can be the same way.


Naomi Meredith [00:11:37]:


And if you are a classroom teacher implementing STEM, maybe you have STEM Fridays. You can have that same structure and you're switching out the content or you're reemphasizing something you've already done. So it doesn't have to be brand new every day. So after that first year, I really took the time. I sat down one summer and literally mapped out the whole entire year. I took a look at the standards also the lessons that I taught. I was planning with standards, but not as thoughtfully as I thought I was. And really looking through, okay, what is the time I have with kids? What are the things I can realistically do within that time? Maybe it took a couple of months to get through a project because at the time I was only seeing them three days out of the week, sometimes two, with things popping up.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:27]:


So it might take longer for a project, but we're really getting to that content. And how can I really go through these standards in meaningful ways and also using the materials in meaningful ways that were low prep and high prep, having a mixture of all of that? And in turn, my year long plan definitely evolved into the lessons that they are today. And they are still evolving with updates and changes and things that are being added to help students be successful. So really thinking through your lessons and having high quality planning and taking a step back, whether it is during the summer or taking a few weeks to really think through the whole year, where you aren't planning day to day, your plan time is for actually planning. Maybe you have an idea of what the lessons are going to be, but you're actually planning through those during your plan time, how you should. And so you are getting your weekends back and you are enjoying the things. You are a person and you're a teacher. You're not just a teacher.


Naomi Meredith [00:13:25]:


And it's okay to separate those two things. So that whole year long plane you can definitely grab. But if you need support too, I do have spots available in my one to one coaching that you guys have been asking for for a while. I know that my podcast says the elementary STEM coach. The STEM coach is real. I can be chatting with you and we can actually talk and meet live so that's available in the show notes or go to Naomimeredith.com coaching and we can start working together to really think about those high quality lessons. And the third thing that I wish I knew my first year teaching STEM is that you actually need to go out and seek professional development opportunities. This is so different than being a classroom teacher, because I remember being a classroom teacher that sometimes there was too much professional development opportunities and too many things that they wanted us to do.


Naomi Meredith [00:14:24]:


And on the flip side, being a STEM teacher, a lot of those classroom things can still apply, but you might not be using the same curriculum as them or the testing methods maybe you are. And it can actually get frustrating pretty quickly because the professional development isn't always tailored to you and what you need. And depending on your district and the opportunities that they have, they may or may not have anything that you are searching for when it comes to STEM professional development. And so that was a huge thing that I realized where in a way, as a classroom teacher, you're kind of spoiled it's like handed to you almost too much, but it's handed to you. And then, as a STEM teacher, I needed to seek those things out so that I could still be innovative and relevant for my students and giving them the opportunities that they absolutely deserve. Here are some ways that I sought out different professional development that was really helpful for me as a 1st year STEM teacher. And also going through the years, I actually didn't come into this space with a master's degree. I just had my general education degree.


Naomi Meredith [00:15:33]:


I actually never knew what to get my Master's in. So I found one that I really enjoyed, and I eventually got a Master's in STEM Leadership. And so through that process, definitely learned a lot of things that helped me refine my teaching and improve what I was doing in the classroom. Likewise, if I had products in my classroom that I had inherited or things that I wrote grants for, I didn't have anybody to teach me. And so what's really great about a lot of these companies and a specific reason why I picked certain products over others is that these companies had different tools to help me learn the product. So if I didn't know how to do it, I would go to their website, go through their tutorials, go through their items to really help me get a base understanding of how the product worked. And then while I'm implementing with students, I learned alongside with them. If you go on my Instagram, you see me all the time.


Naomi Meredith [00:16:24]:


I am reading constantly. I was a bookworm as a kid as well. I've always read a ton of books. Fun fact about me, I usually have about three books going at once. I'm listening to a nonfiction. I'm reading a nonfiction for the Sum teacher bookshelf membership. And also I'm reading a fiction to keep everything separated. But reading is a really great way to again stay relevant and keep you in that mindset.


Naomi Meredith [00:16:50]:


Even if you're not implementing every single thing that you read, it's just so good to fill your brain with those things, align with other people in the world who believe what you do in STEM education. So I just love having that always going. And in the STEM teacher bookshelf membership, we're always reading a new book a month to help us stay motivated, along with that reading guide to implement some of the things that we learn. Another big thing, too, that I wish I knew sooner as a first year teacher is connecting and finding people over on social media and also podcasts. I don't know if there was any podcasts at the time. I wish I knew there were. But finding those people again that you connect it with, whether it's me or other people, just to continue the learning and get a sneak peek of what it's like in their classrooms. A big reason why I am doing what I am doing for you is quite a few things.


Naomi Meredith [00:17:48]:


Of course, pushing out STEM to more kids all over the world, because that's a world we're living in and they're growing up in, and you are the teachers who are motivating them as well. You are inspiring me. Past naomi is inspiring me. I want to be that person for you that you can connect with and have some guidance in this STEM education world. It is so exciting. There are so many resources out there, but I know there is a need for help with learning and talking to somebody who gets what you get. So I have all these things out there. The podcast is still going, and again, we can definitely connect with my one to one coaching where we can talk about those things that we can relate on.


Naomi Meredith [00:18:32]:


Like, for sure, kids eat masking tape. If you figured out where all that masking tape goes, let me know. It's not always their projects either. So things like that where we can connect and talk and set goals and really work on the things that you are passionate about in your classroom so that you aren't feeling alone and that you are feeling inspired for the next step in your journey. What is so interesting about this STEM job is that, yes, it's teaching, but it is very unique, and you can definitely talk about it with other teachers. And there's a lot of similarities in teaching that any teacher would get. But there's something about STEM education that is so unique. And even my now husband, who was my fiance when I interviewed him on the podcast, you can go and listen to that one.


Naomi Meredith [00:19:20]:


It might be episode 94, I'm not 100% sure, but it'll be linked for you. He's a high school Spanish teacher, and I was an elementary STEM teacher. They are completely different. Completely different. He didn't understand hardly anything, what I'm doing. He's like, good job. That sounds really fun. I don't know what that means, so there's just something to be had talking with someone and connecting with someone who gets what you're doing to help you move along and reach your goals in STEM education.


Naomi Meredith [00:19:53]:


As a recap, here are the three things that I wish I had known when I was a 1st year STEM teacher. First, there are different structures to teach lessons that will definitely make your life easier in the long run. Next, high-quality lesson planning is an absolute game changer. And finally, you still need to seek out those professional development and learning opportunities. Thank you again so much for being here. What are some things that you would add to your list? Are they big or small? Let me know. Send me a DM on Instagram at NaomiMeredith_.


Naomi Meredith [00:20:32]:


I would love to hear what you have to say, and I will see you in the next episode.

1st year STEM teacher

 

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a former classroom teacher turned current K-5 STEM teacher and coach. Her role not only includes teaching over 500 students in her school, but also leading professional development and co-teaching with teachers to help them integrate STEM & Technology.

With over a decade of experience along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM certificate, she helps teachers navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM & Technology in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

Are you tired of scrolling online for your next great STEM lesson? Do you feel like there is no time to plan, research and test meaningful STEM lessons, so you throw together a hands-on activity and hope that it works? What systems and routines should you set in place to help students be creative, critically think, and collaborate? 

The Elementary STEM Coach is a podcast for K-5 STEM teachers, classroom teachers, GT specialists, and homeschool parents looking for actionable STEM solutions. Each week, Naomi Meredith will share tools, resources and lesson ideas that are actionable in your classroom and create highly engaging experiences with your students. You’ll learn systems and routines that will create control in the chaos and that will keep you organized all year long. 

Your mindless scrolling days are over! Your new STEM-best friend is now here in your ear buds!

STEM Lesson Plan Auditing

The Power of STEM Lesson Plan Auditing [ep. 106]

by Naomi Meredith

The Power of STEM Lesson Plan Auditing [ep.106]

STEM Lesson Plan Auditing

Check out the full episode on The Power of STEM Lesson Plan Auditing:  

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

Have a STEM question? Leave a voice message for the podcast!

Episode Summary

If you want to create lessons that are meaningful, engaging, and aligned with the standards, then STEM lesson plan auditing needs to be part of your classroom strategy. In today’s episode, I break down the importance of STEM lesson plan auditing and give some tips and strategies for conducting your own lesson plan audit.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • How to set up your STEM lesson plan audit
  • Tips for conducting your STEM lesson plan audit
  • How to review your STEM lesson plan audit

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:


One of the most time consuming tasks as an elementary STEM teacher is planning lessons. While planning lessons is one of my most favorite things to do as a teacher, it does require a lot of work, especially if you are teaching multiple grade levels. How do you keep track of it all, not to mention make sure that you are adding in the necessary content for the year along with grade-level standards? If you've taught STEM for even just a year, it's important to take a step back before you just dive into your lesson plans and see what you have taught so far. How I like to do this is by conducting an overall lesson audit. And what do I mean by the words lesson audit? In this episode, I'll be sharing with you how important a STEM lesson audit is and what this means for you and your future planning. If you are listening to this episode as it is coming out, I am so happy to be back. So I've had a bunch of episodes still come out in the month of June. Shout out to my podcast manager, Andrea. She kept the podcast running like she always does, but she's amazing. And we made sure that two episodes a week were still coming out for you while I was getting married and then going on my very long honeymoon. So I apologize if I'm a little bit rusty in this episode, but I'm just so happy to be back. It was the most memorable month of my entire life. And now here we are back in action when it comes to all of the STEM content and all of the goodies and things that I have planned for you and help support you in your STEM space. In fact, while I was on my honeymoon now, I didn't do a whole lot of work, but here and there, I would check-in. I got this really sweet message from one of you out there, and I wanted you to take a listen. 


Kelly [00:02:36]:


Hi, Naomi Meredith. I just wanted to say that your podcast is absolutely awesome. Thank you so much for making it so many awesome resources for students. So excited to just keep listening and implementing some of your ideas into my second-grade science classroom. Thank you so much, Kelly Babb from Murphysboro, Tennessee.


Naomi Meredith [00:02:55]:


Thank you so much, Kelly, for your kind message. It absolutely made my day. If you want to leave a message like she did, or even if you have a question for me, you can do that. It's absolutely free. Super easy to do off of your phone. If you go to Naomimeredith.com/voice, you can leave a voice message just like that one. 


Before you jump into your researching and brainstorming and STEM lesson planning, it's always great to take a step back and reflect on how the year went. And oftentimes, because we are so busy with our hands in so many baskets and planning the lessons, going to the meetings and running the after-school clubs, and cleaning out our rooms for summer, we don't necessarily take the time to actually do this and think about our overall year and how everything went. And if we don't take a step back and actually do this, we might even find ourselves in a space just like before, where you are rushing from lesson to lesson. You don't know if things are working, but you just made sure you had a lesson go out there. But it might be a little bit random. And then it's this vicious cycle, and you just never feel like you can catch up. So taking the time now when lessons are fresh in your mind, doing a STEM lesson audit can be extremely valuable. Also, when it comes to this, this is really going to make sure that the lessons that you have taught are actually meaningful. STEM class should be really fun. Okay, don't get me wrong, I absolutely love it. It is an absolute blast. However, it still needs to be meaningful. You can still have these really fun lessons for your students that are also high level and even work on collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and also are tied to standards. It does take a bit of pre-planning on your part, but let's take that time now to do that lesson audit to really think through those lessons. 


So when you are planning, you are keeping all of these important factors in mind. I sometimes get messages from you over on Instagram at Naomi Meredith underscore if you're not already following me over there, but I get a lot of messages over there. And many of you have admin who aren't super supportive of what is going on in the STEM space. Trust me, I absolutely get it episode to come in the future. I've had non-supportive admin before when it comes to STEM, but there are a few factors that can come into this, and there are some things you cannot control, but some things you can control. And more often than not, it's the curriculum that we're teaching because we are walking into these spaces that have limited supplies and zero curriculum. So instead of just going for that wow factor like, oh yeah, let's play with robots today. Oh, let's play with Lego bricks today. There are some ways to use these awesome tools but still be meaningful with them. And I talk about this all the time, and again, I know it's a lot of work. I've done it. I totally get it. But my goal here, especially with this podcast, is to help you be successful and prepare you with these tools and tips, and resources so that you do have high-level lessons and you do have an amazing space that your admin is extremely proud of and wants to tell everybody about it. I know that you love what you do. Almost every STEM teacher I talk to absolutely loves the position that they are in. But let's be real. 


Think about your lessons. Are your lessons just fun and fluffy but really don't have anything to back them up? Or are your lessons still fun but have really highly engaging learning experiences that are cross-curricular and standards-based? So this lesson audit that I'm going to walk you through in this episode is really going to give you that deep thinking and reflection so that if there are adjustments, you need to be made, which is okay because that's part of teaching. You don't get it right the first time. I never did. So this is all part of the teaching and learning process and just how you can prepare going forward with your lesson planning. To do this audit, first, you need to set it up so you can do this. I would prefer digital. That way, you can link things. Sure, go ahead, do this on paper. But I would just say do it digitally. And then you have unlimited room. But anyway, create a table or a spreadsheet. And on that spreadsheet, you're first going to have major categories when it comes to STEM themes. So those things that I am thinking about are Makerspace, digital citizenship, 3D printing, coding, robotics, those major themes when it comes to STEM, those big major things that you are going to teach your students, you're going to have those big categories and have different sections. You could create a different spreadsheet for each of these, or you could just have them all on one page. Then you're going to have different columns for things that you are going to analyze for every single lesson that you taught your students and for every single grade. So like I said, you probably want to do this digitally because there are a lot of things you're going to analyze to make sure that you are teaching these high-level lessons. So what are those things that you need to look for for each of these lessons? Here are some indicators that you want to add to your columns. The type of lesson that you're teaching, is it a multi-day lesson? A one-day lesson? A STEM station. What kind is it? Are you seeing patterns? Are you doing the same type of lesson teaching? How long is it taking you to teach that lesson? If you are doing a project, what kind of structure if you are using when it comes to your lessons, are you doing too many structures? Are you using the engineering design process? Are you only using it one time in the year, and then you're frustrated that kids don't know it? Keep track of these things. Also, look at your lessons from year to year to year. Is there a progression of learning, or are your lessons really random? Are they not building off the year after next? They don't have to. But when it comes to having the same kids year after year, is there a way that you can have your lessons build off of each other? Yes or no? Also, keep track of the standards that you taught. This might be a little bit annoying and frustrating. Maybe if you're not planning with standards, you can also hear little Frederick in the back squeaking his ball. So I apologize for that. But this is very important. Even though most of you don't have STEM standards currently, your lessons need to be rooted in something. It's not just some fluffy random lesson. I'm going to say that probably a lot, but keep track of all of these things. So for every lesson, as I said, that you teach all of your students and all of the grades, you're going to go through all of these indicators and just keep track of the things that you have done or maybe you haven't done them yet. 


Again, this is more of an audit, not so much a plan. So if you have some holes and gaps, that's absolutely okay. Leave them blank. You don't have to fill them in quite yet. That's when you're done with this audit, you'll actually get into that lesson planning. Once you're going through and conducting that audit, this will really help you organize your whole entire year. So you have that spreadsheet set up. You've gone through every single lesson that you've taught kids. Then comes the part where you're actually reviewing the audit. So you have filled in this information. What are you going to do with it now? So here are some important things that you should definitely think about. Which STEM topics are you really strong at? Are you really strong at doing those maker space projects? Is that something that you are doing in your classroom all the time? Are there other areas that you would like to try or that you haven't even touched in your classroom? Maybe you've been a bit wary about 3D printing, but you do have a 3D printer. Or maybe you don't have a 3D printer, and you still can do 3D printing. Side note, I do have a whole playlist about 3D printing. So I have actually categorized all of my lessons based on the topics that I've talked about here on this podcast. So if you go to Naomimeredith.com/podcastplaylist, you can see all of those categorized playlists, and there's one all about 3D printing. 


So with this audit, think about those big major themes. Are there things that you are really heavy in, and are there areas that you are a little bit less than or you haven't even taught yet? Also, compare grade levels when it comes to this. All grade levels can do all of these topics. It's just going to look differently for their age. So are you doing some things more than others? So there are a lot of different questions when it comes to even just those major themes in STEM. Also, look at what types of lessons you are teaching. Are you doing all whole group the entire year? It's easy to start off with a whole group, and I actually recommend that as you get to know your students. But there are a lot of different structures that you can use in your classroom if you prepare students to get to these structures and you keep practicing them, they are extremely successful, just like STEM stations. That was something I was scared to do, but it was absolutely magical in my primary classes. So look at the types of lessons you are teaching that also go into whether you are teaching a lot of one-day lessons or multi-day lessons. Sure, maybe you'll see the school for an entire week, and you don't want to manage multi-day lessons. But at the same time, you are planning week to week to week because you have to have a brand new lesson every single week. So think about that. You can mix it up, have a variety of multi-day lessons and also one-day lessons. There is value in both, but this will actually help you look at, oh, that's why I'm feeling rushed. I have to plan a brand new lesson every week. Fun fact you don't it's okay to repeat things with kids and help them feel confident in their skills. They're probably not doing what they're doing in your class at home, and it's okay to do it again. So don't feel like it has to be a brand new surprise every time it is okay. Think about a classroom teacher. Most of us here were classroom teachers before we set up those systems and routines with kids. And they might do a lot of things over and over and over again every single day of the school year. So same with you in a STEM classroom. It's okay to repeat things a major thing too. When looking at your audit, are you teaching standards? Are you only planning with some standards? Are you only planning with your science NGSS standards? Have you even touched the math standards or the ELA, or even the ISTI standards for students? Yes, there are many standards to look at but become familiar with them, and then it will be automatic. This is really important to add in your audit whether or not your admin looks at your lesson plans. It's good to keep track of those standards that you're teaching, especially when you have all of these grade levels. You want to make sure that you hit most of those things in your classroom, and you're like, oh wait, we've already done a big unit about this, then let's do something else. So here and there, I get an idea. I'm like, oh, I've already taught a lesson like that. I can save this for code teaching or vice versa. 


And also, I mentioned this before. When you're looking at your audit, do you have a progression of learning with your lessons? This is a little tricky in filling out the puzzle pieces. Where do you want your students to be in kindergarten and then all the way up to fifth grade? Or do some of you even have up to 8th grade? How do you want them to progress through their skills over the years? And this might change a little bit too. When we talked to Jennifer Mayhan in her episode, when she was talking about grant writing, we had a lot of similarities where we saw in our programs the first couple of years, the students were all around the same level when it came to their skills. But over time, we needed to progress their learning and really build off year after year so that students were building up their skills, and as they were learning, they were getting better, which is great. That's a good thing. That's really good. So think about your lessons. Are you always doing the same thing, k through two? Or can you start adding in that progression of learning as students become comfortable with their skills and diving in and learning more as a recap? Here is how you can have your powerful STEM lesson audit to help prepare you for your next set of lessons. First, set up your audit. So do that digitally and create a spreadsheet with those different categories and columns. Next. Well, actually do the audit. This might take some time to search through, and this will help you get organized too when you do start implementing your year Alum plan. 


And finally, it can be a little bit scary, but review your audit. You do want to go through and draw some conclusions because this is really going to help you be more cohesive with the lessons that you're teaching your students and, again, make you feel like you're not rushing with all of your things but you're being prepared for the entire year. Now, this spreadsheet is actually a template I have already created. This was one of those things that was floating in my mind for such a long time, and then I had to draw it down. I have all these notebooks I carry with me, but I had to actually draw them and then create them. And this is actually part of the beginning of the STEM into summer group coaching program. So this is actually what my students are doing in this program where they did a whole year-long plan lesson audit, and I gave them feedback and along with that a supply inventory. So this was super cool for me because I got to see behind the scenes in these teachers' classrooms. I got to see exactly how their years have gone so far, the materials that they have on hand to give me that background of, oh, okay, here's how your program is and what you're doing with all these grade levels so that I have been able to prepare lessons that we're going through each week to then build up their year-long plan. So this is, again, a really great way to put together where your program is at and how to build for the future. 


So this template is all in my STEM into Summer group coaching program. You can actually still jump in. It's not too late. So, again, if you're listening to this in real-time, it is July 2023. You can still jump in. It'll be at a discounted price. So check that out at Naomi. Meredith.com STEM into summer. And I mentioned this here before, I'm really excited about this, but the elementary STEM coach is coaching. So I have group coaching, and a lot of you have reached out that you have been interested in working with me one on one. So maybe a group setting isn't your thing, but you want to spend some time with me. And so now that I'm all married up, back from my honeymoon, I have spots available as well when it comes to working with you one on one. So there are different levels of time that we can work with. So it'll be for the short term overall, but there are different amounts of time that we can work together. So whether it is this lesson audit, if that's something you want to work on, we can work on that together, give you the spreadsheet for that, or if it's even something else that you would like to learn and explore, maybe you want to create a whole robotics unit with me, then that is something we can also work on. So whatever your needs are, I'm the coach. I'm your guide to help you along the way. But if you are interested in that, you can go to Naomi Meredith.com Coaching. Again, thank you so much for having me back here on the podcast. And I am so excited to help support you with this other layer that is here in this whole elementary STEM coach world and online space, and so thrilled to have this opportunity to work with you, live and be with you every step of the way. So thank you so much again for being here, and I will chat with you soon.

STEM Lesson Plan Auditing

 

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More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a former classroom teacher turned current K-5 STEM teacher and coach. Her role not only includes teaching over 500 students in her school, but also leading professional development and co-teaching with teachers to help them integrate STEM & Technology.

With over a decade of experience along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM certificate, she helps teachers navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM & Technology in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

Are you tired of scrolling online for your next great STEM lesson? Do you feel like there is no time to plan, research and test meaningful STEM lessons, so you throw together a hands-on activity and hope that it works? What systems and routines should you set in place to help students be creative, critically think, and collaborate? 

The Elementary STEM Coach is a podcast for K-5 STEM teachers, classroom teachers, GT specialists, and homeschool parents looking for actionable STEM solutions. Each week, Naomi Meredith will share tools, resources and lesson ideas that are actionable in your classroom and create highly engaging experiences with your students. You’ll learn systems and routines that will create control in the chaos and that will keep you organized all year long. 

Your mindless scrolling days are over! Your new STEM-best friend is now here in your ear buds!

3d printing with primary students

Easy as 1, 2, 3D Printing with Primary Students [ep.105]

by Naomi Meredith

Easy as 1, 2, 3D Printing with Primary Students [ep.105]

3d printing with primary students

Check out the full episode on Easy as 1, 2, 3D Printing with Primary Students:  

 

 

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Episode Summary

Have you been wondering about how to incorporate 3D printing into your classroom but are not sure if it will work for your younger students? 3D printing with primary students is possible. Today’s episode is the audio recording from a virtual summit I spoke at. In this episode, I am sharing tips and strategies for implementing lessons on 3D printing with your primary students.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Why you should do 3D printing with primary students
  • Tips for planning and implementing a 3D printing lesson
  • Examples of 3D printing lessons I’ve implemented in my classroom
  • 3D printing tools I use with my primary students and tips for using these tools

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:


3D printing isn't just for older kids. Little kids can 3D print too. And I am talking more than just keychains for every grade here. The actual design of the print might not be as complicated as the older students, but this is a great opportunity you don't have to miss out on in your classroom. And your students aren't missing out on either. Make sure to check out the last episode if you haven't already, episode 104, and I talk all about 3D printing there as well. Also, this isn't the first time I have talked about 3D printing on this podcast. I have a free podcast playlist that is dedicated to all the episodes about 3D printing, and you can get that for absolutely free.


Naomi Meredith [00:00:45]:


And a whole spreadsheet with all of the other podcast playlists that I have, along with all the timestamps, and you can keep track of your professional development. You can grab that naomimeredith.com/podcastplaylist. While the audio from this episode has never been heard here before on this podcast, this is a presentation I did at a past online summit. In this session, I'll be sharing with you practical ways on how you can get started with 3D printing with your primary students.


Naomi Meredith [00:01:46]:


Easy as one two 3D printing with primary students. It's not as scary as you think. And I think by the end of this session, you will feel confident and excited to try 3D printing with those little ones in your classroom. Let's face it, they are some of the most creative kids that I have in my class. So harness that creativity, and let's get them to 3D printing. So before we get started, a brief introduction. I am Naomi Meredith. I am a current K through five STEM teacher and coach, and I love helping teachers navigate STEM and technology in their own K through five classrooms.


Naomi Meredith [00:02:26]:


So wherever you are, you are in the right place, even if you've never 3D printed before. I had never 3D printed before two years ago, and I have learned so much. So definitely stick with me because you can learn a ton of ideas to help you with this 3D printing journey. I am also a dog mom to my little boy Frederick, and that is my boyfriend right there, my teacher, honey. He is also a teacher, like I said. He teaches high school Spanish, so we have a fun mix in our house. So why in the world should you 3D print with the littles? Well, like I said, they are so creative.


Naomi Meredith [00:03:08]:


They have such awesome ideas. So we want to harness that creativity and also build that curiosity about new tools. Whenever I have the 3D printers going in my classroom, they are absolutely obsessed and memorized, and 3D printers actually, when you watch them, they are really calming. They go in layers. So there's a great video by National Geographic kids that I always show in my classroom. It's a couple of minutes long, but it talks about how 3D printers work, and it's just like icing a cake. So it's melting plastic and layers upon layers. So the kids love it.


Naomi Meredith [00:03:44]:


They think it's super amazing and it is really cool. It's super cool. Also, if you get started when they're younger, and you're thinking about being in your position for a while, whether you are a classroom teacher, a STEM teacher, or a library media specialist, and you know that you are going to have access to 3d printers, starting them younger will actually help them learn skills that can be built on year after year. So when I started in my K through 5 STEM position the first year, oh my goodness. We had to build up so many skills with not just 3D printing but a whole lot of other projects. But it has gotten a lot easier in a lot of ways because kids have those basics that they can apply to new projects. So it might be hard at first, but like I always say, everything new is hard at first. So this is a great time to get started.


Naomi Meredith [00:04:35]:


And also, once you have those 3D prints done, there is so much pride in their work. It's pretty amazing seeing what the kids have created digitally, and then it's sent to a printer and then printed it out. It really brings their work to life. Yes, we do a lot of hands-on building in my classroom and digital designing in other ways. But it's not always, of course, 3D printed. So that's pretty amazing seeing your design come to life. So when you're getting started to set up a 3D print lesson, these are the things that have really guided me through the process. I do 3D printing from kindergarten through fifth grade and with my younger students.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:17]:


These are the things that have really helped me. First of all, of course, we are trying to connect those standards and integrate them in meaningful ways. I'm really big on that, even in the STEM classroom. So when I am planning my 3D print lessons, I'm always looking at the standards keywords. So not everything works for 3D printing. Let's be honest. Not everything works for engineering, design, process, or the scientific method. But when it comes to that 3D printing, here are some keywords I typically look for when I'm brainstorming lesson ideas.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:48]:


So, create, make a model, and design a solution. Those types of words really lend themselves to a 3D print project. Also, with the little kids, especially if this is your first time, create something simple. They're still going to be proud of themselves. It doesn't need to be complicated, but it can still be a meaningful lesson. So if you are purposeful in your planning, if you are backward planning, yes, backward planning in STEM, then your actual design with kids doesn't need to take a whole week. In fact, the lessons that I teach don't take the full week. But we're still working on those course concepts as a whole.


Naomi Meredith [00:06:28]:


So I'll show you some examples in the next slide. Also, taking that classroom teacher experience that I have is that creating a small group is very helpful with 3D printing. I have tried, sorry, whole group instruction when it comes to 3D design, but that was kind of a disaster. So I highly recommend, once the students have planned their designs, pull small groups to work with you to create those 3D designs. This could be over a span of a couple of days, and it will be a lot more successful, with less frustration between the students and with you. So let's look at some examples of what I've done in the primary grades. On the far left, we have a little keychain, and the standard talks about communicating ways to take care of the earth, a brief version of that Next Generation Science Standard.


Naomi Meredith [00:07:27]:


So during the week, we talked about ways that we can take care of the earth. We read lots of different books, and watched videos. We even one day created a recycling plant separate from this 3D print. And then, by the end of the week, we planned our 3D print designs. And I did pull small groups to draw their design. We will talk about different platforms in just a bit. So, hold on, I know you want to know what did you use? What did you use to make this? So with that little earth keychain, they actually did draw their design. So that was what a student created.


Naomi Meredith [00:08:00]:


You notice around that earth, there is that weird flat part that is called a raft in 3D printing. So that is a base layer that I can choose to get printed before their actual design goes. This is really helpful for this project because they are drawing with their finger on the iPad is what I used. And so all of their stuff doesn't fall apart. If I had more time, this is during this weird COVID year. I didn't see the kids. This is the last project we did this year. But if I were to see them again, I would actually have them add details using Sharpies and paint markers.


Naomi Meredith [00:08:37]:


You notice that in the second example, the students had time to do that. For the keychain, I used one of those little leather pole punchers. It's for making jewelry. So I was hammering in the raft, and then I added in a keychain. So the kids are really excited about that. So they have a charm to remember about their communication. For the second one, it's talking about for the first-grade Next Generation Science Standard about animal babies and their adults and what traits they have that are similar and different. So again, we researched throughout the week.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:12]:


We used a lot of epic books. We looked at webcams of different zoos and different pictures that I pulled of animal babies and their adults. Again, lots of videos. So we researched a lot. Again, like for kindergarten, in a different way, we researched a lot about the animal of their choice, and then they planned the animal they wanted to create. And they had to write about things that the animal babies had that were the same as their adults and things that they had that were different because it just depends on the animal. There are a lot of similarities and differences. So we built upon that vocabulary.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:49]:


I then printed their drawings again. So they drew these on the iPads. We did do this in small groups, and these printed really fast. So, something to keep in mind. This is part of the tips. Keep your 3D prints really small because you can actually get it all done. I keep all of my prints K through five to about an hour of print time per kid that is still in my school. Over 500 hours of printing.


Naomi Meredith [00:10:13]:


But I was able to get it done with no problem. I have pretty good printers. So these little guys are really small, they can fit in the palm of their hands, and they were very excited that they could play with them. So that was their final design. The third one is a second-grade example, the little bird. I actually found that design online, so a kid did not make that. However, I could have kids make a bird, but their goal was to it's talking about animal patterns and things in your area, something like that, for second grade. So we looked at different examples of birdhouses that were natural and also man-made.


Naomi Meredith [00:10:52]:


And students designed and then created a prototype of a birdhouse that they could actually build in real life. So a lot of kids were really excited once they got their little design. They were excited to take this home and it inspired them to build it out of real materials. So, big question. You're probably wondering what tools you are using for kindergarten in first grade. At the time. I am using Doodle 3d Transform. As of right now. I know that it is an iPad app.


Naomi Meredith [00:11:22]:


I was doing a little bit more research on it. I was able to find it on the computer. So, what's really cool about this Doodle 3D is that on the left-hand side, students draw their designs, and then simultaneously, on the right-hand side, they can see what their print is going to look like in 3D. So it helps them build that math vocabulary. The difference between 2D and 3D. They can add colors to their design. And we're going to talk about some tips. It doesn't actually print in color unless you are fancy and get some filament that plastic you put in the printer that has lots of colors.


Naomi Meredith [00:11:58]:


I usually try to print in lighter colors that they could color with real markers. So 3D Doodle design has been really successful. You can pull the prints off of the iPad into the 3D print file of your choice. So my 3D printers use STL. That's the one it prefers. So I'm able to download it that way. The other app that is really great for elementary students as a whole, so I use this for second through fifth grade, is Tinkercad. This is a free doodle.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:30]:


3D is a little bit paid. It's not expensive, but it's worth the money, especially if you're going to use it a lot. And a lot Tinkercad is free. It is a little difficult for second graders, especially if it's their first time. However, they are capable. And like I said, if you're starting Tinkercad at minimum at second-grade level, by the time they get to fifth grade, they're going to be creating really detailed projects. So I was really excited for my second graders this year because they were building upon those skills. So Tinkercad is free.


Naomi Meredith [00:13:00]:


They can sign up with their Google account, but you don't have to have a Google account to use it. There is now an iPad app, but also it is a web-based version as well. So whatever they work on at school, they can also work on at home. And it saves multiple projects, which is super great. And you can also, again, download their designs and then send it to your printer when you're thinking about using Doodle 3D. Here are some tips that I have found. I've done this app with hundreds of students, so here is what I have noticed. Make sure that the drawings are flat on their surface.


Naomi Meredith [00:13:33]:


You can get more detail. They make things pop out. But in the examples that I showed you, the designs were flat, and then they still had a thickness to make them 3D. Also, make sure that all lines are connected. When we made those baby animals, we did an outline of the animal, and then they filled it in with the paint bucket so that it could be solid and draw the little details later on. There's a little tool in there. When they're drawing, there's a pencil, which is the automatic default. I actually recommend using the paintbrush.


Naomi Meredith [00:14:06]:


The paintbrush produces a thicker line, and it prints a lot better. The pencil makes this line that's really skinny and breaks easily. So have them make sure they use the paintbrush. You can use the colors of the rainbow to help visualize the design. A lot of kids actually like doing that to make sure that they added details, but they don't need to color it in the app. It's just an extra bonus. Just to help with that visualization, there is a camera to take a photo of the paper design. I have tried this.


Naomi Meredith [00:14:36]:


I haven't found it super successful. The kids actually get more frustrated tracing what they took a picture of. So we actually still plan on a piece of paper for everybody, k through five. We still plan on paper, and then we end up drawing or designing in the digital platform. If you're thinking about using Tinkercad here again, you could sign up with Google, but you don't have to. It's very helpful, especially if you're going to have the same kids year after year. If they stay with that same email address, all of their work actually saves over the years, and they just have to put in a class code. So that's really helpful to gain access to their work, especially if this is your first time.


Naomi Meredith [00:15:19]:


Allow students time to explore and look at all the options. Tinkercad is more difficult than Doodle 3D. I would not use Doodle 3D beyond first grade unless you need some students with some accommodations. Tinkercad has a lot of tools, so the kids really like looking through everything and trying stuff out. And I don't give it all away the first day. They often will figure stuff out on their own, but I will give them some guidance. So once we have some exploration time, I'll teach a new skill each day that they can apply to their design. So maybe the first day, I'm talking about stacking shapes, and the next day, I'm talking about how to add a hole in their shape.


Naomi Meredith [00:15:56]:


The next one is flipping their designs, so adding that gradual release in there is super helpful. Also, having clay available for you as a teacher to model the concepts that you are teaching, or also to have students build on the side what they're trying to build on the computer, is super helpful. I have done so many demonstrations with clay and the kids. Having that physical model in front of them is extremely helpful in visualizing that abstractness on the computer. And a really big thing before you get things printed, make sure you check every single design as a teacher with the students, that everything is smushed together. So just like when you are using real clay, if you're firing it in a kiln, you don't want things just side by side. You want them smushed together so that all the pieces stick. Managing 3D prints can be a lot, but my tip for this is that I would save their designs with their first name and then their teacher's name after it.


Naomi Meredith [00:17:01]:


Just in case something gets messed up, you have to print it again. You have it all ready to go. Keep all of the prints together in a folder on a device. So have each folder for a class. You can AirDrop or email from that 3D Doodle app. So I will do that with my iMac and our MacBook Pro, and I will AirDrop to everything and then keep their planning sheets to organize prints so I'll have a class list when I am printing, and then I will put their planning sheet on top of the printer if that's the one that's getting printed. When the print is finished, I'll put the planning sheet and their final design in a bag. Keep all the bags together for one class, and then I'll keep them when I see them again or deliver them depending on what we are doing.


Naomi Meredith [00:17:45]:


So I made for you guys a resource to help you get started. Remember all of these apps and some other little things to try out. So if you go to that link, it's been on every slide. It's naomimeeritis.com 3d printpresent. You will have all of these slides that I'm using right now to help you with the notes and also a separate document that will give you some more tips, tools to try, planning sheets for the kids, and planning sheets for you as a teacher. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm so excited for you. Even if you've done 3D printing before or if this is your first time, just dive right in.


Naomi Meredith [00:18:22]:


The biggest thing actually is learning your printers, and that's a whole other session, but hopefully, this will give you some guidance when you are working with your primary students to help them be successful. Of course, reach out if you have any questions about 3D printing or even STEM and Tech in general. My email is contact naomimeredith@gmail.com. I also have my website Naomimeredis.com. I love me some Instagram, so it's at NaomiMeredith_ and if you want to follow me on my Teachers Pay Teacher Shop, Naomi Meredith from the STEM Tech Co. You can get updated when new STEM and Tech lessons, including my 3D print lessons, will be posted, and you can implement that in your classroom. Thank you so much again, and I hope to hear from you soon. This presentation had a ton of visuals, and I bet you are dying to see all of the examples and handouts.


Naomi Meredith [00:19:15]:


You can grab the video recording of this episode, the video slides I referenced throughout, student examples, and bonuses for only $5. That's less than a fancy coffee drink. This will all be linked in the show notes, and you can check it all out here naomimeredith.com/pdreplay

3d printing with primary students

 

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a former classroom teacher turned current K-5 STEM teacher and coach. Her role not only includes teaching over 500 students in her school, but also leading professional development and co-teaching with teachers to help them integrate STEM & Technology.

With over a decade of experience along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM certificate, she helps teachers navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM & Technology in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

Are you tired of scrolling online for your next great STEM lesson? Do you feel like there is no time to plan, research and test meaningful STEM lessons, so you throw together a hands-on activity and hope that it works? What systems and routines should you set in place to help students be creative, critically think, and collaborate? 

The Elementary STEM Coach is a podcast for K-5 STEM teachers, classroom teachers, GT specialists, and homeschool parents looking for actionable STEM solutions. Each week, Naomi Meredith will share tools, resources and lesson ideas that are actionable in your classroom and create highly engaging experiences with your students. You’ll learn systems and routines that will create control in the chaos and that will keep you organized all year long. 

Your mindless scrolling days are over! Your new STEM-best friend is now here in your ear buds!

3d print with the standards

3D Print with the Standards in Mind [ep.104]

by Naomi Meredith

3D Print with the Standards in Mind [ep.104]

3d print with the standards

Check out the full episode on 3D Print with the Standards in Mind:  

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

Have a STEM question? Leave a voice message for the podcast!

Episode Summary

Today’s episode is the audio from an online summit I spoke at. In this episode, I am sharing how to incorporate 3D print projects into your classroom with the standards in mind. Whether you are new to 3D printing or experienced, I share a lot of great takeaways for you to incorporate into your classroom.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • The benefits of implementing 3D print projects into your classroom
  • How to incorporate 3D print in your classroom with the standards in mind 
  • Tips for incorporating 3D print into your classroom in a meaningful way

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:


Whenever I've had new students come into my STEM classroom and see that I have 3D printers, a common question I get asked is, “Are you going to print us whatever we want?” I say no. And I say, “No, you're gonna actually make something that's going to get printed.” They don't like that answer at first, but then they realize it's okay. It's an okay answer. Too often, I've seen 3D printers being used as a hub to print little toys that students print without any real purpose in mind. I've said this before in this podcast, but when I started doing 3D printing with my students, I had never 3D printed before myself. Any new tool can be scary, but this is actually a skill in how to design and do 3D printing that I love to teach my students. And, honestly, the hardest part about doing a 3D printing unit is actually managing the prints anyway. Not so much teaching the students how to create the 3D design. It's keeping up with all those prints. Well, the audio from this episode has never been heard before on this podcast. This is a presentation I did at a past online summit. In this session, I'll be sharing with you how standards can actually inform your 3D printing projects and how you can use this innovative tool in a meaningful way. 


Naomi Meredith [00:01:54]:


Hey there, and welcome to this session on 3D print with the standards in mind. I am your presenter, Naomi Meredith, and I am so glad that you are here today. Whether you are a STEM, tech teacher, or general ed teacher, you are in the right place. Whether you have experience with 3D printing or you are brand new to this, there are lots of great takeaways that you can add to your classroom and help you with your future or current 3D print lessons. So a little bit about me before we get started, I am a former classroom teacher turned current K-5 STEM teacher and coach, and I love helping teachers like you navigate STEM in technology in your K-5 classroom. There's a picture of my little family and that furry little guy, little with the big ears, not the one with the sunglasses, is Frederick the dog, and he is a sweet little naughty boy, which we are so happy to have. 


So why in the world should we be concerned about 3D printing, and why should it take place in our classrooms? 3D printing is a great way to prototype designs. Building with cardboard and clay and all of the hands-on types of things should not go away. Don't take those away. Those are still powerful and meeting people. This is just another way where students can create with technology and not just be consumers and create their prototypes that can actually be printed out in typical plastic in a classroom setting. However, you could have very advanced 3D printers and lots of different filaments that can print out for you. Also, 3D printers are becoming not only more common in schools and libraries but they're becoming more common in various industries. There are a lot of companies that build buildings that use ginormous 3D printers to print out some of the materials that they're actually going to build with. This saves on shipping costs; they can print things on-site. If they run out, they can print more, and there are so many benefits to that. Likewise, 3D printers are being used in the health industry. They're messing around with biological tissue print out things that can be used, and also, some restaurants are trying 3D printing with food and how they're using sued as a filament to print that out. So it's pretty amazing how it's becoming more and more common, which is great because then the cost of 3D printers in the filament, the plastic that goes inside, is a lot cheaper, and we'll have more and more in our houses. Also, 3D printing is a way for students can collaborate online with digital tools. So the way our world is going digital is not going away, and students need to be able to collaborate effectively when using those digital tools. So it's a really cool way that students can see their designs and share those technology skills. 


So just like any lesson with cool tools, it's really not about the tool, but it's how you set up that lesson for success. So it's all about how we can look for the great standards that would make sense for these 3D print lessons. So when we're looking at our standards, we wanna think about those words like create, make a model, design a solution, Those will actually work best when thinking if you wanna do a 3D print lesson. Not all standards are created equal, so not every standard's gonna work well for 3D printing, which they shouldn't. Not everything's going to be 3D printed. So really analyze your standards and see where students could create something to demonstrate their learning. From there, once you have your standard in mind, typically, we'll look at the science standards, and we'll go into the process later on this in this session. You wanna have a process for creation. So maybe you're going to use the engineering design process, which is also a standard. Maybe you do some project-based learning, design thinking, wherever the flow of your lesson is going to go, this works great for 3D printing. Also, if this is your students, and maybe your first time using 3D print software, you definitely wanna balance out the time for learning the tool and also demonstrating the standard. So if this is a first time kind of thing, you're definitely going to have to have more modeling of how to use the tool. And then from there, students are able to apply it. So the first few time, I've noticed that with my students, the first time I used 3D printing, it did take us longer to design, and the designs were more simple. But the years after that, the kids were a lot quicker, but they did have more details in their design since they had some more tricks than their tool belt on how to use the software. 


So just like anything, when you're thinking about, especially technology tools, there is that progression of learning, some are gonna be really quick at it, some are gonna need more time, but definitely allow more time than you think when you're in that creation space. So when we're thinking about that first part looking for the standards and the keywords, I like to use all of these when planning any STEM or technology lesson for my classroom to ensure that I am using things that are common for the gen ed, which you could also do this in a general education classroom. So I use the common course state standard to the math EMEA, also speaking and listening, the common core mathematical practices, the next generation science standards, or you could use whatever science standards your state or district requires, and also the ISD standards for students. So if you're not familiar with those, Those are technology and innovative practices to help kids be amazing learners for our time now, but also beyond. So let's take a look at how I would think about the standards when I'm going to create a 3D print lesson for 3rd grade. So you could apply this to the grade that you teach. So I like to, so I know I'm gonna do 3D printing. Of course. That's why you're here. And so from there, out of those standards I showed on the last slide, I actually start with the next generation science standard. So every this is my core of the lesson, and everything else is going to fit in within that. So the standard for this 3rd grade 3D print lesson, I looked at those keywords and it's something like developing a model to show the birth, life, and adulthood of a living thing. So, basically, life cycles. That's what that one's saying. And so develop a model I thought would be excellent for this 3D print lesson. And, actually, I was inspired by going to museums and aquariums. I like to travel a lot, and I go to a lot of museums and aquariums and zoos. When I'm traveling, and they always have models and interactive models that you can touch and feel. And I thought, oh my gosh. These could definitely be 3D printed. What if my students created this, then this could be something, I guess, even further in a museum or a zoo. So I get kids excited about that, and they actually share examples of when they have seen this as well. So it brings to life what their 3D print actually is. 


Why would you need a model? Well, here's an example of why you would want a model of a life cycle. Alright. So from there, we have the common core standards. So I like to look at the reading informationals will be using some research to help them with their model. So we will read that informational, and then we will write down our think to help them get to the end of the year grade level standards. Part of their writing will be digital, so one of the standards goes along with that. They will eventually have to share and talk about it through presenting. So whether it is having a little museum presentation or it might have them record using a digital little tool online. There are those speaking and listening standards along with that collaboration. So definitely become familiar with not only your typical reading informational standards, but the speaking and listening and the writing and how that can integrate as well. This is also where you can add in the common core math standards as well depending on your grade level. So I know with 3rd grade, there is a lot about geometry and shapes, which the platform I like to use for 3D printing uses a lot of shapes. and identifying shapes to help create the things. Other grades and beyond, we can talk about lines and angles. So once you've become more familiar with platform, you can definitely even add in more of those specific common core math standards here. 


From there, we have our mathematical practices, which is great because these are A lot of those, like, long term skills that can apply in any setting. So the one that we chose for this lesson is number 5, whereas students are using tools strategically, which they definitely have to in this and manipulate the shapes and the objects in their design so that it makes sense and represents what they want to show. Finally, we have our NST standards for students and students are taking on their role as innovative designers, so they're thinking about how they can use the pictures of life cycles that they have researched and read about online. and how they can create it in a 3D format. And so they can there are some animals in the platform they can pull from. But overall, they have to figure out how they're going to design those living things in their program. From there, so we really dive into the research of the standards. And the standards actually are gonna take the longest amount of time when you are creating your lesson. which is great because you know your lesson is going to hopefully be purposeful and make sense with the whole 3D print design. I like to use the engineering design process when we are in that creation mode. So the question was how can we create a model to demonstrate the life cycle of a living thing. Imagine we look at lots of different life cycles of living things in ways that they're shown. Through their plan, we do some research using online tools, and then to create and experiment and improve. There should be an arrow back and forth from experiment and improve. There's a lot of that going on with this 3D print program. So no matter what program you use, there is a lot of experimenting and improving and creation And then finally, once it's printed, definitely allow yourself a lot of time to print these, then they can share like we talked about in person or using online tools. 


So here are some student created examples. I actually personally have not created any of these. The kids always up with better things than I do. On the far left is an example of 1 of the life cycles of a frog. So they use different shapes to show that, and there is an option to type. So it's about the size of my palm. These are all very small, by the way. That is a little tip. Make your print the design small so you can get through them a lot quicker. The middle one is a 4th grade example. We tied it to a standard about light and how there's a transfer of energy from the battery to the circuit tape, that shiny tape on there. So students created a night light, so they have to design their 3D print hollow and then have a hole on the bottom so that when they placed it on top of the light, it could shine through. The last one is a 5th grade example, and it goes along with a standard that talks about how or resources need to be protected and preserved, so students research different problems that are happening to Earth like not natural disasters, but things in the environment. And then they designed a invention or improved an invention to help with that problem. So that's a student's design. I believe it went with something with water when hydroelectric power. You noticed there's a little thing too. These are just the colors of filament. Filament is the plastic that comes in the 3D printer. These are just the colors that I happen to have. I don't necessarily let students choose the colors since I don't have a whole lot of opt So this is just things that I had you could with lighter colors, use Sharpie or paint pens to color the designs if you wanted to, those have been successful in the past for me. There are lots of 3D print tools out there, but when you're thinking about getting started in the class 


These are 2 very popular platforms, and they are free to use as of the time of this recording. So we have TinkerCAD and Sketchup. Both have really great similarities and differences. Doesn't usually matter what 3D printer you have, They are just creating in these platforms, and then you can download it as the type of print file, your 3D printer reads. put it in that program your 3D printer talks to and go from there. So you don't have to have a specific 3D printer. Also, if you are watching this and don't even have a 3D printer still have kids design, and they can still share. It just might not be printed or you can send it off to maybe a local company, and they'll print them for you. So don't be held back if you don't have a 3D printer. You can't do this. You definitely can't. You can just show the model on the computer. Now when you're thinking about just some little teacher tips and when you're teaching 3D printing. I have done 3D printing for every kid in the school, k through 5. So every year, I'd print at least 500 plus prints. So these are things that I know work. Is possible, depending on your school, have students create their account using Google. It's just really easy to sign up. That way both platforms pretty sure use Google. That way they can save all their work from year to gear, so that's really, really helpful. Of course, allow kids time to explore. So about the first 5 to 10 minutes, if they've never used the platform before, Let them play around and see what they discover, and you can have a discussion. What did you notice? What are you wondering? What tools did you find so then they can be more comfortable with the tool. Also, when you have the balancing, demonstrating the skill, demonstrating the standard and teaching new skills, I will have a mini lesson each day. So the students know, okay. We have done our research. We're going to create our model. They know that's what the goal is. However, I still teach them a new skill each day that they can apply to your design. 


Now I teach 24 classes in a month. We use the same program for almost all of them, so I highly recommend this is another teacher tip not on here. Make videos of yourself teaching about the tool, quick little videos that you could play as your mini lesson because that way you won't forget anything. and then students who are absent can rewatch it. So very helpful tip. Also, using clay to model what's happening in a print, is very, very helpful. I always have modeling clay or Play Doh on hand so I can have students build what they're thinking of in their brain because it is that abstract thinking when you're creating it on the computer. But, also, when you're teaching a lesson, you can model it with the clay. I also have foam 3D shapes, which I will use them to help name the shapes and manipulate and show how the tools will work in a program. Also, make sure everything in a design is smooth together because sometimes when you look at designs, there's just a thin layer of things floating, so you want everything to be smooshed together. so that it doesn't fall apart no matter what platform that you're using. Also, when you are man managing these 3D prints, I recommend having students save their design with their name and then put a dash or a slash in their teacher's name. That way, you can download all of their prints, put it in one file, and then you have them all organized and can check them off on a checklist, a roster of the student names. Also, again, AirDrop, email download, have it all in one folder on one device. Keep it all in one place. Depends on your program. 


Maybe you have to put a flash drive in your 3D printer. Sometimes you might need to reprint something. Maybe you wanna make multiple copies of something. So if you have all of the prints downloaded, at least when you are 3D printing, it's really helpful. And then keep their planning sheets. I always have students still plan through drawing on paper. I keep their planning sheets, and I like them to see how their plans developed into their final model, but also helps me stay organized so I have all their planning sheets I know I'm printing so and so's design, and then I put their planning sheet in a bag with their name on it. And then it keeps me all organized, keeps all the papers organized, and then they can use that for their final project. So we are almost at the end here, and I wanted to give you a good takeaway with this 3D print toolbox. So there's a couple of outlines to you plan using the process that I showed you with the standards along with some standards broken down from 3 through 5 where I think they would work great for 3D printing. So thank you so much for joining me today. Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns or how you can use this in your classroom. My email is on there. ContactNaomiMeredith@gmail.com. You can also find me on my website, NaomiMeredith.com, Instagram, and Twitter at NaomiMeredith_, and also at my TpT, teachers pay teachers, shop, Naomi Meredith. Thank you so much again, and I am so excited to have you try and keep adding to your 3D print tool belt. This presentation had a ton of visuals, and I bet you are dying to see all of the examples and handouts. You can grab the video recording of this episode, the video slides I referenced throughout, student examples, and bonuses for only $5. That's less than a fancy coffee drink. This will all be linked to the show notes, and you can check it all out here at naomimeredith.com/pdreplay.

 

3d print with the standards

 

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a former classroom teacher turned current K-5 STEM teacher and coach. Her role not only includes teaching over 500 students in her school, but also leading professional development and co-teaching with teachers to help them integrate STEM & Technology.

With over a decade of experience along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM certificate, she helps teachers navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM & Technology in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

Are you tired of scrolling online for your next great STEM lesson? Do you feel like there is no time to plan, research and test meaningful STEM lessons, so you throw together a hands-on activity and hope that it works? What systems and routines should you set in place to help students be creative, critically think, and collaborate? 

The Elementary STEM Coach is a podcast for K-5 STEM teachers, classroom teachers, GT specialists, and homeschool parents looking for actionable STEM solutions. Each week, Naomi Meredith will share tools, resources and lesson ideas that are actionable in your classroom and create highly engaging experiences with your students. You’ll learn systems and routines that will create control in the chaos and that will keep you organized all year long. 

Your mindless scrolling days are over! Your new STEM-best friend is now here in your ear buds!

engineering design process

STEM Survival Camp & The Engineering Design Process [ep.103]

by Naomi Meredith

STEM Survival Camp & The Engineering Design Process [ep.103]

engineering design process

Check out the full episode on STEM Survival Camp & The Engineering Design Process:  

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

Have a STEM question? Leave a voice message for the podcast!

Episode Summary

Today’s episode is the audio from a presentation I did at the Seesaw Connect Summit. In this episode, I share how I merged the Engineering Design Process with my STEM survival camp unit in my K-5 STEM classroom. 

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • The history of how STEM survival camp was created
  • How to integrate the Engineering Design Process in my STEM survival camp lesson
  • How to integrate Seesaw with the STEM survival camp challenges
  • Examples of how I implemented this in my K-5 STEM classroom

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:


One of my most favorite units I have ever taught is STEM survival camp. If you are looking for a way to easily double your Makerspace supplies for practically free and have the opportunity to take your students outside, then this unit is perfect for you. While the audio from this episode has never been heard before on this podcast, this was a presentation I did in the past at the Seesaw Connect Summit. In this episode and session, I'll be sharing with you how I merged together the Engineering Design Process and this fun, hands-on unit into my classroom with this K through 5 STEM unit with examples. If you wanna hear more in detail about STEM survival camp, I just did a re-release, and you can even scroll back all the way to episode 4. And I talk in that episode specifically about every single challenge in the STEM survival camp. If you need more background knowledge when it comes to the Engineering Design Process, I do get into it in this session, but I'm linking the 2 together. So STEM survival camp and the Engineering Design Process.


Naomi Meredith [00:01:05]:


So if you wanna hear more about each of those stages, go all the way back to the episode series all about the Engineering Design Process. So that starts in episode 15, then it skips to episodes 17 through 22. So you can listen to that first Or listen to this episode, and then go back and listen to those episodes that I just listed, and that can give you some more background knowledge to understand what I'm talking about. So let's jump into this fun episode to talk about one of my most favorite units. 


Hey there, teachers, and welcome to the session that's going to help kick off your year using the outdoors STEM survival camp. I am your guide, Naomi Meredith, a former classroom teacher turned current K through 5 STEM teacher and coach. My role not only includes teaching over 500 students in my school but also leading professional development and co-teaching with the teachers to help them integrate STEM and Technology. With over a decade of experience, along with a Master's in STEM Leadership and a STEM certificate, I help teachers worldwide navigate the best practices, strategies, and tools out there.


Naomi Meredith [00:02:53]:


I truly believe that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM and Technology in their classrooms. I can't wait to connect with you and be your guide during STEM survival camp in our short time together and other adventures. Here is an overview of the session and how we will spend our time together at STEM survival camp. First, you're going to hear the origin story of how STEM survival camp got started. Next, you're going to learn how to integrate and understand what the Engineering Design Process is, which is used in these STEM survival camp challenges, then you're going to see real examples of ways that you can integrate Seesaw with these STEM survival camp challenges, and then you're going to have some resources that will help you implement this in your own classroom. Let's gather around the campfire campers, and let's hear the origin story of STEM survival camp. Everybody likes a good origin story, and where things come from, so I think you'll like this one. This unit was born during the summer of 2020, and I was in the middle of a pandemic just like you. My school district was still planning on going back to school 100 percent in person for elementary students, along with the possibility of going remote at a moment's notice.


Naomi Meredith [00:04:18]:


The units I had done in the past, during August, wouldn't work since students would share classroom materials and most likely didn't have the same items at home. I needed to create something that could be shifted no matter what, and students could still have the same STEM experience. At the time, I was watching this survival show alone. And if you haven't seen it before, people are forced to be creative to survive, well, alone, by building their necessities, gathering, and protecting their food, traveling the land, and for those that stay really long staying entertained, thus STEM survival camp was born. This is one of six units I taught in my K through 5 STEM classroom, and we had an absolute blast. So much so that this is a unit that I taught again and will be taught each year coming back to school to help ignite creativity, create engagement, and improve critical thinking skills. I'm excited to have you learn more about this experience so that you can start something similar in your classroom. Before you dive into the actual STEM survival camp lessons, it's important to understand the basics of what the Engineering Design Process actually is.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:43]:


In my own definition, the Engineering Design Process is the real process engineers use to ask questions, find solutions, iterate ideas, or try something over and over again. So why is this important in the elementary space? Why is this even relevant? Well, the Engineering Design Process is part of the Next Generation Science Standards, even starting in kindergarten. Of course, there is a progression of learning among all the grades, but this is something that needs to be taught to our students. Now depending on which state you're in, your state might have even different variations of the Engineering Design Process and your standards and what they have adopted. So check that out and see what the science portion is for your state and district. Also, the Engineering Design Process is different than the scientific method. This doesn't mean getting rid of the scientific method, either. So I would say the scientific method is using science to prove and investigate a problem, and there typically is that scripted outcome or reason why something happens, at least in that elementary setting.


Naomi Meredith [00:06:58]:


It's great to integrate the Engineering Design Process along with the scientific method. So different types of experiments, different lessons, but the Engineering Design Process is used to plan, build, and solve a problem with multiple outcomes and solutions and, often, this comes with inventing. So, again, both are very different. Both are relevant. Both are needed. You typically don't teach both in the same lesson. So that'll help you understand the difference between the two. And also, when you're teaching the Engineering Design Process, this is a great opportunity to promote that creative problem-solving and also creativity with constraints.


Naomi Meredith [00:07:43]:


Students are creative beings, and it's amazing to tap into that. But also giving them those challenges where things aren't unlimited, they have to be creative with what they have. And you will see in these STEM survival camp examples that I'll be sharing with you that there is some creativity with constraints, which is really important to have so that students are problem-solving in a different way. In this course, I will be providing you with some free resources to help you get started when planning using the Engineering Design Process that will help you with these STEM survival camp challenges along with other STEM challenges that you want to implement in your classroom. Now that we have a basic understanding of what the Engineering Design Process is let's see how we can integrate that with Seesaw when we are accomplishing STEM survival camp. I'm going to be showing you these examples from kindergarten and 5th grades to the same challenge for each of those 2 individual grades so that you can flex up or down depending on the age of your students that you and you might even teach all of the students as I do as well.


Naomi Meredith [00:08:57]:


Now you already know that Seesaw has some amazing creative tools that you can use with any type of lesson and any type of subject, and I will use a mixture of both tools depending on the time and experience my students have with Seesaw. So, of course, you have the green add button. And when you click on that button, you get a variety of tools that pop up on your page, just like what I'm showing here. And then you also have those same tools that are embedded with activities. So, again, depending on their experience, you might want to it up. So, for example, my kindergartners don't have as much experience with Seesaw when coming into the school year. So I will typically start with one-page activities with them that have one goal in mind, or I will do a one-day challenge with the green add button. So maybe that is, let's just take a picture of our work today.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:52]:


Now for my older students, that I have had more time with, the years and more experience with Seesaw, not only with STEM survival camp but other challenges we do during STEM. I will use more of a mixture of multi-tools. So we might do let's take a picture and record our voice on top using the arrow tool. or I might even send them multi-page activities that we will edit throughout the week and go through during our time together. So really mix up the creative tools when you are using CSA with your student. The 1st stage in the Engineering Design Process is at. Now you are asking the problem that needs to be solved. This problem can be teacher or student-directed depending on the time that you have and what you're really trying to accomplish.


Naomi Meredith [00:10:43]:


Since I have limited time with my students, I typically will have the ask the problem already written out for them, and I will keep this question really open-ended. So when you're thinking about the problem that you're trying to solve, shift from can you do this, which is typically a yes or no answer, to how can you, which keeps it more open-ended. So just shifting those few little words can really change the outcome of your challenge. So for this STEM survival camp experience, kindergarten has the question, how can you create a solution to help you cross the river safely? And 5th grade's challenge is how can you create a shelter that will withstand different types of weather. So both are very open-ended for the challenges that they are going to attack. The next stage in the Engineering Design Process is the imagined stage. Now, again, depending on the time you have, you probably want to pre-research a lot of these resources for students to explore. just so that they can attack what they need to. Again, research is a really great tool, and skill for students to have.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:00]:


That isn't always in my STEM position, what time we have for. I really want to get kids into building and collaborating. So I will pre-research in a lot of ways and provide those resources for students. So you see on the left that there is the shelter inspiration, so I found different images of shelters that are built in real life by people. My students are gonna build little small prototypes of these or whatever they choose to plan. And if you've done challenges before, really think about how you can take pictures and videos as students work in action because that's really helpful for kids to see what real kids have done. Now this isn't a means to copy each other's work, but just seeing different examples that will give them a basis of understanding. The cool thing with Seesaw is you can even go through your past classes in Seesaw and save work with those QR codes.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:56]:


So if you click the three dots under a student's post in a journal, students could scan that QR code, and they can check out work that way, or you can even create a list of links to past student work. Also, in the Imagine stage, you can find videos online, websites that are related, podcast whole podcasts or even podcast clips, or even create a collection in Epic Books that you can share with students. So the more pre-research that you do as a teacher and giving those tools to students, that can really help you save time and help them focus on what they need to know for their challenge. Group students have gathered ideas from all of the imagining resources. It is time for them to plan their design thoughtfully. Planning designs is important for all grade levels and is possible for all grade levels, no matter what their abilities are. The planning stage is also where I will tell them how much of each item they're going to be able to use. So in this unit for STEM survival camp, there are predetermined amounts of materials they're allowed to use along with anything that they collect from the outside.


Naomi Meredith [00:14:05]:


So here is an example of a kindergarten plan, and this is from a different related project. So you notice it says Pumpkin Bridge. It's from something else; however, the challenge is how you can create something to help cross the river safely. So a bridge would definitely work in this situation. So ahead of time, in this one-page activity that I sent my kindergartners, I added in the predetermined materials that they would be able to use for my classroom. So, for example, they will be able to use popsicle sticks, cubes, and cups. You can even limit this even more and have a set amount of popsicle sticks, cubes, and cups; that is entirely up to you. Now for this challenge, they are also able to use anything that we collect from the outdoors.


Naomi Meredith [00:14:51]:


There are some rules that will go over in the create stage for that. So students use Seesaw, the drawing tool, to draw their design, and I really encourage them to use colors to really think about how their plan could look like in real life. They can also label their drawing as well. I've seen students draw lines from the materials list to their actual drawings, or they like to use that text tool to label on top. So depending on their experience with Seesaw and how you want to go with this. Those are a couple of options for planning for those younger students. You can also leave that material section blank if you don't have time. Or, if you want to use Seesaw tools even more, students can take pictures of the materials that they're going to use in the classroom, and then they can put that in that empty space.


Naomi Meredith [00:15:43]:


For the older students, I do still have them thoughtfully plan their designs. And what I have found is that drawing their plans on a separate piece of paper can really bring out those details just based on the types of devices that I have that they use Seesaw on. Older students will often get frustrated drawing their plans just using their fingers because there's so much that they want to add. So I still have them plan on a piece of paper. I'll send them that planning sheet, but then they will take a picture of their plan. and then also they can talk about their design using the microphone tools. So, again, they can use the c sub tools in a different way. When the older students are planning, I will try to encourage them to draw more than one view of their plan based on our planning rubric, label the parts, and also explain what each of those parts will do.


Naomi Meredith [00:16:34]:


So in this example, they're going to use 6, a bag, a wrapper, and string, and you notice that they describe what each of those parts is going to do. During this planning stage, if you are thinking about using the money for students to purchase supplies, this is the stage that you would do that. I do use money in other units. For STEM survival camp, I just have the set amount of materials. But if you are thinking about adding money and a budget, the planning stage is where you want to do that. Now that the plans are underway, it is time to take, which is the students’ favorite part, especially since they get to find some materials from the outdoors. So like, I mentioned during the planning stage, I will tell them the amount of the predetermined things for my classroom that they are able to use within their design.


Naomi Meredith [00:17:25]:


So, of course, it goes back to that creativity with constraints. It's always good to let students be creative and design whatever is in their heart's desire that is school appropriate, but also have those constraints when it comes to the material because when you think about things that we build in real life, there usually isn't an unlimited amount of materials and students need to realize that. and be creative with what they got. So we'll go over those things that they can use from the classroom, and then they can go outside to collect the materials that they want to add to their design. So this is really fun, especially when the weather is nice, so keep that in mind as well. So when we go and collect things from outside, I do have some ground rules that I go over with all of the classes. So these are the same rules for k through 5. So these are my biggest things that we are collecting, is only take what you need.


Naomi Meredith [00:18:20]:


So we don't wanna be excessive with what we're taking from nature. But based on the plans, we only take what we need. I will have one initial day that we will go outside to collect materials. And then depending on the class, some classes do want to go back out a few days later, and some of them will actually take things back outside and then collect something new. So I also don't have students bring bags with them because I did that the first time, and then they came back with bags of dirt and all sorts of things. We had a spider and a slug. So happen to be able to carry what they take from the outside indoors. Next is that living things stay living.


Naomi Meredith [00:19:03]:


So we're not picking up all the grass out of the ground, taking leaves off of trees, taking small little creatures on purpose; those living things need to stay living. And then, along the same lines, sticky, slimy, and wet things stay in nature. So that might even include, like, a bag wrapper that they find that is all wet and soggy. Let's leave that outside. probably even put it in the trash. So that way, things that are coming indoors aren't as filthy. Your room will be a little bit of a mess, but this will help with that collection piece. Once students have gathered their materials from the doors and also used the things in your room, they are going to create.


Naomi Meredith [00:19:48]:


So here are some of my 5th grader's examples with the build the shelter challenge. From me, they were able to use one foot of string, one grocery bag, one foot of tape, and 2 brown paper bag pieces. You notice there are other things in their designs. They did actually find a lot of things outdoors, and then they decided to combine designs after we tested them. For kindergarten, they had other materials for me as well, along with things that they collected from the outdoors. So for them to cross the river, however, they chose. They had one foot of tape, one piece of bubble wrap, 3 small pieces of cardboard, 4 popsicle sticks, and one plastic top. I did give them more material since it's their first-ever challenge with me, and I wanted them to experiment with things that sync and flow, which we'll talk about in the experiment section of this little course.


Naomi Meredith [00:20:38]:


You also can see in the picture of one of those kids. There is a little Lego person. They happened to have that in their pocket. They wanted to add it to their design. I said sure. And then I added water on the last day, so they built their designs for a couple of days. And then the last day is when we tested with the water, which again will go over in the experiment and improve. The improve stage really goes along with the create stage as well. Now with this done survival camp, they are fairly separate because students really do need to be pretty much done with their design before they experiment.


Naomi Meredith [00:21:15]:


However, when you're thinking about other challenges that you do in the future using the same process, there's a lot of experimenting and improving that go back and forth. So with the 5th-grade challenge, how can you create a shelter that can withstand the elements? After students have built their shelters, we will have an experimenting day. So they have a slide, a modification, and a testing checklist, and this actually got improved with my student suggestions. but they have different tests that they will put their shelter through. So they will actually guess before they test which rhymes. But they wanna guess, do they have an entrance for people to get in? Yes or no? Will it keep the inside dry? Does wind not get in, does it protect against snow, and can it be moved without breaking? So this isn't for a grade, and I remind students that this is just a way to test how you designed your shelter. So they will go through and guess using Seesaw, and they will either use the shape tool to add a little star or even just the drawing tool. And then, they will go through and test their design, which I will have set up around the room.


Naomi Meredith [00:22:26]:


So we have the wind station. The snow is glitter. And then there's a water station. You can kind of see in the picture that there is a little basket, and then there's another bucket with water. They put this sponge in the water, and then they squeeze it on top of their shelter with their shelter in that basket. So then they're not flooding. They're designed completely. It might be based on how they designed it.


Naomi Meredith [00:22:50]:


And then, from there, they will go back to their checklist and then check off what actually happened. I do have another agency saw where I have students take a picture of their design before and after testing, which is really helpful. and I will have some towels on hand because a lot of students if they have time, will actually go back and improve their design and test again. So it's really great having Seesaw. Make sure to keep it away from the water. But having Seesaw available because they can really showcase what is happening during those experiments. Similarly, with kindergarten with the crossing the river challenge, I have them if they take a picture of each other's work and add it to their modifications. So they're thinking about if certain things would sink or flow, and you could do this part after their building piece or even beforehand, depending on the flow of your lessons.


Naomi Meredith [00:23:46]:


So, again, Seesaw makes it really easy to record the results and things that paper might not be able to do. From there, students can share their work either by taking a picture, or a video adding to those pictures that we're taking for testing the experiments, sometimes I will take the picture for them and put it in their Seesaw account depending on our time. Other kids will help each other take pictures of as well of their work, which is really helpful. And then, I always make sure to have some questions at the end to reflect on. And I use these questions throughout all of my different types of units because the responses will definitely change over time. and based on the types of projects that we are working on. So students can either use the text box tool to type in their thinking can record a video answering the responses. Some students prefer not being on video yet, so they might use the microphone to record their voices as well.


Naomi Meredith [00:24:47]:


For younger students, I will maybe ask them one of these question prompts, and then they will respond back, and you can hear my voice on the recording as well. We might do all three, or maybe I will type in their answer for them. So there are a lot of opportunities for students to reflect on their work throughout this process. Thank you so much for joining in on this little journey, campers. Now that you have seen the examples used in kindergarten for a STEM survival camp, along with how it can be taken to higher levels in the 5th grade, you can now explore and create your own STEM survival camp challenges that you can use during back-to-school time. I have included some free resources to help you plan using the Engineering Design Process, so make sure to check those out, And these planning pages can help you when you're designing STEM survival camp challenges along with other Engineering Design Process lessons that you may be teaching in the future. If you have any questions and make sure to reach out, I can be found in a lot of different places. You can find me on my website, naomimeredith.com, send an email, contactnaomimeredith@gmail.com, and @naomimeredith_, where I share a lot of STEM and technology content all the time.


Naomi Meredith [00:26:08]:


And then also on YouTube where I have more video tutorials and also things for students as well. Thank you so much again, and I hope you have a wonderful school year. This presentation had a ton of visuals, and I bet you are dying to see all of the examples and handouts. You can grab the video recording of this episode, the video slides I referenced throughout, student examples, and bonuses for only $5. That's less than a fancy coffee drink. This will all be linked in the show notes, and you can check it all out here at naomimeredith.com/PDreplay.

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More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a former classroom teacher turned current K-5 STEM teacher and coach. Her role not only includes teaching over 500 students in her school, but also leading professional development and co-teaching with teachers to help them integrate STEM & Technology.

With over a decade of experience along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM certificate, she helps teachers navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM & Technology in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

Are you tired of scrolling online for your next great STEM lesson? Do you feel like there is no time to plan, research and test meaningful STEM lessons, so you throw together a hands-on activity and hope that it works? What systems and routines should you set in place to help students be creative, critically think, and collaborate? 

The Elementary STEM Coach is a podcast for K-5 STEM teachers, classroom teachers, GT specialists, and homeschool parents looking for actionable STEM solutions. Each week, Naomi Meredith will share tools, resources and lesson ideas that are actionable in your classroom and create highly engaging experiences with your students. You’ll learn systems and routines that will create control in the chaos and that will keep you organized all year long. 

Your mindless scrolling days are over! Your new STEM-best friend is now here in your ear buds!

google tools to improve steam

Essential Google Tools to Improve STEAM Instruction [ep.102]

by Naomi Meredith

Essential Google Tools to Improve STEAM Instruction [ep.102]

google tools to improve steam

Check out the full episode on Essential Google Tools to Improve STEAM Instruction:  

 

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Episode Summary

Google tools have helped me so much in my teaching journey. They have helped me streamline my workflow and create more consistency for my students. The audio for today’s episode is from an online summit where I did a presentation on Google tools to improve STEAM instruction. In this episode, I am sharing four of my favorite Google tools and sharing some fun and engaging ways you can incorporate them into your classroom.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • 4 Google tools to improve your STEAM instruction
  • An overview of each Google tool
  • Tips and strategies for incorporating these Google tools into your STEAM classroom

Resources Mentioned:

  • 100th Episode Giveaway Details:
    • Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, take a screenshot before you submit your review, share your review to your Instagram stories, and tag me @naomimeredith_. If you don’t have Instagram, email me the screenshot of your review at contactnaomimeredith@gmail.com
    • The giveaway ends Saturday, July 8, 2023
    • Prize: A FREE 30-minute coaching session
  • Grab the video, presentation slides, and other resources for this episode here: naomimeredith.com/pdreplay

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

The first time I ever used Google tools was when I left my second-grade teaching position across town and started teaching third-grade in a new district. I was so confused by these tools, and I absolutely hated them. I'm actually a pretty techie person, but I didn't understand them at all. But I did give them a chance, and I am so glad that I did that. I fell in love with all things Google and how they help me streamline my workflow and help me be more productive. In fact, I am still using Google tools to help my teaching instruction and also for a whole lot of parts for producing this podcast. While the audio from this episode has never been heard, been heard, been heard, been heard, been heard, been heard, been heard, been heard, been heard, for on this podcast. This is a presentation I did in the past online summit. One sad trend that I have seen since teaching during COVID is that a lot of online tools are being ignored.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:00]:

In a lot of ways, I've seen tools being used less than they were before COVID even happened. I get that using technology can be overwhelming to introduce to the students. I hundred percent get it. I did it all day with a hundred and 50 kids a day, k through 5, whether or not their classroom teacher was integrating tools. It can be really, really frustrating. However, we owe it to our students to help them be problem solvers and creators with technology. I know that the tools are going to change over time, and I even tell my students this. But the more practice they have with resources in meaningful ways, the less stressful it is to try new technology in the future.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:46]:

In this session, I'll be sharing with you 4 examples of Google tools and how they can enhance your stem or steam teaching to help you rethink these resources as a teacher. Hey there, and welcome to this session, the essential Google tools to improve your STEAM instruction and make it easier on YouTube. I am your presenter, Naomi Meredith, and this session is geared towards elementary teachers of all levels k through 5 STEM and STEM teachers, library teachers, and homeschool parents. If you would like to use more Google tools in your classroom, and you don't necessarily have to have a Google account for all of these that I'm gonna talk about, then this session is perfect for you.

Naomi Meredith [00:02:59]:

As I said, I am Naomi Meredith. I am a former classroom teacher turned current k through 5 STEM teacher and coach, and I have over a decade of experience teaching in the classroom along with a master's degree in STEM leadership. My goal inside of the classroom and out side of it is to help teachers like you navigate STEM and technology in the K35 classroom. I am also the host of the new podcast, The Elementary STEM Coach podcast. So make sure to go and check that out on your favorite podcasting platform, and also run my website, neomy marinates dot com. You can see in the picture my cute little family and that little guy with the big ears, not my fiance, that little brown guy is Frederick, and he is a 10 pound little doggy full of tons of love. So if you follow me on Instagram, you probably will see him all the time. He is my 10 pound shadow.

Naomi Meredith [00:03:50]:

You're going to see this link in the corner of every slide in this presentation, but I've put together a free resource free guide for you to use. And there is also a worksheet included in this summit that you can follow along. It's I also put the same worksheet within this PDF for you. There are some tips and tricks in there to help you keep track of all of your learning and ideas that you wanna apply after this session. So you can grab the add naomimeredith.com/steamgoogletools. We're gonna talk about 4 different Google tools today. Some of you may have heard of them but haven't thought of how to use them in your STEAM or STEM space, and some might be completely new to you.

Naomi Meredith [00:04:30]:

So for each tool, we're gonna talk about what the tool is, just a brief introduction, why you should use that tool, and how you could use it in your steam space. So some example lessons that you could try out. The first one is Google Jamboard. Now this is a newer Google tool, and this is so amazing. And I wish that they created this a long time ago. Google Jamboard is awesome. It has all of these slides, and it's very similar to a tablet. If you've used a tablet in the past, it's almost like having a giant whiteboard that you can add sticky notes on top of it.

Naomi Meredith [00:05:05]:

What's really great about Google Jamboard is that you can add different elements on top. It uses a lot of the same Google tools, and it is a very interactive experience for you. To get Jamboard, it's within all of your Google tools. So once you log into the Google app as a teacher, you can create a new Jamboard just as if you were creating a Google Doc or Google Slides. It looks like this. It's a giant whiteboard and has all of the limited tools on the side. And, again, it is really easy to share with students. So if you change the share settings just like you do with the other Google tools so anyone with the link can edit, you could make a QR code and share the link with students that way so they don't have to log in to their Google account to respond.

Naomi Meredith [00:05:48]:

You could also share the link with students in a platform like Google Classroom, so you saw whatever LMS you actually use. And that way, it is easy to get access to. One little quick tip. This is not a Google tool, but you're gonna thank me for it later. It is called classroom screen, also a free tool, not Google related, as I said, but you can actually create a QR code on there and use other widgets on your screen. Super helpful tool. So as you can see, it's a really easy to use platform, and students can interact in a variety of ways and have simple response tools. This is a great chance to give students a voice to respond and reflect on a variety of different questions and prompts that you may have for them.

Naomi Meredith [00:06:31]:

You can also save the responses and refer back to them later. So this is helpful if you have a slide deck for each grade level, for each project, and you can compare and contrast responses. At the very top, you can even add more slides. So this is really great. You can go back to the responses later. When you want to use Jamboard in STEAM, here are some ways that you could integrate this into your lesson. First, you can use Jamboard as a connection piece. Maybe you set up questions beforehand, and have them listed on the Jamboard.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:02]:

You can even change the background. So if you don't want students to delete things, you can create an image separate from Jamboard. Save it as the background so it's not movable. But you could have a stem warm-up for the day. It could be a question of the day related to the content they're gonna learn about. STEM topics that are happening around the world, like current events, or even just random questions that you want to get to know students. This would be great for all classes, especially if you teach multiple classes in a day. It's really hard to get to know kids.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:32]:

And see all those unique things about them. So this could be a really cool way as students come in. They answer the question, you talk about the responses, and then move on with the lesson. You can also use Jamboard as a Wonderwall. This goes back to the similar concept with real paper and real sticky notes by your digitizing this, this could be a way where you can assess students about prior knowledge about a topic. So maybe you have the topic as what you're gonna learn about for your STEM project. Maybe you're going to learn about ways to help the environment, and then students can write questions, wondering about things that they know. And they could add all those little digital sticky notes.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:11]:

And this is a great way to assess what they know, what they don't know, and the direction you might wanna take the lesson. If they need more support or not. So this would be a cool way to keep progress in starting off the lesson. You can also use Jamboard as a way for students to share at the end or during a project. Students could take pictures of their final work, so you saw that there's an add image button. They could add images that are already saved in their Google Drive. They could take fresh pictures, and this would be really cool to have a final collage that you could share with the class. If you wanted to, you could even present the collage of students' work at a back-to-school night or an open house opportunity, a STEM night. And these are all pictures from the student's perspective.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:55]:

You can also have students share a strategy that worked well with them during the project and also help others keep going throughout the week. So maybe before students clean up for the day, they add a quick little group sticky note or response on there. What work went well for you? What do you need to keep going? What questions do you have? And then, you could discuss this at the end of class or the beginning of the next day, so this will give strategies for students to keep going on their projects. Again, you can use this even more as a reflection tool, so I like to use the same questions for every STEM challenge throughout the year. So students are used to the questions, but their responses are going to change because the projects are so different. The questions I like to use are I am proud of If I were to try this challenge again, I would change, and then something that was challenging for them. No matter what, there's always gonna something challenging, so it's good to reflect on those things. So having those same questions every time, students could put that on a jam board.

Naomi Meredith [00:09:55]:

Maybe even each group has a slide on the GM board, and they reflect that way or each student. So it's just a cool way to keep things organized and have the experience be interactive where every student gets a voice, it's easy to share, and the tools are easy to use as well. The second tool that you definitely want to use in your STEM or STEAM place is Internet Awesome. Now I might also go call this Google Interland. It's the same thing. The technical term by Google is Internet Awesome. And this is a free digital citizenship curriculum developed by Google. Available for upper elementary and even a little bit of middle school.

Naomi Meredith [00:10:35]:

Why would you want to use this? It is so much fun, and the kids beg for Google and Interland all the time. So we're gonna talk about when you could use this. So it definitely engages the older students in tough digital citizenship conversations. It can also integrate well with the common sense media curriculum. I do use a combination of both because I feel like both have very important messages for students and ways to talk about those things. And it also gives that sense of gamification. As you can see on the screen, there is a game for every major lesson that students can apply their learning. And so it really makes a hard topic more fun and interactive.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:18]:

There are also digital resources for lessons. This is a fairly new feature of the Internet Awesome. It integrates Pear Deck. So Pear Deck is a Google extension with Google slides where students can interact with the slides. So this curriculum actually has the slides already created for you. You can edit them for your needs, so make a copy and edit them in Google Slides. And then, if you add in that extension with Pear Deck, Pear Deck is a freemium. So there are free tools and then premium tools.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:49]:

So once students add in that code, they can interact with the slides and respond that way. So I'm not gonna go too much into Paratek in this presentation. Pear Deck is a cool Google tool. Definitely write that down if you haven't heard of it. It's a great interactive piece as well. I actually used this Be Internet Awesome curriculum when we rent remote in the fall of 2020. Spring 20 20 was so different. But in the fall of 2020, I used this. And I didn't feel like I lost it in learning because I knew I was gonna use this in my STEM classroom anyway, and we had access to the resources as soon as we were able to respond and be reflective.

Naomi Meredith [00:12:25]:

There is a lot to this curriculum, so I would suggest picking 1 topic. For that grade level and then carry it into the next year. You don't have to do it all at once. Now if you're a classroom teacher, you could use this as your whole curriculum for the whole year. Digital citizenship isn't just a one-month, one-day thing. It's part of our real world, part of being a good citizen online. It is needed starting in kindergarten for sure. So definitely use this as a tool to help with those conversations.

Naomi Meredith [00:12:57]:

Here's how you can use it to enhance your steam instruction. Again, you are promoting digital citizenship, which is needed all year, and it's those home resources are really helpful, too, especially with how to communicate with parents. As teachers, especially, we see why digital citizenship is important for our students within the classroom outside of the classroom and how technology is used for academic and fun purposes. There is a purpose for both, but we just need to have that good digital citizenship all year. Sometimes parents don't always know how to have those conversations with students or what may or may not be a problem. So this is a great stepping stone into those resources to share. You can also use Google Interland as an academic behavior incentive. Maybe you have a technology-free day that your class is trying to earn.

Naomi Meredith [00:13:46]:

So this is a cool option to add in there for kids. This is way better than the cool math games, and we all know cool math games are not really math, and kids will sneakily play that. So If they're gonna play a game, how about they work on their digital citizenship? This is also a good way if you need last-minute sub plans. I am not a huge proponent of having kids just sitting on the computer and doing nothing. However, if you need something last minute, it is something productive for them to work on. And kids really love playing it. And then, of course, we could have this as an early finisher. You could add this to a digital choice board. This is something that I will do for the second of the year.

Naomi Meredith [00:14:25]:

Some of the teachers actually use my digital choice board as just an extension of their homework if that's something they wanna work on at home. You could even have Interland be a station rotation if you don't have a lot of devices in your classroom. Maybe you have a few set up in a station, and students can choose to go to that 1. So there's a lot of possibilities of using it once you've used those core lessons and taught through that just to help them keep learning and applying the lessons. You can use this throughout the year. The third tool out of the 4 is Google Drawings. I feel like Google Drawings doesn't get enough attention that it deserves. In fact, this is way better to start kids off instead of starting with Google Slides, which we will talk about Google Slides. But it's really great because it has all of the same tools that Google Slides does, but it is way less overwhelming.

Naomi Meredith [00:15:19]:

The way that I like to think about Google Drawings, it's like having a sheet of paper. So you have 1 slide, 1 sheet of paper to worry about. You can change the size of the Google drawings. So if you know you're not going to print it out, you can even make it a square so that students have more room on the side to create with. You can even change the size 2 a sheet of paper that will get printed out. If you know, that's going to be an option as well. Again, it still practices the same tools as Google Slides, but students are going to get lost resolving the pages. If your students don't have a lot of experience using Google tools, I recommend starting with Google Slides or Google Docs first.

Naomi Meredith [00:16:00]:

Google Docs isn't as much creation. It's more of that text editing. But if you want students to be creating more, definitely start them in Google Google Drawings first because they get familiar with how the tools work and how to use them. What's really great too, and this will help with some of the examples and projects, is that you can create PNG. So that's an image file type that can be downloaded with a transparent background. You can actually do that in slides also, but this is a quick way if you need to create something that doesn't have a background. You wanna layer it and, on top of something, create it in Google Drives. Now thinking about how to use this in your stem classroom, There is that vocabulary development. You can use the drawing tool, and I don't think it'll play from the beginning on this slide, But you can actually use the drawing tool.

Naomi Meredith [00:16:51]:

At the top, there's, like, the different pens, and there's 1 that's like a polyglot polygon, like a tracing type of pen. Students can actually trace images that they insert into the slides and help them understand where different parts of things are. I went to a session, and there was a session about Google and all of the updates. At a conference recently. And this lady, when she was a teacher, actually would trace maps and end up having students trace maps. And was able to create little PNG images that could be used for different things. So then eventually, she had students trace the maps digitally. They were talking about the place and understanding what it looks like, and this actually helped with their geography skills. I'm even thinking about how you could use this for labeling different parts of students might have an image of the life cycle of a butterfly, and maybe they have to trace part, and this can help them with that vocabulary development and also create a digital image and help them be successful with digital drawing, which some students actually might really enjoy.

Naomi Meredith [00:17:54]:

Can also have students create an infographic, and so this could help them synthesize information about a topic that they're researching, which later they can use that information to help them with their project. Maybe they make an infographic about the topic. You print it and then work with a makey makey, which is a little tool that looks little, but it does a lot. A little tool that has clips that you can connect to things. And then, when you touch a clip or when it's touching something connective, it will then perform the task that's coded on the computer. So there is some coding. So you could have them make an infographic that's interactive. So when it's clipped to different parts, when you touch a clip, then it's going to say something of the computer about that piece.

Naomi Meredith [00:18:38]:

You can also have students create video graphics that they could layer within their videos. So maybe they're creating backgrounds for a green screen. So if they're designing something for your school-wide news, maybe they are doing a little project. Maybe one group is in charge of creating the backgrounds within Google Drawings. You can download that and then insert that into the video. Maybe they want to create characters for a stop motion video, and they create the characters within Google Drawings, download them as a PNG so everything excludes together without a background, and then they can create a Google Slides stop motion animation. I've also used Google Drawings in a way for how I can use I have 2 cricket machines. Crickets are those, and I might be saying it wrong. But crickets are those machines that cut out things with l razors, so it reads the image off the computer, and then it cuts it onto paper or sticker paper.

Naomi Meredith [00:19:32]:

I have 2 of those in my classroom since I think it's a cheaper way to go for that type of 2 d cutting. So I've had student students create images for their design using Google Drawings, then I was able to download them as a PNG and insert it into the cricket platform. And then cut it from there. This is a lot easier to do because cricket isn't really known for being made for the classroom setting. So that way, I didn't have to create an account for every single student. We already have Google accounts for the kids. They could easily share their image with me within Google Forms. And then choose the color they wanted.

Naomi Meredith [00:20:11]:

So we did this for digital citizenship. So on the left, you can see some of the final designs that were cut on sticker paper. And our goal was to create an actual one, and we used Google Interland for part of this lesson to build the background. So they had to create a sticker that could be 1 to keep and 1 to give away, so cut out 2 for them that talked about the digital citizenship lessons throughout the week. So we really talked about how to layer designs, how to use thick and chunky fonts, and how to create something that would make sense that could be cut out. So there was a lot of layering involved, and so their digital stickers look exactly like they would when it's cut out, which was really important to think about the future and how their project would actually work. And the last tried and true favorite, which you probably already used, but here's how you can use it in your theme space, is Google Slides. So this, I feel like, is more advanced for students once they have more experience using some of the Google tools.

Naomi Meredith [00:21:13]:

They could definitely get live within slides, but it is so powerful and definitely needed in a STEM space. So why would you wanna use this? Well, it's definitely great for long-term projects. You can have students work on specific slides for the day. So let's say you send out a whole engineering design process notebook that they will be using throughout the week. You might have specific slides that they're going to work on instead of printing everything out. Now when you're thinking about creating your slides, add those movable pieces to make it more interactive. How can you make this even better than paper? You see, here I have QR codes that students can watch videos. They are connected to YouTube.

Naomi Meredith [00:21:52]:

Sadly, in my district, YouTube is blocked for elementary, so I can actually watch it as a teacher. So I'll play the video, and then they'll respond. But think about how you can make it more interactive. Can you add audio? Yes. You can add audio to Google Slides. I'm gonna link in that resource for you actually how I create audio and add that to a Google Slide. You can also embed videos.

Naomi Meredith [00:22:18]:

Maybe it is YouTube if your school doesn't have it blocked. Maybe you create a video using Screencastify and embed that video as well. So make it more interactive how can your slides do more than a piece of paper? Likewise, students can make their slides more interactive too. They can insert their photos throughout a project, so maybe when they have the planning section, when they go to the planning side, you have them draw on a piece of paper. Then take a picture of their design and put it on there so they always have their plan. Maybe you have them take a video and insert that on their slide where they talk about what their work looks like. Maybe they add a photo.

Naomi Meredith [00:22:56]:

This is really great too when students are working in groups who really wanna encourage collaboration, but they have a chance to keep their project by way of photos. Some kids actually don't even like keeping their projects, especially if they're made out of cardboard. They're not huge fans. So that way, they can document their work, and then they can't get rid of it or take it apart or have someone else in the group take it. And again, when you think of Google Slides since there are more advanced features compared to other Google tools, students are continuously working on those digital skills and ways that they can showcase their work. So when thinking about using this in your room, again, this is a great way to have a digital notebook that can do even more than a piece of paper. I teach over 500 kids in the course of a month, So this is definitely my go-to. Once I have my slides set up for the week, they have that digital notebook.

Naomi Meredith [00:23:45]:

I might send them other resources along the way that I forgot to include. But this is really helpful for them. We also talked about Paratek. So Paratek is an extension that you can add on. Oh, sorry. It's not an extension. It's an add-on that you can add within Google Slides. So that can make those slides more interactive, definitely check out Pear Deck. They have templates already set up for you, and they have a ton of different stem ones as well.

Naomi Meredith [00:24:10]:

So that's a great resource to have in your toolbox. You can also have students create stop-motion animations using Google Slides. There are a ton of free resources and things on YouTube out there to help you get started. And then you could also have Google Slides in the stem space via digital portfolio. So after I have a blank digital portfolio document. So or your slides or maybe something that's a template that you share with them at the beginning of the year, and they could keep adding on. So maybe after each project, students can take pictures, and add to their experience. Maybe they even have 1 slide per project, and this would be really cool for students to share at the end of the year with their families.

Naomi Meredith [00:24:49]:

Or even at parent-teacher conferences to help that parent communication. A lot of kids really thrive doing these STEM projects. This would be a cool way to document throughout the year. So again, if you haven't already grabbed it and you haven't noticed the link at the bottom, you can grab this resource, where you it'll keep track of things for you and have some fun goodies in for you. Thank you so much again for coming today. Please reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns. I have my email contact Naomi Meredith at Gmail dot com. Check me out on my website, Naomi Meredith dot com, Instagram at Naomi Meredith underscore. It's also the same for Twitter and 10 talked.

Naomi Meredith [00:25:26]:

I use Instagram a bit more. And then my TPT shop, Naomi Meredith. And then I didn't put it up here, but like I said, go and check out my podcast. It's pretty new, so super exciting, The Elementary STEM Coach podcast. Thank you so much again, and I hope to hear from you soon. Good luck with all your Google tools. This presentation had a ton of visuals, and I bet you are dying to see all of the examples and handouts. You can grab the video recording of this episode, the video slides I reference throughout, student examples, and bonuses for only 5 dollars.

Naomi Meredith [00:26:02]:

That's less than a fancy coffee drink. This will all be linked in the show notes, and you can check it all out here at naomimeredith.com/PDreplay.

google tools to improve steam

 

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More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a former classroom teacher turned current K-5 STEM teacher and coach. Her role not only includes teaching over 500 students in her school, but also leading professional development and co-teaching with teachers to help them integrate STEM & Technology.

With over a decade of experience along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM certificate, she helps teachers navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM & Technology in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

Are you tired of scrolling online for your next great STEM lesson? Do you feel like there is no time to plan, research and test meaningful STEM lessons, so you throw together a hands-on activity and hope that it works? What systems and routines should you set in place to help students be creative, critically think, and collaborate? 

The Elementary STEM Coach is a podcast for K-5 STEM teachers, classroom teachers, GT specialists, and homeschool parents looking for actionable STEM solutions. Each week, Naomi Meredith will share tools, resources and lesson ideas that are actionable in your classroom and create highly engaging experiences with your students. You’ll learn systems and routines that will create control in the chaos and that will keep you organized all year long. 

Your mindless scrolling days are over! Your new STEM-best friend is now here in your ear buds!

a lesson from ms. frizzle

A Lesson from Ms. Frizzle [ep.100]

by Naomi Meredith

A Lesson from Ms. Frizzle [ep.100]

a lesson from ms. frizzle

Check out the full episode on A Lesson from Ms. Frizzle:  

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Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

Have a STEM question? Leave a voice message for the podcast!

Episode Summary

Oh my goodness! We have officially hit 100 episodes on The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast! To celebrate this incredible milestone, the audio for today’s episode is the keynote speech I gave at Wonder Workshop’s spring 2023 International STEAM Summit. During this episode, I share a lesson from Ms. Frizzle and the many lessons I have learned as a STEM teacher. It is my hope that this episode will inspire you this summer and as you gear up for the new school year. Also, to celebrate hitting 100 episodes, I am hosting a giveaway! One lucky winner will win a FREE 30-minute coaching session with me. Check out the resources mentioned section to learn more.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Lessons from Ms. Frizzle and how I have applied them as a STEM teacher
  • The importance of modeling a growth mindset for our students
  • Why your students need to see you make mistakes 
  • Stories of mistakes I made as a STEM teacher and how I handled them

Resources Mentioned:

  • 100th Episode Giveaway Details: 
    • Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, take a screenshot before you submit your review, share your review to your Instagram stories, and tag me @naomimeredith_. If you don’t have Instagram, email me the screenshot of your review at contactnaomimeredith@gmail.com
    • The giveaway ends Saturday, July 8, 2023
    • Prize: A FREE 30-minute coaching session

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

Oh my goodness. I cannot believe I am saying this, but today's episode is Bonu mental. We have made it to 100 episodes here on the elementary STEM Coach podcast. I wish I could say that this lined up perfectly with the release of my first episode of the show, but not quite. The first episode was released on July 18, 2022. However, this 100th episode is actually more closely aligned with when I release my trailer. Back before this podcast actually was introduced, I was actually preparing to go to the InEDCO conference in June 2022. My goal was to get my podcast trailer set up and published so that it would hold me accountable when I was talking to people at the conference that I had a podcast coming out, and I didn't want to lie. And, actually, funny enough, I even made business cards with the name of my podcast on it, so then I definitely had to get this show published and make it happen. And funny enough, this is totally a testament to this podcast needed to happen. I had bought all of the materials for the podcast. You don't need a whole lot to get started, but I did get all the tools and the microphone purchased, went up to the conference, and then I actually put my name into a drawing, and I'm not kidding you. I won a podcast microphone, and it is the same microphone that I am using right now, and I absolutely love it. So It was definitely meant to be to have this podcast, and here we are a 100 episodes later. I wasn't even planning on staying with 2 episodes a week. However, you are all listening and chatting with me about how much you love the show and what kind of content you want to hear. So I'm continuing to pump out the episodes. I'm definitely not at a loss for episode ideas. The most random things will pop up and I will put them into my online organization. So I have a whole list of things and things to come all ready to go for you guys. To celebrate the 100th episode, I'm also doing a special giveaway for you. One lucky person will win a free 30-minute coaching session with me. Absolutely free. Again, to enter, it's pretty easy. All you have to do is write a 5-star review of the podcast. Take a screenshot before you hit submit. It can take a while for it to process. So take a screenshot before you click submit. Post a screenshot on Instagram stories and tag me at NaomiMeredith_. If you don't use Instagram, you can also send me an email with that screenshot so you can send me the email at contactnaomimeredith@gmail.com. This will not only let me know what you are loving about this show but also help other teachers know if this show is the perfect fit for them. This giveaway will end on Saturday, July 8, 2023, and I will let the winner know shortly after if they won the session with me. To honor this podcast achievement of the 100th episode, this episode is a special one. I was asked by Brian Miller from Wonder Workshop to be their closing keynote speaker for their spring 2023 International STEAM Summit. Side note, Brian was an awesome guest on the show, and you can go and listen to his interview on episode 32 and another collaboration I had with him in Wonder Workshop where I interviewed a NASA engineer in episode 57. I have never been a keynote speaker before, and this is something that has been on my vision board for the way off future. But we don't always get to decide when things come to us, and this happened to be the right time. So it's not always our timing. I actually presented virtually, and I wasn't able to see anyone's faces. So before you're gonna hear the recording. But before I actually make a joke with everybody to take a selfie with them, which was funny because I actually couldn't see their faces. So I said, get in closer. Let me get a picture of you. Oh my gosh. Your smile's so nice. I couldn't see their faces at all. And, by the way, this was live. So if I mess up, I mess up. I was also navigating the slides and the technology at the same time, and you'll also hear me mention saying things about adding comments in the chat. I was able to interact with the participants live and talked with them throughout. So that's what I am referencing throughout if you hear me say put something in the chat, add something blah blah blah. Enjoy this keynote speech for the 100th episode from me to you to help inspire you for summer and kick off your brand new school year!

Naomi Meredith [00:05:39]:

The moment right after I got my job interview for a K through Five STEM position and coach, I started to cry. I called my teacher honey, and I told him that I messed up the interview and there is no way that I got the job. I had extra time before I needed to go back to school to my classroom teaching position for 6 years, so I went and got a pedicure to calm down and then went back to teach for the rest of the day. I had no clue what the outcome of my interview would be and figured I'd be teaching 3rd grade for another year. which was totally fine. I loved my school and the lessons I was teaching and could definitely stick to teaching what I knew. Growing up, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher ever since I was a little girl and that I would go to school, then I would come home, and then I would teach my not-so-willing siblings when I got home. Teaching was my goal in life, and, boy, did I achieve it. But my dreams also took another turn that I had never imagined. Shout out to all my millennials out there, so put some things in the emojis or in the chats that shout out to you. If you watched countless hours of Bill Nye, the science guy, and the Magic School Bus growing up, I would put all of the like buttons on that one, or maybe you still watch them for fun or show them to your classroom. I know there's a new Magic School Bus, but it just doesn't hit the same, just not the same as the old version. And when you think about it from a teacher's perspective, Miss Frizzle was definitely innovative for her time with all of the crazy antics and experiences she provided for her students. She constantly spouted out those words of wisdom, and you might even say it out loud with me. Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy. Also, when you are watching, feel free to take pictures or screenshots of me talking if there's anything that you wanna remember. Side note, I totally dressed up as Miss Frizzle for Halloween a couple of years ago with my little dog, Frederick, and he was Liz the lizard. And this was totally worth our time because we won the Halloween costume contest at doggy take care that year. So a fun fact about me. As educators, we can take heart this message as well. How are you taking chances? how are you making mistakes? Are you having moments where things can get a bit messy? It's so easy to stick to what we know, what's comfortable, what works, and what we like. It's safe, and it feels good. But those times, we jump out of our comfort zones and try some of those new things even if we don't always know the outcome. It can be even better than what you think. So feel free to type it out in the chat. So think about something that you definitely wanna step out of your comfort zone and stir up your inner Miss Frizzle. You can feel free to type that in, or maybe you write it for yourself. Something that I tried this past week actually was having my students build their own robots. So that was very exciting. Something I had no idea how to do, and we were cheering each other on today when one of the students was able to light up a light. So there are always lots of things that we can step out of our comfort zones. Lana wants to explore AI. That would definitely be a really great topic to explore with your kids, especially how AI is changing our world. And there are a lot of different avenues with AI as well, so that would be a really interesting lesson. Take chances. The next day, I got a phone call from the job interview committee. I got the job. Not only did I get the K through 5 STEM teaching and coaching position, but I was going to be teaching at a new to me district and school. I didn't know a single teacher or student in the building, and I would be teaching over 500 kids with limited supplies and 0 curriculum. Sounds like the ideal position. Right? Could explore some more of that AI that Lana was talking about. I clutched onto my 6 years of teaching experience. In all the trainings, where I talk about innovative practices, the books I had read, the conferences that I attended, like this International STEAM Summit, and I used these experiences to help me build a foundation and create a program that I dreamed of having. While overwhelmed at first, over the course of the next 5 years, I planned cross-curricular lessons that were rooted in grade-level standards. I took inventory of the supplies I had, found creative ways to get things and plan long-term for future purchases that would enhance my curriculum. Lessons were taught, retaught, and some were thrown out the window, but there were others that got to come back for a second round. And my students and I were loving STEM together and found passions that we never knew existed. Another big thing when stepping out of my comfort zone, and you probably can relate, is teaching during COVID, and that was definitely an interesting time. But it allowed me to get my Master's in STEM leadership to further my teaching practice. And I always like to tell my students when they were learning, I would learn. So a lot of learning was happening during that time. So you can definitely like or add an emoji if you can relate. If you remember those COVID teaching days, It was an interesting time, for sure. That was a weird day. I actually did a balloon launch that day, the day we found out we worked coming back to school. And it was a whole school-wide event. All the kids were lined up outside and then had to go chase a balloon, and then I never saw my students again till the fall, so that was a very weird time. In turn, I've been able to help support teachers and students all over the world in their stem spaces with my resources, podcasts, and online courses. So when it comes to change, change can be a good thing. and it doesn't always have to be a life-altering job switch or getting another degree, which totally can be those things too. Start small. Just like that little seed, start small. You've learned a lot of great ideas from educators this week, and let's put them to good use. Think about a routine you might already have in your class. How can you spice things up and implement an innovative tool to make the routine more engaging? Are there teachers in your building or district that you can collaborate with and bounce ideas off to get a bit of a refresh in your content area? What about a lesson you always teach each year? Can you modernize it a bit? For example, when I was helping my 4th-grade teachers with a unit about ecosystems, they were having their kids make brochures all about ecosystems for years. The content and the way that the teachers were teaching were amazing, but the final product was a bit outdated. I don't know about you, but I'm not typically sitting around reading brochures to get my information. Maybe when you go to one of those hotels on the side of the road, you might get a brochure, but that's not typically my go to resource. Instead, I help the teachers teach their students how to create a website to share their work with a bigger audience while also refining their word processing skills, creating engaging text features, and also capturing what they had been learning throughout the year. Take a moment to write down at least 3 new things. You don't have to overwhelm yourself, but write 3 new things that you want to take a chance on and that you'll commit to trying this next school year. Even the end of the school year is also a great opportunity to try those new things, even though it might not feel like it. You can definitely put that in the chat. It could be one of those things too that you talked about before. Some people wanna start an after school club, like Cheryl said; Kristen wants to do more with games, but think about those lessons that you learned throughout the week and what is something that you could try out in your classroom. So thinking about those things, this definitely ties into Miss Frizzle's next lesson, and is all about making mistakes. I'm the kind of teacher that loves to host after school clubs, so Cheryl, this one's for you. And as a kid, I always involve was always involved in sports and extracurriculars and saw the benefit in my own life. And as a teacher, that's something I've always implemented for my students to help them explore the world in new ways and find new passions. Clubs are also a great way to test out new lessons with less pressure. And this can help you with that thing that we just talked about. So if you're a little bit scared, just try it within your own classroom. Think about an after school club, and you can explore in a less scary setting. This past school year, I hosted a robotics club at my school for 2nd through 5th graders, and we were coding with our fave, our guy Dash the robot. And there was such high interest for this club over 60 students signed up, so I had to get a bit creative with my scheduling so all the kids could participate, and it was so exciting. I was able to figure out how they could all participate. My district has given us had given us challenges that they wrote, and we would work on those with our teams. Then we brought our completed challenges to our district event. There are a ton of steps in each challenge. Technically not too hard, but just it was a lot to get through. I also highly recommend what Brian was talking about it. But if you're looking for any ideas for after school clubs, the Wonder League Robotics competition challenges are awesome. So when that comes out again, definitely sign your kids up. I've done these before in the past, and they are a lot of fun. So with these challenges, the kids were so excited to attend our district event and see kids from other schools and how they tackled the challenges through creativity and coding. I rolled in my trusty wagon. If you follow me on Instagram, you know I love my wagon. Full of their built designs and our class set of Dash robots and organized our parent volunteers and the groups for the day. When it was finally our schools trying to compete, the kids were so ready. Or so I thought. The kids showed their coats that they had been working on for the past couple of months, their loops, their functions, and their variables, but it was wrong. Wrong; the judges kept saying that their codes weren't right. The challenge wasn't correct. I was so confused, and then I read through the directions again. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. I could not believe it. I told my students sorry. My students were amazing listeners and listened to me correctly and how I explained it, but I explained it wrong. Yep. You heard it right. This is even recorded. I explained the challenge wrong. I missed one crucial step, and thus the amazing codes that the kids had collaborated on and worked hard to complete were a bit off. And at that moment, the parents could see how horrible of a teacher I was and how I taught all of their kids wrong. The kids were a bit bummed out, but they were okay. And luckily, there was a day of challenge that they would be able to complete as a team and show off what they knew, and they knew a whole bunch about coding. I had just happened to teach them a little bit wrong. I totally unowned up to it, and I used this as a learning experience, the inner teacher of me did, and modeled how this could work for them. I said something like this that mistakes can help us grow and learn. It's quite alright, everybody. Look how much you have learned with your coding, and collaborating with your whole team, this is a terrible fail, and feeling can be a good thing. In fact, it shows me Miss Meredith that I needed to slow down, and I just got too excited about teaching this challenge to all of you. It's quite alright, and we have a new challenge that we are going to try and show what we know. And, of course, I like we know kids, they did great. The parents were impressed with their coding skills, and the challenges of the day were a success. Miss Frizzle says make mistakes while and we often tell that to our students as well. growth mindset and persistence is something that we're constantly trying to instill in our students, and we should be. However, Are you afraid of making mistakes as an educator? Are you trying to be picture perfect for your students at all times? That is so stressful. Spoiler alert, I make mistakes all the time when I teach, and I let my students see that. We talk through it. We learn about it together, and it all works out. Especially in my k through 5 stem space, I came into my room not really knowing how to use any of the tools that were in there. Robotics, coding, 3 d printing, but I learned right beside my students, I even told them that I wasn't born knowing to use all of these tools. And Neither were they. You can like if you agree with that. We weren't born learning to know all of these things, but it's so exciting because We get to learn all of these amazing things. Making mistakes is so powerful and how often when you really think about it, how often do kids get to see that in their lives where mistakes can actually be a positive experience. Think about some mistakes, and you probably when I was talking, think of these already that you have made in teaching or even lessons that you have taught. If you feel brave enough, you are welcome to share those in the chat. And there are many times that making mistakes are okay and you probably are so embarrassed in the moment, and then then it's all okay in the end. And even collaborating with others is a great way to talk through those mistakes. Like Lana is saying in the chat, how the Wonder Workshop Facebook group is a great way to collaborate indefinitely. Having those opportunities to share your mistakes with your students, but also with each other with educators can be a great way to learn from each other. Definitely. And Miss Frizzle also says, well, get messy. I was so excited about a new I get excited about projects all the time, but so excited about a project that I was going to do with my 5th graders. and we were talking about GIS data or geographical information systems data and how we can use this information from the land to help us built a cohesive city. Students were given fictional data about an area and used the coordinates to color a grid. The colors represented different areas of land, grassy fields, a muddy patch, a lake, and a river, And then they were given another set of data to build up land on this grid to with using clay. Once the clay was dry, the students would have a landscape that they could visually see where they could plan their city and build their design as a team. So you could see some of the student examples up on the screen. Buying supplies for your classroom is definitely tricky on our teacher budget, and I know we're all millionaires out there. You can like if you agree. Yep. We are all teacher millionaires, and we have a ton of extra cash lying around, but Sometimes we do need to get a little creative on how we gather supplies. I am a d o DIY kind of girl and remembered when I was younger, my mom would make us Play-Doh that smelled like Kool-Aid, and I figured, hey. I have a kitchenette mixer. I can channel my inner mom and make this. It's so cheap, and I'll have Plano for everyone. like or put an emoji if you are one of those DIY types of teachers and think that you can make everything. because that is definitely me. The next day in STEM, I brought in my homemade dough, and the kids were so excited for the next part of their challenge. They were going to build their landscape, and They did. Let me show you what ended up happening.

Naomi Meredith [00:23:11]:

And nothing can go wrong.

Naomi Meredith [00:23:14]:

Oh, no. No. It ro — Yep. That's exactly what happens. Not only, was dough all over the grids. It was all over everywhere. The floor, their computers, their hair, my hair. Apparently, the dough didn't dry out enough, and it was extremely sticky. Kids were screaming. Someone had gloves. This was during COVID time, so kids knew I had gloves. somewhere over by the trash can, scraping the dough off of their hands into the trash can, and it was an absolute disaster. I have a video of this somewhere. I will search for it, and I will repost this because it was an absolute mess. And I started to laugh. The kids started to laugh. It was so funny how disastrous my room was and how one turn of events could change the whole project. Once we cleaned up, I let them know that I probably won't be bringing any more dough for the next day, but we will problem-solve and figure it out for the rest of the project. I really could have gotten mad in this instance, super mad, but I didn't. You have to remember. We are working with kids. These are kids that we are dealing with. and these experiences are good for them. Sometimes things in our classroom can be a bit too clean and precise. And this also goes back to that make mistakes part. We, as humans, learn by doing. And in fact, There is some actual science on this, and you probably already know this, but this is really great to keep in mind. So according to the hands on approaches to science teaching questions and answers by David, Harry, and Peter Real Realo. I'm sorry. They say that students in a hands on science program will remember the material better, feel a sense of accomplishment when the task is completed, and be able to transfer that experience easier to other learning situations. And you can even substitute where it says hands on science program. You could substitute that for hands on reading, hands on math. So think about those subjects that they teach. It doesn't just have to be STEM. It doesn't just have to be science. That hands on is really, really helpful. And I see a lot of people already in the emojis liking that because we know that. We know that they're kids. They like these hands on things. Well, I don't recommend making your own Play-Doh. I do think that you should add an element of mess to your lessons. Take the kids outside and explore nature. Connect it with your math lesson. Have students build the setting of the read aloud book that you're reading. as a class. Maybe you could even do that science experiment that you have been putting off that has a lot of materials and takes a lot of your time. Maybe actually do that science experiment. The kids would absolutely love it. The messy experiences are the ones that kids are going to remember. not that cute worksheet that you printed out in Color Inc that day. Think about those hands on things. Just ask my teacher, honey. The one thing that drives him nuts about me is how I can be messy. And I don't think he just understands that Miss Frizzle has been telling me to be messy all of these years.

Naomi Meredith [00:26:55]:

Thumbs up to my messy people out there.

Naomi Meredith [00:26:58]:

Teaching is hard. It's really hard. No matter what subject or grade you teach, it can be easy to stick with the stuff that you know and just get through the day. Do you really wanna just get through the day every day? You are here at the summit to get ideas. Whether you are watching this live or you are watching back the recordings, you want to get some ideas to try something new. So actually do it. Instead of closing your notebook full of ideas and never opening them again, use this as a jumping off point to feel energized for the rest of this school year and also the new school year coming up. And don't take it from me. Miss Priscilla said it best. Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy. Thank you so much again for being here and listening to all the episodes so far and also for my first keynote speech. And, also, don't forget to enter my giveaway in honor of this 100th episode. So before you listen to the next one, Make sure to go and write that 5-star review on Apple Podcast. Take a screenshot before you hit submit. Post that screenshot and then Instagram stories and tag me at Naomi Meredith_. Or if you don't have Instagram, you can send me an email at contact Naomi Meredith@gmail.com. Thank you again for being here, and I will talk to you all soon.

a lesson from ms. frizzle

 

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More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a former classroom teacher turned current K-5 STEM teacher and coach. Her role not only includes teaching over 500 students in her school, but also leading professional development and co-teaching with teachers to help them integrate STEM & Technology.

With over a decade of experience along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM certificate, she helps teachers navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM & Technology in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

Are you tired of scrolling online for your next great STEM lesson? Do you feel like there is no time to plan, research and test meaningful STEM lessons, so you throw together a hands-on activity and hope that it works? What systems and routines should you set in place to help students be creative, critically think, and collaborate? 

The Elementary STEM Coach is a podcast for K-5 STEM teachers, classroom teachers, GT specialists, and homeschool parents looking for actionable STEM solutions. Each week, Naomi Meredith will share tools, resources and lesson ideas that are actionable in your classroom and create highly engaging experiences with your students. You’ll learn systems and routines that will create control in the chaos and that will keep you organized all year long. 

Your mindless scrolling days are over! Your new STEM-best friend is now here in your ear buds!