Your Questions About Elementary Makerspace Answered [ep.177]

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Episode Summary

In this episode, I dive into my Instagram DMs to answer some of the most common questions you’ve asked me about Makerspace. Whether you're an experienced STEM teacher or just getting started, I’m sharing tips on everything from managing materials to encouraging student collaboration. I’ll walk you through how I handle group projects, how students can “buy” supplies using a Makerspace menu, and creative ways to decide who gets to take projects home.

Resources Mentioned:

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Episode Transcript:

Today's episode is a fun one. I went back through my Instagram DMs at Naomi Meredith underscore and pulled out all of your questions about Makerspace. A little feature is that you can use the search bar in the message and I just typed in Makerspace and pulled up those conversations that I have had with some of you.

I'm not going to mention your names, but listen carefully because maybe it's the question that you have asked me or maybe it is a question that you were hoping to ask me and you were so happy somebody else did because I am going to answer them in today's episode. If you want more about Makerspace, I actually have put together a whole playlist that are all of the Makerspace episodes that I have up until this date. You can grab the playlist in the show notes for this episode or you can get all of my playlists for absolutely free.

You can grab this at NaomiMeredith.com slash podcast playlist. I'm going to be reading these questions in no particular order. It was just how I pulled them and put them in my Google Doc for this episode, so let's get into it.

When the kids design and make something, do you have any suggestions on who gets to take the creation home or do you have them all make it? I have 22 to 25 students in my classes, so I've been having them work in pairs to save on materials. Yes, I almost always have kids work in pairs or groups of two or three. Four can be a lot, so then I'll just do two and two, but almost always I have kids work in groups when they are creating a Makerspace project.

There are a few reasons for this, one being the materials. If every single kid is creating their own project, you're going to run out of materials really, really, really quickly and they don't need to be creating their own. Side note for my new after-school programs that I am hosting at various schools I'm traveling around, the kids are actually creating their own projects, but they're paying for the after-school club and part of the cost of the club is material, so that is a whole different thing.

But in a classroom setting, the goal is to have kids collaborate, work together, and problem solve, so I almost always have them work in groups. Sometimes at the beginning of the year with the little kids, I will have them create their own only because those projects are really short, they can be done in one day, they aren't a lot of materials, like maybe it's one piece of cardboard. Super easy for me to get more cardboard.

Have you seen my garage of flattened Amazon boxes? So sometimes I will actually have the little, little kids create their own because they're just going to take it home that day, but for the most part they do create their own project. Now, managing materials, I have them typically used by makerspace menu, so almost every single item they have access to has a price, they have a budget they have to work with, I have actual Monopoly play money, they have to pay for their supplies, and this really helps them think about what are they using in their project, are they using too much? Well, they can't because they have to buy it, so that helps a ton with the actual projects. Also, think about the size, I talk about this a lot, their projects are usually really small, they can fit in a gallon Ziploc bag, who says their projects have to be huge? They don't, they take longer to build, so I make sure their projects are smaller.

When it comes to taking their projects home, I love, love, love using Seesaw K-5. Now, I like Seesaw in particular, again, not sponsored, I've used it forever since I've taught as a classroom teacher, but I love Seesaw because the kids can take videos and pictures of their work and explain what is happening, and they can take multiple of these, and this is really good for parents to see. Some, if not most kids are okay with just the photo or video of their work, so they don't really feel like they need to take it home.

Some kids are cool with, hey, you just take the project home, no big deal. Some kids are in a partnership with someone they live next door, so they make a deal, I have the project for one week, you get it the next week, and if it is a whole big issue, then we do rock, paper, scissors, and that's just the way it goes. Here and there, you actually might have groups who nobody wants to take at home, so what I tell those groups is, okay, if you don't want to take it home, deconstruct your project, anything that can be reused, go put it away.

Some of the projects you can't take home. There are some projects I do with water, it's soggy, you can't take it home, and that solves a lot of problems. So that, yes, all of these people, by the way, that messaged me, I did answer them, but these are the longer responses that you get to hear my beautiful voice.

Also, it's on YouTube, so if you want to hear and see me talk about it, go and check it out. Hey, Naomi, I was a primary and elementary art teacher for the last two years, and I was asked to take up the responsibility of the STEAM and maker space. It was definitely challenging at the same time, exciting to head into unknown space.

The words that you mentioned, that you were the only one in the school who was zero clue what the curriculum resonated with me. Your content and podcasts have been a glue to make my resolve of giving my best at this role. I have all the K-5 STEM year-long plan bundle, and the things I need to start are the maker space bundle.

I was wondering if I needed anything else besides these. Well, thank you so much for your kind words. That is very, very nice.

Yes, I was the only STEM teacher in my building, so I taught third grade for six years. Then I walked into a new-to-me district, new-to-me position, new-to-me school with zero curriculum, and a pat on the back, good luck, which I'm cool with that, but it's a lot. It's a lot on your own, so I did develop my whole curriculum K-5, still developing and teaching curriculum.

I'm actually working on a lot of maker space. I'm going to talk about that in a second, but I am so glad that everything has been really helpful, so thank you so much. That's so nice of you.

I do have a maker space bundle, so the K-5 STEM year-long plan are the lessons that I taught with students K-5, and they are very much project-based learning lessons. Many are maker space lessons, but not all of them are. The maker space bundle specifically has some other just one-off maker space lessons that you can do with any kids at any time.

It also includes the maker space menu that I just talked about. It's editable, so it has all the items, the prices I suggest, and the method behind the madness. I also have my maker space label, so everything can match.

They have words and pictures, different colors that can match your classroom, easy to read. I'm editing and creating actually other sizes to that, so that's really helpful as well. There are also some other helpful posters in there, like a hot glue gun poster, which some of you, and I know Kelly Hogan does this in Mathematically Enthused, actually frames the posters and put it at their station.

So the maker space bundle, again, has those getting started lessons and some other materials that will help you create that climate and culture in your classroom, but really complement the lessons in the K-5 STEM year-long plan. So curious, when you have a sub, do you alter your lessons, or do students still have full access to your supplies and materials? I said typically no. For the most part, when I have a sub, I almost always know I'm going to be gone, so I will plan ahead with a project where maybe they will finish a project before a sub comes in, or let's say it's midweek.

Now, I was very spoiled with my schedule. I had kids five days in a row, so I would maybe have the kids work two days, they have the sub, do some random project, and then they would get into the maker space project. I didn't want to burden the sub and teach them, here's how to do maker space money and manage everything and hot glue guns and tape and all of that.

No. So typically no, I didn't actually do those types of projects. I would just do a one-off type of project.

Now, if it's a digital project they're already working on, let's say 3D printing, usually I'm okay with the class working on that when I'm not there. Robots? Not so much. Hour of code? Sure.

With K-2, I almost always would leave a book and a small building challenge where these are the blocks you can build with and they have to be cleaned up and put away at the end. When in doubt, Lego bricks are always a great option. I actually would write that exact sentence on my sub plans.

So the short answer, no. Now, funny enough you asked about sub plans. I think I mentioned this in another episode, but I am actually going to be long-term subbing for one of my STEM teacher friends in the district I taught in.

So from mid-October to mid-February, I'm going to be teaching K-5 STEM at the school I did Lego Club at. I will actually be teaching my own curriculum and also coming up with new things. So I'm excited to talk about that experience with you, what it's actually like being the STEM sub.

We collaborated me and that teacher. I'm like, hey, don't worry about it. That's a lot of lessons.

What do you want to teach? I'll teach whatever. I'll choose cool with that. So that's going to be really fun to report out on and also give you some tips and tricks for when you are writing sub plans.

I do have an episode about sub plans, but what is it like being the sub? Okay. And the last question, do you have recommendations for doing STEAM on a cart? I will be doing K-5. So I'm assuming this teacher has started the cart already.

Some teachers actually taught STEM on a cart during COVID or some people that's just the method they have because of space, or maybe you're in a couple of different schools. I did see a really cool cart at Ikea that actually they modeled it as an art cart, but I'm also teaching STEM on a cart. So I have after school programs that have partnered with some schools in my community where I am actually teaching one day makerspace challenges and bringing everything in, in a cart.

So what I would say to get started, because I can do, I will do a full episode on this and this person, I even said that, but to really get started, I would organize all of your supplies where it's easy to grab and go. So I actually just redesigned my home office where all of my cardboard is in a bucket with a lid. All of the buckets are the exact same and they can be stacked and be ready to go.

Now, if you're going into kids' classrooms, they probably have their own marker, scissors, glue, glue sticks, crayons. So you don't have to worry about that. Actually during COVID, I had kids bring in their pencil boxes.

It was actually really nice because I didn't run out of anything. What I like to do is I use those photo boxes that are colorful and rainbow, and I will actually put supplies in there. So I have all my crayons in multiple buckets, glue sticks.

A lot of them can fit in these little containers, by the way, glue sticks, rubber bands, those types of things. I put those in that little carrying case, and then I will take out the materials that I want them to use and put them in caddies. And I have some heavy duty caddies I bought off of Amazon that I can set in different table groups of very specific materials I want them to use.

And then the buckets with those materials I brought in, I will actually limit how much they can use of each one. So maybe I'll use the Make Up My Space money depending, but if it's a one day challenge, which a lot of you going into classrooms it is, I just put on a sticky note with a number, like you can have three pieces of cardboard, have three dots on it, and they can grab as needed. Hopefully those of you who are teaching mobily, you have some sort of home base.

Like if not, if you can't do any of that, like nothing, then I would even ask the teachers classrooms you're going to be in, hey, can I come in before school, plug in these robots, make sure they're charged, maybe put a basket on them so they're not distracting, so that they're already there when you get to the classroom. So you might have to think ahead where things are stored or set things in locations around the school. So like for that day, you know, oh, these materials are there.

So those would be my biggest tips for Mobile's Gen. I hope it was really helpful hearing the answers to some of the questions that you have asked me. If you like this type of episode, let me know, because you guys ask me a lot, I answer you, but it's kind of nice to hear it all at once in one full episode.

And again, maybe you have the same questions as well. Anything you're interested in, all things Makerspace, two things, you can check out that bundle I have in my TPT shop. It's a whole Makerspace bundle with the tools for you to get started.

And my Makerspace podcast playlist, where I've organized all the episodes that I've ever recorded about Makerspace, all condensed in one playlist, so you don't have to search for them. You can grab that playlist and more in the show notes for this episode, or grab it at NaomiMeredith.com slash podcast playlist. Thank you so much.

And I'll see you in the next episode.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Check out this playlist on Spotify I put together with all the episodes related to Makerspace

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

Check out more inspiration on her website: naomimeredith.com
Connect with her on Instagram: @naomimeredith_
Watch this episode on her YouTube Channel: Naomi Meredith
Join the Facebook Group, The Elementary STEM Coach Community | Technology & STEM for K-6 Teachers

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is an online K-5 STEM Coach in Colorado supporting elementary teachers world-wide navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there. With over a decade of experience teaching, 5 years teaching elementary STEM, along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM Certificate, Naomi helps teachers world-wide to navigate best practices, strategies and tools out there.

She offers a variety of tools to help teachers feel successful teaching STEM to their elementary students through lesson plans, online courses, coaching and speaking events.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM, innovation and hands-on learning 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!

How The Bug Chicks Make STEM Fun and Fearless with Entomologists Kristie Reddick & Jessica Honaker [ep.176]

by Naomi Meredith

How The Bug Chicks Make STEM Fun and Fearless with Entomologists Kristie Reddick & Jessica Honaker [ep.176]

Check out the full episode about how to make STEM fun:

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.Have a STEM question? Leave a voice message for the podcast!

Watch the video episode here!

Episode Summary

I’m sitting down with two incredible women in STEM, Kristie Reddick and Jessica Honaker—also known as The Bug Chicks! These two amazing entomologists have a passion for bugs and an even bigger passion for teaching kids and educators how to use insects as a powerful learning tool.

Kristie and Jessica share their fascinating journey from grad school to building a career that inspires others to see the beauty and importance of bugs in our world. We chat about everything from conquering fears to making STEM more approachable through hands-on experiences. Whether it’s using bugs to teach social-emotional skills or simply sparking curiosity, The Bug Chicks have so much wisdom to share.

Meet Kristie Reddick & Jessica Honaker, The Bug Chicks:

Kristie Reddick and Jessica Honaker are The Bug Chicks – entomologists, educators and scicomm professionals who work at the intersection of STEM and social-emotional learning. They teach about the incredible world of arthropods and specialize in using these incredible animals as a vehicle to help people foster empathy for themselves, others and the natural world. They are the creators and developers of the DIFFERENT: STEM + SEL curriculum, an award-winning, evidence-based program aimed at creating a positive mindset shift in students. They received their Master’s degrees from Texas A&M University. Kristie’s research focused on the biodiversity and biology of solifugae arachnids and Jessica’s work focused on the effects of black margined aphids in agroecosystems.

Connect with The Bug Chicks:

Website
Twitter
Instagram
Facebook
Email: hello@thebugchicks.com

Episode Transcript:

Today, I have a special treat for you and I am so excited for you to hear from today's guests. Today, I am chatting with Kristie Reddick and Jessica Honaker, who are also known as the Bug Chicks. If you haven't heard of these wonderful, amazing women in STEM, then head on over to my kid podcast, The STEM Career Quest, and they are in episode two of season one, where they tell kids all about being entomologists, their journey into their career, and all the amazing cool things that they get to do when exploring with bugs.

But they don't just play with bugs all day. You are going to be hearing from Jessica and Chrissy, where they explain how bugs and insects are a teaching tool, but it is so much more than that. We can literally talk for hours.

We always talk a lot before we hit record and after we hit record. They are just so much fun. I told them if they are nearby where I live in Colorado, I would love to go see them in person.

But they are doing so many amazing things in the science education space, where they are influencing those positive mindsets and experiences for both students and for teachers. There are so many amazing takeaways in this episode. Their philosophy and education and what science can be definitely aligns with what I believe in as an educator.

I am so excited for you to hear it from them, the bug chicks, Chrissy and Jessica. You are definitely going to love this episode.

00:00:07.480 –> 00:00:32.179

Naomi Meredith: Well, thank you so much for coming back onto the elementary stem coach podcast this time I had both of you as guests on my stem career, quest, podcast and you are our inaugural episode. So that is really, really fun episode, episode, 2, episode, one is about the podcast but if you guys haven't listened to it, it's really really fun episode. But today we're actually talking to you

00:00:32.180 –> 00:00:42.359

Naomi Meredith: teachers on the other side of things. So if you both wouldn't mind introducing yourselves in a briefly what you are all about.

00:00:43.240 –> 00:01:05.400

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Yeah, for sure. My name is Christy Redick. I am one of the bug chicks. Jessica and I are entomologists. We got our master's degrees in entomology from Texas, A and M. University. And we started working together in grad school and we we knew that science, education and using our

00:01:05.400 –> 00:01:21.100

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: using our. How do I say this, using our friendship, like our friendship, got really really strong and solid when we were in grad school? Because I brought Jessica with me to Kenya for part of my research, and we like filmed, and we like lived in a tent for 6 months. It was a big. It was a big deal. And we became besties.

00:01:21.100 –> 00:01:32.910

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: And we thought, Let's work together. And let's teach and make videos and inspire kids to get into science, and also inspire people to feel capable.

00:01:33.000 –> 00:01:45.759

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: I think, feeling capable in learning and feeling capable, especially in the sciences, is super important and and we use bugs to do that. So we use bugs to help people get over their fears and to help people feel capable.

00:01:47.120 –> 00:02:12.610

Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: And my name is Jessica Honaker. I'm the other bug chick and, like Christy mentioned, we met in grad school. And we do both have research backgrounds, and and I. And I do wanna add, I think, that I think that one of the ways that we're really able to connect with teachers and with students about bugs is that Christy used to be super afraid of spiders. I used to be kind of like apathetic toward them.

00:02:12.933 –> 00:02:33.300

Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: And we both kind of came to this realization that, you know, like arthropods and insects and spiders, and like, they're all super important. And everybody feels really strongly about them one way or the other. And so it's a really good connection point for us. In teaching being able to like, bring the science and the emotion in

00:02:33.670 –> 00:02:35.049

Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: to to our work.

00:02:35.230 –> 00:03:03.629

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Yeah, we work at the cross section of stem and social emotional learning. So there's so much emotion when you're trying to feel capable when you are feeling afraid of the subject, when you are feeling afraid of bugs or afraid of your own potential. And so it all blends together really, really, beautifully. And it's and because we're so enthusiastic about bugs it, we sort of sort of talk about it like we're erosion. You know, we just

00:03:04.530 –> 00:03:17.310

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: we're just gonna wear you down. And then, underneath all of our sort of fortresses that we build up, I think there's some real wonder and some joy for the natural world, and bugs can really bring that out of people.

00:03:17.640 –> 00:03:26.269

Naomi Meredith: Absolutely, and I know not every single subject in science classes are all insects, but there are

00:03:26.270 –> 00:03:56.249

Naomi Meredith: units. KI know, and I know off the top of my head. K, through 5. Everybody has some sort of environmental science or learning about life cycles or those types of things. So there are definitely connections when it comes to bugs. And you talked about this just a little bit. But why do you think learning about entomology is important for kids, and I know you're so passionate about it. But why do you think so? Because you do teach kids in schools in person. So what have you seen and noticed.

00:03:56.920 –> 00:04:25.509

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Well, you cannot move through this world as a human being without interacting with arthropods. This is the great thing about them, like there is not one human on the planet who has not had an interaction with an arthropod. And so it's 1 of those things, kind of like food or music that brings us together as humans, even though, like at that point, I don't even care if people are afraid, or if they're interested, it is a connection point. The other thing is that

00:04:25.800 –> 00:04:30.230

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: arthropods. And let's just say insects, for right now they really do

00:04:30.360 –> 00:04:33.519

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: create and drive the world forward.

00:04:33.890 –> 00:04:58.100

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: They. They create the healthy soils that grow our food, they pollinate, they decompose. They are, you know, even the predator systems are so vitally important, and they provide a food source for all of these other animals that people so easily profess that they love. And so I just think that insects are vitally important to not just

00:04:58.100 –> 00:05:17.520

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: the ecosystems that we walk around in, but also they have shaped human culture and human design and human inspiration. Since the since the dawn of human civilization. So I just think we don't recognize them. But they are ever present and very, very important.

00:05:18.800 –> 00:05:37.739

Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Yeah, they do. They do thankless work for us so that we can. We can exist on this planet. And there's a really great quote, that goes something along the lines of if humans were to disappear, the earth would flourish. But if Arthur but if insects were to disappear like we would be toast. That's.

00:05:37.740 –> 00:05:39.889

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: I don't think toasts are in for that quote.

00:05:40.340 –> 00:05:43.280

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: I know that EO. Wilson said toast.

00:05:44.753 –> 00:05:46.769

Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: But that's the, you know.

00:05:46.770 –> 00:05:47.559

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: The gist.

00:05:47.560 –> 00:05:48.870

Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: General gist.

00:05:48.870 –> 00:05:49.350

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Really, like.

00:05:49.771 –> 00:05:54.410

Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Super dark this early in the day, but, like, you know.

00:05:54.720 –> 00:05:57.900

Naomi Meredith: Makes makes you think, yeah, the big.

00:05:57.900 –> 00:06:01.279

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: They're very, very important. Yeah, they're very, very important.

00:06:01.902 –> 00:06:21.569

Naomi Meredith: So you mentioned if kids are scared like you're like, it's fine, you can get over it. And you've even seen this with kids. I remember. One of the stories you told on the stem career quest podcast is when you had, like older upper elementary, you had the tarantula. Oh, what was her name? Was it Beyonce?

00:06:21.570 –> 00:06:22.630

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Fiance. Her name's.

00:06:22.630 –> 00:06:24.539

Naomi Meredith: Beyonce who jumped. But I won't.

00:06:24.540 –> 00:06:24.900

Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Him, and.

00:06:24.900 –> 00:06:25.750

Naomi Meredith: I.

00:06:26.600 –> 00:06:27.380

Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Was cooking months.

00:06:27.380 –> 00:06:27.700

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: So.

00:06:27.700 –> 00:06:30.349

Naomi Meredith: Oh, cookie monster! The blue one.

00:06:30.350 –> 00:06:31.410

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: The blue one.

00:06:31.410 –> 00:06:36.880

Naomi Meredith: Angela, and then she jumped and but the kids were really brave, and everything so.

00:06:36.880 –> 00:06:37.270

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Yeah.

00:06:37.610 –> 00:06:58.359

Naomi Meredith: Like. That's just one experience. But what are some ways that you all get kids excited about bugs in science like? What does it look like when you're with kids or when you're with it might be different when when you're with the school group and when you're presenting, what does that look like when you're in those spaces?

00:06:58.730 –> 00:07:12.210

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: I think, 1st and foremost, when you're you know, when we come in and we have our arthropod zoo with us, they are all behind us in cages which is important. This is something that like to us. It's like fairly obvious that they're in cages. But

00:07:12.430 –> 00:07:21.029

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: when you're confronted with something that might be scary. All sorts of scenarios play through your mind. And so we get lots of questions like, Are they just roaming around like, where are they? What's happening?

00:07:21.030 –> 00:07:21.350

Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Yeah.

00:07:21.570 –> 00:07:35.939

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: So one of the things that we love to do is we'd love to set up the space for success. We put them behind us, and we cover them with a tablecloth, because basically, we need to set up some ground rules and some safety and some listening

00:07:36.160 –> 00:08:01.360

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: and we don't need distraction of things behind us. That's just sort of like a teaching classroom culture kind of thing. And the 1st thing that we do is we ask questions about how do you feel about bugs? And we do not censor. We do like. If you don't like them. I want to hear it. Use your words I want to use the I want to hear the words that you use. If it's creepy, if it's gross, if it's this, if it's that, say it give it to us. You're not going to hurt our feelings.

00:08:01.740 –> 00:08:05.280

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: and that's powerful because people want to be

00:08:05.290 –> 00:08:08.289

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: heard and how they feel about things, because and.

00:08:08.290 –> 00:08:09.120

Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Respected.

00:08:09.120 –> 00:08:18.009

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Exactly. Yeah, like, we're not. We're not here to turn people into entomologists. What we do is we use bugs to ignite

00:08:18.040 –> 00:08:19.830

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: that passion for learning.

00:08:20.220 –> 00:08:22.089

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: And and

00:08:22.990 –> 00:08:30.030

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: a and like. I don't know if I don't know if you've experienced this in a classroom. I think we all have as teachers or educators

00:08:30.170 –> 00:08:31.550

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: that sometimes

00:08:31.780 –> 00:08:56.700

Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: sometimes students or students or audience members can just be sort of like a little dull and zombified. And my goal is, I want everyone to know what it feels like to feel capable number One and number 2 awake, alive and alert. So if I can get students to feel awake, alive and alert about something, and if we got live bugs they're awake, alive and alert. They don't know what's gonna happen.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: So that's 1 thing, and then the next thing is proper boundaries, and making sure that they know that we are not here to scare them, we are not here to do jump scares. We're not this. We're not these people on the Internet who grab animals and force them to sting us. We're not into that at all. That's the opposite of how we do.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Hmm.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Teach about wonder. We teach about curiosity. We teach about observation. We're not going to force you to touch anything. We're not gonna force you to pet anything, hold anything. We are going to ask that you look. And we do a lot of

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: word switching for students.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: So

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: So if they say creepy, we go great

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: for the next hour. Can you try to shift the word creepy to interesting?

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Can you shift the word Ew. To cool? Just put a K and an L on the end of that fine. And because our words really do inform how we feel about things

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: and and those are some. Those are some of the techniques that we utilize right off the bat.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Yeah. And

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: you know, as we as we go through our program, you know, there can be like, you know, we'll bring out. We'll bring out like one of our Beatles.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: and people will be like, you know, because because they're they don't know quite what to expect. Once the beetle is then out right. And so, being able to talk about like, you know, this is why, you know, it's moving like this. This is why it looks like this. Here's why it has this behavior. Like one of our death feigning beetles. If you mess with it, it'll lay on its back with its legs up in the air. And it plays dead. And we're like, here's why it does that.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: And then, once it feels comfortable it'll roll back over, you know, and walk around, and

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: and if they don't know that, that's why they roll over, they they can be kind of like startled by that sudden swap to where they're then up and mobile on their hands, and and so just by it, like

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: we don't dumb down the science.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: and so explaining the behaviors explaining the morphology helps. Students know what to expect. And, like, Christy was saying, you know, we build, we build that kind of structure, and we add the science into that structure, and students, no matter how old they are, really thrive with that, because they kind of know what to expect. And you build trust as you move along. Yeah.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Building trust is huge, and also allowing yourself to be vulnerable as an educator is huge.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: I will share that. I used to be afraid of spiders

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: when I was young, I mean like like cry for my dad.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: tears hot tears in my ear, holes laying frozen, you know, and it and there, there's a camaraderie there, there's an under.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Understand.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: That it's not just like I woke up as a kid and was like yay bugs. I was pretty anti bugs, and

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: that by learning about them. I changed fear to fascination. That's something we've been saying for years and years and years. And so

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: we model that strategy of

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: it's okay to be afraid, and you can't be brave without being afraid. And

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: we're here with you the whole time. It's not like we're gonna

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: pop a cockroach in your hands and go get a latte, though that sounds wonderful.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: and also we keep it light like.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: One of my favorite things to do in a workshop, because we teach so many of these workshops is my goal is to make Jessica laugh in a workshop.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: If I if Jessica's laughing in a workshop, we're having a great time.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: because

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: it means that all of us together are in a really joyful experience.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: and.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Sorry you're like. Also, she's really funny. And so sometimes it's really hard.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Well, the kids are funny. I mean the you know this as an you know this as a teacher, like sometimes kids will say things that Jessica and I have to.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: We have to just.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: To stop. You have to.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: And you can. I can feel myself like

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: camping it down like, especially if it's like slightly inappropriate. You gotta. And I'll like, take it, and I'll like I'll I'll hide it right back here, and the minute we get into the parking lot with the doors closed we're like, Oh, no!

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: And it's joyful. And I think

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: you know what this reminds me of, too, Jess, is that

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: kids are people. Kids are human beings.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: This is my.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Sometimes

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: if you don't work with kids a lot, especially if you don't work with like large groups of kids, if you only maybe have your own kids, or or you're only used to. You know your nieces or nephews, or whatever.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: It can be.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: You can forget that they're human beings.

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Naomi Meredith: Hmm.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: And you can tell when people don't

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: like you, and kids can tell when you don't want to be there or when you're not into it. And I think because Jessica, like kids, can tell

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: that we love teaching. Now.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: And the way and what Jessica said about not dumbing it down. I'm really explicit with the way that I speak with with children, and by explicit, I mean, clear right? Yes.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: I mean.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: I'll say things like, can you tell that we like teaching you? Great? We're not gonna do anything that's gonna hurt you also, this is our job. Would we get hired again if word got out that we did, and like, you know.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: You say the word liability.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: And I say, can you say the word liability?

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Naomi Meredith: Adults. They're adults.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Laugh. And it's like, and it's like really funny. And

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: but the but they can tell that we genuinely enjoy our work and our time with them, even if they're being chaos and rowdy.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: I love chaos and rare.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: and especially if the chaos and rowdy is about the thing you're bringing out. If you bring out an animal, and they're like Whoa!

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Have Jack.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: And I were teaching Jess and I were teaching in Philly.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Was it Philly Jess, or was it New York City?

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: We were in the Bronx. I think.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: In the Bronx just over teaching in the Bronx. It's 1 of our favorite teaching experiences we've ever had hundreds of kids in a dark gymnasium.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: They'll.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Patrick.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Very sorry.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Very impacted in Pre covid times.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: week over time. Hundreds of kids in a squeak, you know, like sneakers on squeaky gymnasium floors like like a like a like a chaos.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: So dark.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: It was so dark I don't know what's happening. So we it was like winter. It was like dark.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: And so we're showing slides, and we're showing pictures. And we're doing classification of arthropods. And we're talking about the difference between centipedes and millipedes. And we put up a picture of a centipede

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: and the whole place exploded. These kids have never seen this centipede.

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Naomi Meredith: Yeah.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Seen a desert, sunny.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: What like you could feel the floor vibrating.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: I mean.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: And and.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Like the projector screen was doing. Things were bouncing. It was this explosion. You know what

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: every single student in that room was reacting.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: To that they were in it. They were awake, alive and alert, and the teachers who were there were very upset about them being

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: disrespectful. Yeah. And to us

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: I'll I'll let people like I'll let the chaos to me. It's like the one of those toys. I don't know if you know those toys that extend. It's a big ball sphere, and it like extends out. And then it comes back together. It's like this like puzzle piece circle to me. That is the energy in a room, and I think it's because I have a degree in theater like my 1st degrees in theater. And so to me.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: My job is to be the conductor is to orchestrate the energy in a room, and and if I'm doing my job right, I let it go to a crescendo, and then I can bring it back. And then we focus. And Jessica and I are quite good at that, and I think

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: because we allow for

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: raucous joy in learning.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: That can be sometimes uncomfortable for principals and teachers who are joining us in our work.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: If you just let us. I almost said, Let us cook like I'm a Gen. Z. I'm not. I don't know what's happening to me right now.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: This is how you know we teach so

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: like, if you just if if you just let us do that like.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: that's that's the good stuff I mean.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Maximum.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Stuff, you know.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Yeah. And that's some of the stuff that helps us build that rapport right? That allows us to make the connections with the students. Because we've taught students like, we taught some students 10 years ago that still email us.

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Naomi Meredith: Oh!

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: You know, and they still, like, you know, pop onto our Facebook page, or whatever, and make comments. And you know.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Hey? You came to my class, you know. Hey? Do you remember? We just went to a Girl Scout Camp in Portland. We used to live in in the West Coast.

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Naomi Meredith: Oh, it's just in Portland. It's beautiful!

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: It's lovely! It's lovely we were. We lived there for like 10 years and

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: and we would teach all these Girl Scout Camps or Girl Scout troops, and there was a girl at this Girl Scout Camp. We were doing a leadership summit for the older girls, 123 older girls outside midsummer 90 degrees

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Sure they.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: After.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Yeah.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Full day of camp. It was like it was intense.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: and this girl piped up and said, you taught me

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: when I was a Brownie. She was now like a junior in high school, and brownies are like.

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Naomi Meredith: The little ones.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: And so

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: they they and I used to be so afraid of bugs. And today I helped the brownies hold the bugs. And so it's like, it's that kind of stuff that.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: And teachers understand what we're talking about because you teach a student and they they come. You were my favorite teacher, you, you know.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: That.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Connection, and even though we drop in only for an hour, or maybe for a day, or maybe for a week, at a school.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: our job is to have that much of an impact in such a short time. That's our job. And it. And the impact needs to be positive.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Because a teacher can make or break.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: how?

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: How people move through the world.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Yeah.

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Naomi Meredith: And you're definitely role models than a couple of ways which like definitely to the kids like you're modeling like you're using insects as an avenue. But you're really modeling like how science

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Naomi Meredith: can be exciting. And this is what we do. This is a possibility. And especially being women in stem. That's such an exciting thing for kids to see. All kids to see that like, there's different possibilities. But also for the teachers. And this kind of goes into the next thing where you're saying, hey, we want you awake alive, alert, like. That's something

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Naomi Meredith: really great for teachers to see that science can be something else. I really connect with, like the way that you're teaching, because I would co-teach in classrooms a lot were science based.

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Naomi Meredith: And it I would call like controlled chaos, like, I know exactly what's going on. It's everything's fine like, and I'm not just saying that sarcastically. Everything's the kids are into it. But it was way louder than what the teachers would expect. And the classroom teacher thought.

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Naomi Meredith: This is wrong. This is not how science should be. I'm like, Oh, no, like we're we were doing rocks and minerals. I remember one, and they were going through all the tests like to see what their rocker mineral was, and so they had to make the observations and the color test the scratch test. And it was loud. The kids are excited. They're talking about. And the teacher didn't know

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Naomi Meredith: like how to handle that. And I think that's really great. What you're doing is that teachers can see this is another way science can be and I know, too, when we were talking before we hit record. What you have seen. With teacher trainings and what science like teacher training is, I know, for me. I didn't get a lot of training in my program with even with my

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Naomi Meredith: masters, but with how to teach science in an engaging way. Could you just talk? Could you guys talk more about that like what you've seen with teacher trainings like

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Naomi Meredith: just how science has been taught.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Yeah, for sure.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Yeah.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Jess. You want to take it.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Yeah, and and I think, too, that this that this goes beyond how teachers are trained. I think this is sort of

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: how a lot of the majority of people. See, science

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: is that it's just a bunch of facts.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: and you learn the facts and the facts don't change. And you just add more facts, and you add more facts. But

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: but science is not

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: sta like it's it's static. Wait, then it's dynamic. There we go, and it like, you know, it changes, and it and it and it evolves. And you know it's a it's a process. It's it's not just one thing that just

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: stays there. And so you know, I think that students and teachers alike are taught that

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: when you learn science you memorize the facts, and you do everything by like rote process like

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: step one step, 2, step 3, and then there's no

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: venturing out beyond those steps.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: When science is really curiosity, science is asking questions about things that you see and things that you wonder about, and you know, and it doesn't always go in a linear direction.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: and.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Yeah, I'm thinking about those labs. Jess, like.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Yeah.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: When you do a lab sometimes. Yeah, sometimes it's like, Well, did you do it right to get to this? To this foregone conclusion?

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Yeah.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Did you do the Ph. Read and do the, you know, and it's like, but that's not how science works like nothing in science. When you're when you're actually doing it goes like.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: but and tie it with.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Yeah.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: And I think,

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: yeah, I think that there, I think

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: forcing people to start with observation is one of the hardest things that we do

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: and we actually have tools that help teachers with this, like, we made a little flow chart about how to classify arthropods, and we took all the leg numbers out of it.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: because people have all this stored knowledge, and if we went oh.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: go out and observe a observe a bug right.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: they'll go. Oh, it's a dragonfly! You go. Well, how do you know that it's a dragonfly, and you go? Well.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: someone told me once that that shape of thing is a dragonfly, and it's got 6 legs, and I know that 6 legs is an insect. Great! Is there any other way of knowing this like. Is there any other way of looking at this? And so we take away the leg counts, and we take away all preconceived notions, and you and it forces you to answer this sort of rubric of questions, and

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: and it is just sort of resetting our brains to sit quietly and look and wonder, and, as you observe, you have curiosity, and you go. I wonder why that is? And then that is inquiry, and from inquiry go well, how would I test.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: That is that testable. And you have to drill down to an actually testable question. And it's easier than you think. It doesn't all have to be fancy contraptions and a lot of tools and a lot of things.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: I think one of the things that

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: teachers can do to bring science process into the classroom is starting with observation.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: And and just

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: run rampant with questions. You're not going to get to answer almost any of them. But wouldn't it be

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: beautiful to see what questions come out of these amazing minds that think that haven't been taught yet to think in a specific way, because that's the great thing about kids and questions is, their questions are like.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: what you know, yeah. And that's coming from observing things. They're natural scientists. They're naturally curious. And if we can.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: if we can glom on to that. And if we can capitalize on that, then we're doing science.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: And I I think, too, that the idea that science is devoid of emotion

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: is also

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: yeah, like a hurdle to overcome, you know, because

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: people are not devoid of emotion, and people do the science, and so.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: People, created science.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Yeah. And so you know what we were talking about early about teachers, maybe feeling uncomfortable when students are getting like super excited and super loud and super into their projects like like, Keep keep that there. You want students to be really excited about the work that they're doing, because that is how they stay

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: in those programs. That is how they stay in that work is that they love it. They enjoy it. They're excited about it. And so, being able to allow for some of that emotion

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: and for it to be okay and acceptable. To have that emotion is super important.

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Naomi Meredith: Yes.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Also think the concept of

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: getting really comfortable as a teacher with saying, I don't know.

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Naomi Meredith: Hmm.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Is powerful.

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Naomi Meredith: Here.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Being able to say, I don't know.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Let's find out. I don't know. How would we find out about this? Turn it around, turn it into a challenge. And I understand also for any teachers out there who are like.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: I have curriculum to get through. I've got markers to hit. I've got start testing. I've got all the things like all the things that are happening for you absolutely.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: If you have these standards like, I'll just say Ngss standards for this right now, because they're they're pretty across the board, depending on where you are.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Those Ngss standards are.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Sometimes they can feel like they box you in.

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Naomi Meredith: Yeah.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: But honestly, if you kind of step back and definitely, if you use some of the cross cutting concepts, they really do open up lots of.

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Naomi Meredith: Awesome, great.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: And creativity for you. Yeah. And I really think beyond the life cycles and ecology and animal stuff

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: bugs fit into so many of them physics.

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Naomi Meredith: Yep.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Weather patterns. True, I mean, yeah, one of our specialties is, how do we get bugs into every subject.

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Naomi Meredith: Yeah.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: There's a way.

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Naomi Meredith: There is.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: There's a way to do it, and

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: and I know that they're engaging for students. And so

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: if that's your hook like, if you're like. Oh, I think I could get into bugs and use them in my classroom.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: They can be a great hook for almost any subject.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: I.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: and

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: and that, and and just a callback to what we were talking about earlier, about feeling capable.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: You know, one of the things that that is a tenant in our, in our business and in our work is

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: 15 min ago. If you'd want to hold something.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: And now you've watched other people hold things, and you've gotten to the point where you pet it. And then it almost always happens where a student will come up and go.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Okay, I think I'm ready. Can I hold it and go? Yeah, yeah. And you hold it. 15 min ago you didn't want to do this, and now you're doing it. This is what feeling capable feels like. This is what I mean about being explicit, especially about the social, emotional learning. What you are experiencing right now

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: is you feel capable. I want you to remember what this feels like, because I want you to feel that about reading. I want you to feel that about math.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Does math and science go hand in hand? I want you to feel it about public speaking, about meeting new people like all the things that people get kind of bound up about

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: being able to identify that that feeling of feeling capable is super important.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: And when we can tie it to learning, and we can tie it to a classroom culture.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: it becomes a very powerful thing.

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Naomi Meredith: I love that. I know everybody is so like. Oh, I need you in my classroom. Please come. They're like.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: We do.

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Naomi Meredith: So for this, like, there's so many amazing takeaways. Like, I was writing down notes like, there are a million things. So I, just you guys go back and even listen to this again, because there's so many things that you can implement into your own space. And then you can also have the bug ticks

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Naomi Meredith: come to you. But like see them in action. But again, just having them as the role model and just seeing a different way to approach science. Maybe it's been a little bit stagnant for you. When I teach some I use science as my base. So when you said Ngss. I agree with how they O, open up projects. I made on my whole curriculum K through 5

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Naomi Meredith: using the Ngss because there are so many different possibilities. And just, they're actually a really good way to kind of guide

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Naomi Meredith: what you can do like as a base. But it does open up like ways to look at the world. I really don't think they box you into too too much. You just have to

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Naomi Meredith: approach it in a different avenue.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Puzzle piece. Take a little of this, take a little.

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Naomi Meredith: Yeah.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Glomi together.

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Naomi Meredith: Yes, but if teachers like, I want more bug checks, I need them in my school. What kind of programs do you guys offer, and where can they find you.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Hmm, so they can find us at our website. The bugchicks.com.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Or on social media, you can.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: DM, us, on social media. We're at the bug chicks just about everywhere.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Put in a Google search, and you'll find us.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Yup and so for schools, one of the things we're doing a lot of is right now. We're based in Cincinnati, Ohio. So we're we're within driving distance of a lot of places.

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Naomi Meredith: Yeah, you are.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: How central we are. Districts will ask us to come, and we'll come. Do full assembly programs for schools. And we have microscopes and live animals. And it's very interactive. And and it's incredible. And so much fun.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: K. Through 12 options for that.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Yeah, we have a couple of different programs. So we can do career connections for older students. We can do

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: we can. We can do like straight biology of bugs. And we can also do. We have a really beautiful one for K. 5, called Songs of Science.

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Naomi Meredith: Huh!

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: And it's about how insects communicate with each other, and we recreate a forest at night, using noisemakers with students, and of Katie dids calling to each other and chirps, and it's so awesome. But we also put the animals underneath the microscope, and you could see how they make the noise.

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Naomi Meredith: Oh!

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: It's so cool it's so cool.

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Naomi Meredith: Oh!

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: So we have those. And then we also come in for smaller programs where it's like, maybe just your classroom. And that's where we hold and pat and touch and do a lot more of the sort of interactive.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: With.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: The individual students. But we can also build a program that works for you. So we're going out to Seattle to teach a program we are going to long the Hamptons, like the east of Long Island to teach a full week.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Where else are we going? We might be going to Alaska to teach a full week.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Oh, wow! No!

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: These are things, are.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: It's in the air.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: And and so

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: so yes, we are available. And this is something that we do all the time. And it's a joy for us, and it's also our life and our living. And we love to do it. So yeah.

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Naomi Meredith: Well, my friend, just accepted a science position. I was just Googled. How far in Missouri from Ohio? Only 8 and a half hours. So I'm gonna tell her.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Yeah.

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Naomi Meredith: She works at a nature school now, which is so cool. So I'm gonna make.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: You're listening to this episode.

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Naomi Meredith: And.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Yeah, we usually combine it with.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: you know, if you combine it with a couple of schools, or you combine it with the district, it makes it makes the whole thing more cost effective. And we can stay and teach. We love to teach at a whole district. And then that way. Everyone, you know, an older sibling and a younger sibling has an experience. It's a really, it's a really cool thing.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Yeah. And oftentimes we do community programs when we do those weeks.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Because not everybody goes to the school. So you know, we'll do library programs or nature.

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Naomi Meredith: Center.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Programs. Or, you know, things like that, so that we can then, sort of like, you know, reach a broader audience. So.

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Naomi Meredith: Oh, I love that you girls are killing it. I love this so much, and thank you so much for sharing your expertise and your perspective, and just you can tell and I can tell on the other show, too. But you can tell like how passionate you are. You say that. But but really the core of it, and what you're doing, it's not

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Naomi Meredith: how we teach about bugs like. There's so much more behind what you're doing which I think is really important for teachers to hear. Not every program is like that at all. And definitely what you're doing

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Naomi Meredith: totally aligns with how I think about science and stem. And I need to come see you when you're presenting, because this just sounds so amazing. So when you're near Colorado, let me know.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: Got it.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Yeah, I mean, we actually might have something in the works. We people in Colorado are always like.

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Naomi Meredith: Oh, yeah. Colorado.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Schools in Colorado that are interested. Yeah.

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Naomi Meredith: Oh, good, yeah. Well, thank you so much for your time. And I know teachers are me so excited to check out your programs and even get more bug chicks in with their kids. So thank you so much again.

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Kristie Reddick – The Bug Chicks: Thank you for the update.

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Jessica Honaker – The Bug Chicks: For having us.

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Naomi Meredith: Thank you.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Check out this playlist on Spotify I put together with all the episodes related to STEM Events & Community Engagement

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

Check out more inspiration on her website: naomimeredith.com
Connect with her on Instagram: @naomimeredith_
Watch this episode on her YouTube Channel: Naomi Meredith
Join the Facebook Group, The Elementary STEM Coach Community | Technology & STEM for K-6 Teachers

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

She offers a variety of tools to help teachers feel successful teaching STEM to their elementary students through lesson plans, online courses, coaching and speaking events.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM, innovation and hands-on learning in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

Why Every Elementary STEM Classroom Needs a STEM Affirmation Station

by Naomi Meredith

Why Every Elementary STEM Classroom Needs a STEM Affirmation Station

As educators, we know that the classroom environment plays a crucial role in student engagement and learning. But beyond posters, bulletin boards, and seating arrangements, there's one addition that can truly transform your elementary STEM classroom: a STEM Affirmation Station.

What Is a STEM Affirmation Station?

A STEM Affirmation Station is a dedicated space in your classroom where students can find positive affirmations related to their STEM learning experiences. It's a place where they can take a moment to reflect on their abilities, celebrate their achievements, and build the confidence needed to tackle challenging STEM concepts.

Imagine a corner of your room filled with colorful cards, posters, or even a digital board, all displaying encouraging messages like, “I am a problem-solver,” “I can learn from my mistakes,” or “I have the creativity to find solutions.” These affirmations can be tailored to reinforce the growth mindset, which is especially crucial in STEM subjects where students often face complex problems and need persistence to succeed.

Why It Matters

1. Promotes a Growth Mindset: STEM subjects require students to embrace challenges, experiment, and learn from failures. An affirmation station encourages a growth mindset by reminding students that making mistakes is a natural part of learning. It reinforces the idea that effort and perseverance are just as important as getting the right answer.

2. Builds Confidence: Many students struggle with self-doubt, especially when they encounter difficult concepts in math, science, technology, or engineering. A daily dose of positive reinforcement can boost their confidence, making them more willing to participate in class discussions, take risks, and engage in hands-on projects.

3. Encourages Self-Reflection: An affirmation station invites students to pause and reflect on their learning journey. This practice of self-reflection helps them recognize their strengths, set personal goals, and take ownership of their learning. It’s a simple yet powerful way to foster intrinsic motivation.

4. Enhances Classroom Culture: A STEM Affirmation Station contributes to a positive and supportive classroom culture. It helps create an environment where students feel valued, respected, and encouraged to express their ideas. This sense of community can lead to more collaboration, better communication, and a stronger sense of belonging among students.

How to Create a STEM Affirmation Station

Setting up a STEM Affirmation Station is easy and can be customized to fit your classroom's needs:

Start Small: Begin with a simple board or wall space where you can post a few affirmations each week. You can also use sticky notes, index cards, or printouts.
Get Students Involved: Invite your students to contribute their own affirmations. This can be a great way to involve them in the process and ensure the messages resonate with them.
Use Technology: If you have access to a digital board or tablets, consider creating a digital affirmation station. Students can interact with the affirmations, adding their own or selecting ones that speak to them.
Rotate Affirmations: Keep the station fresh by rotating the affirmations regularly. You can align them with current lessons, upcoming projects, or even the challenges you know your students are facing.

Conclusion

Incorporating a STEM Affirmation Station into your elementary classroom is a simple yet impactful way to support your students' emotional and academic growth. It helps cultivate a learning environment where students feel empowered to take risks, embrace challenges, and celebrate their successes. By fostering a positive mindset, you're not just teaching STEM—you’re nurturing the innovators of tomorrow.

So, why not give it a try? Your students' smiles and newfound confidence will be all the affirmation you need that it’s working.

Grab this STEM Affirmation Station for your classroom here!

Related Posts:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

Check out more inspiration on her website: naomimeredith.com
Connect with her on Instagram: @naomimeredith_
Watch this episode on her YouTube Channel: Naomi Meredith
Join the Facebook Group, The Elementary STEM Coach Community | Technology & STEM for K-6 Teachers

More About the Author, Naomi Meredith

She offers a variety of tools to help teachers feel successful teaching STEM to their elementary students through lesson plans, online courses, coaching and speaking events.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM, innovation and hands-on learning in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

3 STEM Teacher Systems You Need to Start Now [Back to School Series] [ep.174]

by Naomi Meredith

3 STEM Teacher Systems You Need to Start Now [Back to School Series] [ep.174]

Check out the full episode about STEM teacher systems:

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

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

Watch the video episode here!

Episode Summary

How can you actually get it all done and keep track of everything as a STEM teacher? I'm sharing my tried-and-true systems and hacks to help you stay on top of your busy schedule as a STEM teacher. Balancing the demands of teaching, meetings, and other responsibilities can be overwhelming, but with the right strategies, you can maximize your productivity and keep track of everything that needs to be done.

From managing emails and using Google Calendar to setting timers for yourself and your students, these simple yet effective techniques have helped me stay organized both in the classroom and in my small business. I hope you find these tips helpful and encourage you to try them out in your own routine!

Key Takeaways:

Email Management:
- Install the email app on your phone but set notifications for specific times of the day.
- Organize emails into folders for easy reference and keep your inbox clutter-free.
Google Calendar:
- Input all your class schedules, school events, and personal tasks in your Google Calendar.
- Utilize reoccurring tasks for routine activities and sync your calendar with your devices for seamless reminders.
Task Tracking:
- Use a simple notebook for daily task lists, highlighting completed tasks to visually track progress.
- Re-write unfinished tasks each day to stay on top of your to-do list.
Timer Hacks:
- Set timers on your watch for student activities and personal breaks to keep your day running smoothly.
- Use classroomscreen.com for visual timers during class activities.
Staying Productive:
- Create systems that work for you, like organizing emails, using digital calendars, and setting timers, to reduce mental load and increase efficiency.

Resources Mentioned:

Google Calendar
Classroomscreen.com
Apple Watch (I love my Rose Gold one!)

Some items are linked to my Amazon Affiliate account. When you purchase through my link, there is no added cost to you, but I receive a small commission in return.

Episode Transcript:

Welcome to the Elementary STEM Coach Podcast. I'm your host, Naomi Meredith, a former classroom teacher turned K-5 STEM teacher and coach. With over a decade of experience teaching and a master's degree in STEM leadership, I'm here to coach you throughout the year to help you gain back more time to create innovative experiences for your students.

You're teaching hundreds of kids a day. You have before school duties, after school clubs, lesson meetings, staff meetings, all the things that comes with being a teacher in general, and it is still busy being a STEM teacher. How can you keep track of it all and maximize your work time and also all of those little tasks throughout each and every day? I'm going to be sharing with you my systems and hacks that I use religiously as a teacher and also as a small business owner.

They might seem very simple, but they work very, very well, and it has helped me stay productive and keep track of all the many things that are going on each day. I hope you are liking this short episode format. They're really fun for me to record a little bit hard because I just want to talk and talk and talk, but I hope that you are getting a lot out of it.

So let me know, write a review or send me a message on Instagram. I would love to hear how you're liking this new format. The first thing that really helps me stay on top of things is the way that I manage my emails.

And this might sound counterintuitive what I'm going to explain. But hear me out. This is what I do.

I actually do have the email apps on my phone. As a classroom teacher, I actually did not because I felt like you got a lot more parent emails in that way. But when I became a STEM teacher, I actually got the app on my phone.

And what the first thing that I did was I switched my email notifications to only turn on at a certain time of the day during the week, and then turn off. So I believe I had my email turn on from six to 4pm. I still got emails outside of those times, but I wasn't notified.

And I really want to go in and check unless there's something really, really, really important I need to keep track of. Otherwise, I wouldn't get those notifications. This is also really helpful too.

Because if you're on vacation, you can just delete that email app, but then you can have to resign in and do all the things I would just go in put myself like turn off notifications completely during those longer breaks and easy as that. Like I said, you can check when you need to. I also will check my emails all day and respond all day.

And I know most people are totally against that they need to be in the moment and everything. I am a busy person on the go, I will respond to you as soon as I can. And I will move that message that goes along with my second tip into a folder.

I hardly delete messages in my email, if there's spam, sure. But I have folders for everything, everything. When I was teaching every single grade level had their own folder, every single project, every type of event, or there's a district folder, there was a school folder, I have folders for everything.

Because then everything was sorted and organized, my inbox usually has about 10 to 15 emails in there. Because those are things that I am working on projects. And then when I'm finished, I will move it into the folder.

So I know everyone has different systems, maybe they never delete anything or never move any emails. For me, that's visually crazy. And so I answer emails all throughout the day.

During that work time, I answer on my phone, if it's a longer email, I will sit down and respond. But this works very, very well, because I hardly ever, as a teacher sit down and just answer emails all day. That is not what I would do, I would answer them on the go, and then move on to the next thing.

And when I get to school, I had more time for lesson planning, which is what you really want to be doing. Next is how I use my Google Calendar. This is also something I am very obsessed about.

And it actually makes sense. Because as a kid, I was obsessed about getting a new planner every school year. And I love a good planner, I'm more into notebooks for writing checklists down for tasks.

This is another side tip, I actually use a blank notebook. For my daily tasks, I write down everything that's in my head, I need to get done. And then if I finish them, I will highlight them.

So I know what it is. But visually, I know it's finished, but I can see what I finished. And then each day, I will rewrite the tasks I didn't get done and write down any fresh ones.

So that way, I don't have a million sticky notes going on. But that's just like a little hack. I don't use a paper planner anymore, I am obsessed about my Google Calendar.

What I will do is I will sit down and type in every single schedule that I have with my students. So what is my daily schedule, my Wednesdays were always different than Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, the times would change because we had an early release day. So I would sit down, it's easier on your computer.

If you do this, by the way, I would sit down, I would put in all the times for all of my grade levels. And then you can even put in ending dates, you can delete certain dates so that you actually don't have anything going on. Again, during a break, it looks like a break, I would put in all of my schedules.

And then I also would put in the school calendar. So days off all of that, those all went in my Google Calendar, and I made sure to put it in my school account. So anything that was school related went into my school Google Calendar.

Now this goes along with the emails thing, if there was ever an event or something happening at school or a field trip, there was a time change, a class is gone, I immediately go into my Google Calendar, make the change to that date. Because even with reoccurring dates in Google Calendar, you can actually change specific things and it will ask you do you want to change all of them, or just one of them, I would go in and change it and then put that email where it needs to go. So you're like double dipping our school actually used Outlook, which I'm not a personal fan.

I know you can connect your calendars and stuff that way. But I prefer Google Calendar because I would have my school Google Calendar. And then I have my personal Google Calendar and then also my business Google Calendar.

But on your phone, that's really cool is you can actually see all of your calendars at once and go from there. So I still do the same thing and put every single thing in my Google Calendar. And that is how I keep track of everything.

Something new that I'm really obsessed with are new to me is the tasks. So I'm really bad at doing laundry. This is like something about me I'm really, really, really bad at, I don't do it, don't put it away, I don't stay on top of it.

But something with me with laundry is I can handle one load a day. And so with those things that you should be washing every so often, like the towels I wash every week, I couldn't remember when I did the towels. So I actually put in reoccurring tasks in my Google Calendar.

So they don't take over as events, they can happen anytime. If you schedule an event on that day, they don't override each other. But I actually put in reoccurring tasks in my Google Calendar.

So I know on this day, I do towels, and I can check it off. And then the task will repeat every week. So if you have that going on in your STEM classroom, there's things that you have a hard time remembering, but you know, you need to do it, the tasks are really helpful, because it's just a visual checklist.

And you can see it all in there in your calendar, especially if there's a deadline for something, and it will keep popping up, it'll move each day, if you don't go in and check it off, it will move on to your next day, like pay credit cards need to do that. So those are really, really helpful. But again, I'm very, very obsessed about my Google Calendar.

And I even figured out how to link all my Google calendars, you link it to your phone. So I have an iPhone, and it talks to my watch. So all of my events for the day pop up on my watch.

This is the same with my school schedule with kids. So then I knew exactly when things were happening. I didn't have to go to my computer, it was all right there for me.

It's either my phone is on my watch. And I it was just one less thing I had to worry about because I set that system up in place. And finally, the last system and hack that I like to use to help with my productivity as a STEM teacher is using timers.

I use timers with students and I use them for myself as a human as a teacher. As you can tell, I can forget things and there's a lot going on. And especially reading the clock and being in the moment and managing the projects and who's in the bathroom and this fight and then who's cutting somebody's hair with the scissors.

The last thing I am worrying about is checking the time on the clock. I've always want to watch teaching. But I just have a hard time just I'm just really in the moment.

That's really what it is. And so what I will do is as students, I send them off to work. So I have my mini lesson, all that I'm not worried about the time.

Because I always can get it done really, really quick. Unless there is a stern talking to my mini lessons are short, five to eight minutes, eight minutes of them teaching them a new tech tool. But when I send the kids off to work, I immediately again, I go to my watch, but I immediately my watch set a timer for when I want them to clean up.

So I, depending on the class, it's five to 10 minutes, some need 10, some need five, some need three, some are really quick. But I will set a timer for myself. So then my watch will buzz when I want them to clean up.

Depending on the class, I will actually put up a timer for the students. The timer for the students on the screen might not match what is on my watch. It might be the same, it might be different.

If it's station rotations, it wouldn't be the same because they're at their station shorter. Or sometimes I will like put a timer, you have two more minutes left. Again, it really depends on the class.

But I have the master timer on my watch. And then the one on the screen for the students is whatever I need them to be timed for what I want them to do. Are you going to do this job for five minutes, after the timer goes off, you're going to switch.

So see what I mean how their timer wouldn't match mine. That's what I mean by that. My favorite timer to use that doesn't have scary sounds is classroom screen.com. This is not sponsored, I am obsessed.

It has a little clock and timer widget you can put up. You can also put images and embed Google Slides and stuff everywhere. So you can literally have a million things on your screen.

That is for that lesson. So that is how I like to hack timers. I use timers.

This is so crazy. I depending on the class, I only had five minutes or 10 minutes in between classes. And I need to go to the bathroom or I needed to go get some water or whatever and make some copies.

My passing time would start I would set a timer on my watch. I knew I had that much time before my next class would start. I actually kept my door closed in between classes for safety issues.

But also a class couldn't just appear in my room five minutes early, I'm busy, I have things to do that was a boundary I would set, which I do have an episode about setting boundaries, which boundaries are very, very important as a teacher. But I would set timers like that I set timers for myself like this all the time. Sounds like an advertisement for Apple Watch.

It's not you can set a timer lots of different ways. But this is going to help you again, it's those little things you don't have to think about anymore, but help you stay productive. So funny enough, these are all different hacks that I like to use using technology.

And I'm wondering if any of you use those same types of things. Let me know, send me a DM, I hope that this was helpful for you. And if you haven't already, before you move on to your day, make sure to go and review this podcast, write something that you're loving about it.

We are getting up to 180 episodes. And I know I don't have 180 reviews. So I would love to see what you think of the podcast.

If you've been a longtime listener, first time writer, let me know. And thank you so much. I hope you're having a wonderful back to school and I will see you 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 calm 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:

Check out this playlist on Spotify I put together with all the episodes related to Back to school!

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

Check out more inspiration on her website: naomimeredith.com
Connect with her on Instagram: @naomimeredith_
Watch this episode on her YouTube Channel: Naomi Meredith
Join the Facebook Group, The Elementary STEM Coach Community | Technology & STEM for K-6 Teachers

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

She offers a variety of tools to help teachers feel successful teaching STEM to their elementary students through lesson plans, online courses, coaching and speaking events.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM, innovation and hands-on learning in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

How to Get Materials for Your STEM Classroom [Back to School Series] [ep.172]

by Naomi Meredith

How to Get Materials for Your STEM Classroom [Back to School Series] [ep.172]

Check out the full episode about how to get materials for your STEM classroom:

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

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

Episode Summary

In this episode, I’m sharing some of my favorite tips and strategies for gathering materials for your STEM classroom, no matter what kind of budget you’re working with. Whether you're starting the school year or need to replenish your supplies midway through, I’ve got you covered. From self-donations and tapping into your school community, to grant writing and borrowing materials, I’ll walk you through how to keep your STEM space stocked and ready for all your innovative projects.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

Self-Donations:
Teacher & School Donations:
Parent Community Contributions:
Grant Writing
Borrowing Materials
Taking Inventory

Resources Mentioned:

Some items are linked to my Amazon Affiliate account. When you purchase through my link, there is no added cost to you, but I receive a small commission in return.

Episode Transcript:

How do you get materials for your STEM classroom? Some of you have nice hefty budgets and you are fully stocked in your classroom and you can buy pretty much whatever you want. But most of you do not and you need some creative ways to gather materials for your STEM space. Whether it is for back to school or even midway through the year, what can you do about it? I'm going to be sharing with you some tips that I have done for my STEM space and continue to do for the ways that I teach in STEM.

So let's jump in. First are donations and there are a few ways that you can do this. First, you can actually donate yourself.

Yep, that's right. You can actually donate to your own STEM classroom and I am thinking about those recyclable materials. You will be so surprised about how many recyclables that you collect in your own home by yourself and you can bring them to school.

I am so much in the habit of collecting recyclable materials such as the thin cardboard, cardboard tubes, plastic bottle caps, and I have little places I store them in my home office and when I need them, I take them out as I go. But I am so used to collecting the cardboard especially that when my teacher and honey and I were traveling this summer and I was making a charcuterie board, there was a lot of thin cardboard with the things that we were eating and I was debating whether or not I should take that cardboard home. I was already flattening it and ready to cut it up.

So that is a really great space to start. Like I said, you're going to collect way more than you think. If you wanted to, you can have a few of your next-door neighbors collect for you and that so-and-so garbage will start adding up.

Speaking of this, the other way you can collect donations is asking the teachers in your building. I put a box in our teacher's lounge and wrote a handwritten note. Hey, any of your cardboard that you have from your lunch, put it in this box.

And the cardboard was overflowing. And when you teach a lot of kids, you need a lot of cardboard. So that was an easy way to gather cardboard that was already in my school.

For other types of materials, and this was really helpful when you really need those hands-on manipulatives, is ask those classroom teachers if they are getting rid of anything. A lot of times, curriculums will change over. There are different manipulatives that are provided.

They might not want the old ones anymore. And so ask those classroom teachers, are there any Unifix cubes they don't need anymore? Pattern blocks? Those types of things. You'll be surprised what will come into your classroom.

And along those same lines with donations, you can definitely ask your parent community, whether it is paid for items like batteries or different types of supplies, glue sticks. You can even ask for recycled materials as well. Have a couple of donation boxes where it's easy for families to drop off, and you are good to go.

You can even think about how you can break this down for specific projects, or if you ask certain grade levels at different times. I have an editable letter that you can send out to families. It has some cute little materials on the side, some cute little pictures.

So you can edit that, send that out. I will link it in the show notes. Next is thinking about writing grants.

Maybe as a classroom teacher, you wrote some grants. Maybe you haven't, and you're kind of a little bit overwhelmed about grant writing. I'm not going to get too far into it, but grants are really helpful for those bigger purchases and thinking about things that could be used for multiple grade levels and for multiple projects.

So you want to get really creative on what you are going to write a grant for. I have a handful of episodes that is all about STEM grant writing, so definitely recommend checking those out. Specifically, refer to episode 76, where I talk with Jennifer Mahan, who did a ton of grant writing for her classroom, and she shares all of her successes.

After that, in episode 77, I speak to none other than DonorsChoose, and they talk all about grant writing and how beneficial that is. I have written a few DonorsChoose grants and got those funded, so it definitely is a great resource. And also check out episode 127, where a teacher that I worked with in my group coaching, and this is also something I can do in my one-to-one strategy sessions, she wrote a successful $1,000 grant for her school, for her STEM space, and it got funded when we worked together.

So grant writing is definitely a must, and you actually have a leg up because it is for STEM, and a lot of grants want to help out in the STEM space, so that is worth your investment of time. And finally, consider borrowing materials. You don't actually have to own everything that is being used in your classroom.

Are there materials at local libraries that you can check out and use in your classroom? Likewise, are there things in your district that you can check out and borrow? My district did that. Actually, my local library does that with materials that we can actually check out things as teachers, and also my school district had a lending program where we could actually use items and borrow them from the district, namely 3D printers, robotics, so I didn't have to own them, and you're not usually teaching the same thing all year anyway, so that was actually really, really helpful. Also, do you have a partner school? Can you guys swap materials for specific lessons? I would swap different robots with my STEM teacher friends, and that was really helpful.

Again, we don't have to own the items, and we trusted each other enough where things wouldn't get broken in a horrible way. We knew things to get taken care of. Maybe if you are allowed to, can you combine funds? Maybe you have a little bit of money, they have a little bit of money, not enough to buy what you want, but if you combine, could you combine money and actually buy something? Maybe you could check out your district policy, and also maybe a local company would be willing to lend something for you to borrow as well.

Maybe they have a 3D printer or something that you can use, like maybe one of those interactive tables, those sand tables that show topography. You never know. You're gonna have to get a little bit creative, but don't feel like you have to own every single item in your classroom.

It is nice, but if you only need it for a short amount of time anyway, why purchase it? Can you borrow it from another location? If you're wondering what in the world should I buy? How do I even know where to begin? What kind of donations to look for? I actually took inventory of my K-5 STEM classroom at the end of the year, one year, and put together a whole inventory spreadsheet. If you make a copy of it, it is a live link, so you don't get all of the real-time updates. I will periodically go in and change and update things in there, but it's completely free.

There are different categories of things to think about to add to your space. Also think about the lessons that you have as well. I actually go more into how to plan and prep for what you need to buy.

In my STEM Teacher 101 course, there is a lesson all about that. There is a method to the madness. It's not like, I just want you to buy this.

I just need to buy this. I actually have a whole method of how I go through purchasing every year. Again, all the things that I am mentioning will be linked in the show notes.

Before we go, I wanted to read a quick note from one of you who messaged me on Instagram. I love these notes so, so much. This teacher said, your podcast is my summer binge.

Starting my new job as a K-5 STEAM teacher after 10 years in general education. Your tips and tricks are so practical and give me realistic takeaways that I know I'll use in my classroom. Thanks for your hard work.

Thank you so much for the kind words. I love getting all of these messages. If you haven't already, when this episode's over in a few seconds, go ahead and leave a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

That would mean the world to me. All those sweet messages that you send, I absolutely love. I write back to you.

Put them on the podcast so people know, hey, this is a show that I should listen to too. I would appreciate it so much. Thanks again for being here.

Happy back to school and I will see you 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-5 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:

Check out this playlist on Spotify I put together with all the episodes related to Back to school!

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

Check out more inspiration on her website: naomimeredith.com
Connect with her on Instagram: @naomimeredith_
Watch this episode on her YouTube Channel: Naomi Meredith
Join the Facebook Group, The Elementary STEM Coach Community | Technology & STEM for K-6 Teachers

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

She offers a variety of tools to help teachers feel successful teaching STEM to their elementary students through lesson plans, online courses, coaching and speaking events.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM, innovation and hands-on learning in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

My Go-To Teacher Backpack

by Naomi Meredith

My Go-To Teacher Backpack

As a teacher and a traveler, finding the perfect backpack that can handle both of these roles was a challenge. I needed something durable, versatile, and functional—a backpack that could seamlessly transition from the classroom to the airport. After trying out a few options, I finally found one that ticks all the boxes, and I couldn’t be more impressed.

Let me take you on a little tour of my favorite backpack and show you why it’s become an essential part of my daily life.

Pockets Galore

One of the standout features of this backpack is the abundance of pockets. There are so many pockets that, at times, it might feel like a challenge to keep track of where everything is. But that’s part of the charm! Whether you need to store teaching supplies, travel essentials, or personal items, there’s a pocket for everything. I like to keep cleaning supplies and wet wipes handy, and this backpack has just the right spots to store them. The side pockets are roomy enough to fit even larger water bottles, which is a must for staying hydrated on the go.

Spacious and Secure

The main compartment is incredibly spacious. I can fit my entire laptop, and there’s still room for my iPad. If you’re someone who carries multiple devices, this backpack has got you covered. There’s also a deep pocket on the back that’s perfect for stashing items you want to keep secure yet easily accessible.

Tech-Savvy Feature

For those who rely on their devices, this backpack offers some pretty cool tech features. It has a built-in way to connect your phone to your laptop, allowing you to charge your phone directly from your computer while it’s still tucked safely inside the bag.

Travel-Friendly Design

Traveling with this backpack is a breeze, thanks to a clever feature that allows it to hook onto the top of your suitcase. This little addition makes a big difference when your backpack is heavy and you’re navigating through airports. It keeps the backpack securely in place, so you don’t have to worry about it sliding off while you’re on the move.

A Stylish and Budget-Friendly Choice

Beyond its functionality, I’ve grown to love the style of this backpack. It’s traveled the world with me, and I’m already eyeing other colors to match different outfits. Plus, it’s a great option if you’re on a budget but still want something reliable and stylish.

Final Thoughts

In short, this backpack has been a game-changer for me. Whether I’m in the classroom or on the road, it’s become my go-to companion. If you’re looking for a backpack that’s durable, versatile, and budget-friendly, I highly recommend giving this one a try. It’s a purchase you won’t regret!

Click here to grab this backpack for yourself!

Some items are linked to my Amazon Affiliate account. When you purchase through my link, there is no added cost to you, but I receive a small commission in return

Related Posts:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

Check out more inspiration on her website: naomimeredith.com
Connect with her on Instagram: @naomimeredith_
Watch this episode on her YouTube Channel: Naomi Meredith
Join the Facebook Group, The Elementary STEM Coach Community | Technology & STEM for K-6 Teachers

More About the Author, Naomi Meredith

She offers a variety of tools to help teachers feel successful teaching STEM to their elementary students through lesson plans, online courses, coaching and speaking events.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM, innovation and hands-on learning in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

3 Top Tips for Your STEM Classroom Layout [Back to School Series] [ep.171]

by Naomi Meredith

3 Top Tips for Your STEM Classroom Layout [Back to School Series] [ep.171]

Check out the full episode about STEM Classroom Layout:

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

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

Watch the video version of the episode here:

Episode Summary

In this episode, I share my top three essentials for setting up a successful K-5 STEM classroom. Drawing from my extensive experience in various STEM spaces, I discuss the importance of having a group meeting place, planning storage for student projects, and labeling materials for easy accessibility and independence. I provide practical advice and personal hacks to create an organized and effective learning environment.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

The importance of a group meeting place to minimize distractions and streamline transitions.
Planning ahead for project storage to keep materials organized and accessible.
Labeling Maker space materials with words and pictures at kid-accessible heights to promote independence and easy cleanup.

Resources Mentioned:

Some items are linked to my Amazon Affiliate account. When you purchase through my link, there is no added cost to you, but I receive a small commission in return.

Episode Transcript:

Let's talk about STEM classroom setup. What are some top essentials that you should think about when you're setting up your STEM space or you're reconfiguring something that may not have worked last year? I have been in a lot of different STEM classrooms, whether it was my friend's classrooms in the district or the schools that I have taught in for my local STEM programs, or even the school that I was doing some planning with a teacher, and I'm going to be long-term STEM sub planning for her this fall. There are a lot of different setups out there, but there are some top things that I have seen that actually set up these spaces for success, and I'm going to talk about those three top common things that I have seen.

The first major thing for you to think about is to have a group meeting place. This is different from where the kids are going to be doing their work. Now, maybe I'm a little bit old school on this, but whenever I have kids enter my space, whether it is my after-school programs or it is a full-on class, I like to have the kids in one location.

There are a couple reasons for this. The biggest one is to help prevent distractions. There's often things that I have set up that we're going to be using for the project, and if the kids are sitting at the tables and there's materials out, naturally they're going to want to play with them and touch them.

And this is even true when I teach STEM at our rollerskating rink for field trips. It's very, very sweet. The program sets up all my materials, but they get into them.

So if you can have a group meeting place where all the kids are in one spot, you do your quick little mini lesson, and then you send them off on their way. I've seen the opposite where there's classrooms that don't have this group meeting space. The kids come into the room, they are sitting at their tables, and they're all chaotic, and they're getting started.

I'm like, wait, what is going on? I'm confused. It's just a lot of chaos, and it doesn't really lend well to a good transition. So knowing that expectation, no matter what you're going to be working on, no matter what grade level you're in, you are going to sit in this spot, most likely facing the screen or projector that you have, and we're going to set up those expectations and we will go on our way.

So that means to say you can't stop the class for other teaching aspects, but this is just really, really helpful, again, for those transitions and setting the stage for your classroom. Along with that, this is something that I didn't think of right off the bat because it looks very, very empty, but think about where you would like students to store their projects throughout the year. You may or may not use these open spaces, but if you can plan ahead and make room for it, if possible, I know this can be really tricky, then this will help you know where you should set out other materials, and those other materials you might need to put away in a safe spot, and then, again, you have those open spaces for kids to put their projects.

If you plan for it ahead of time, like I said, it's going to make it a lot easier, and it also looks a little weird because you might have empty shelves in your classroom when you want to fill them up with all the cool things. There are a lot of different things that I have tried, but what I really like to do when it comes to access materials, like when kids are in the middle of building projects, and you can hear more about how I do maker space specifically in episodes five and six, but I like those big fabric cubes from IKEA, the really big ones, not the small ones, the big ones, and when we're in the middle of a project, I use grocery bags. Kids will put their paper plan inside, and any materials that they shop for inside the bag, they tie them up, I show them how to do a loose tie on the bag, we put them in the bucket, and it's labeled with their teacher's name.

If there's things that they're specifically building they don't want crumpled up in the bag, that will be placed on the shelf next to that bucket, but it really helps getting out those materials in between classes. It does help with the storage because random materials aren't floating around on the shelves, but that also helps with the space as well, so those are some things to really consider. And finally, when you're setting up your space, I actually like to keep my maker space open all year long and have it all set up and organized, is having those maker space materials labeled with words and pictures and also at kid accessible height.

The whole goal when you're doing a maker space is to have kids be independent and gather supplies for their projects as you want them to. Again, listen to episodes five and six, but having them at kid height and labeled with pictures and words really helps with that independence where they know what is in the bucket, they can see it, they can gather those materials, and it also makes cleanup a lot easier because they know where things go. I actually created some editable labels that are for your maker space where they have words and pictures and easy to read kid font.

There are different color options, and my little trick too is I actually don't laminate these. I found these little business card pockets that are sticky on one side, and if you actually just print put the little label in the pocket, the pocket always stays on your bucket, but then you can change out the labels as much as you want and you don't have to do any laminating. I actually have a laminator, I just don't like to laminate unless I really, really have to.

So that is a really good hack. I'm really excited because the teacher I'm going to be subbing for, she has a really great maker space. She has it set up really nice, but I really want to upgrade her labels and so I asked her if I could do that, and she said yes.

So more to come this fall, you'll get to see that transformation. Those three things I hope you've thought about in your STEM space. They are really essential.

They seem very simple, but things that make a big impact in your space, make sure you have those three things. For more of a setup checklist for your STEM space, my STEM teacher 101 course, I have a whole lesson all about your classroom setup and things to think about. Maybe you did those as a classroom teacher and you're transferring them into your STEM space, but I also have a checklist that will walk you through those things and other ideas to think about when you're setting up your STEM space.

And there's also a whole lesson about systems and routines that will lend itself to your classroom setup. You can grab the entire course at namimerdith.com slash STEMteacher101, or you can just go through individual lessons of the course that are in my TPT shop. If you just head on over there, you will see all the lessons segmented so you can zone in on what you're looking for.

And before you go, I just wanted to read a quick note from one of you. I get the sweetest messages in my DMs and my emails and I actually save them. And when I'm a little bit like, what am I doing with all this? I like to read them.

So this is from one of you and you messaged me and you said, Hey, I just had to let you know that you are amazing. I wish you were my STEM teacher. That is so nice.

I just completed your K through two planning workshop and bought your K through two year long bundle. And now I want the three through five too. I'm so impressed with all your products and your plethora of great information, ideas, and enthusiasm.

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and passion for STEM. Thank you so much for that message. Lots of things.

I do have on demand workshops that you can jump in on. And then also those bundles of my K through five STEM year long plan. They're broken up in grade levels and also in segments.

So thank you so much for your kind message. Like I said, I have a whole folder on my phone and I keep these. So I do read them and I appreciate you all so much.

Thank you so much again, and I will see you all next week. 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:

Check out this playlist on Spotify I put together with all the episodes related to Back to school!

Take a tour of my K-5 STEM Classroom

Grab the Makerspace labels you see in the photo here that come in a variety of color schemes.

Instead of laminating each label, use these pouches that are sticky on the back. It makes changing out labels so much faster!

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

Check out more inspiration on her website: naomimeredith.com
Connect with her on Instagram: @naomimeredith_
Watch this episode on her YouTube Channel: Naomi Meredith
Join the Facebook Group, The Elementary STEM Coach Community | Technology & STEM for K-6 Teachers

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

She offers a variety of tools to help teachers feel successful teaching STEM to their elementary students through lesson plans, online courses, coaching and speaking events.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM, innovation and hands-on learning in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

6 STEM Classroom Bulletin Board Ideas [Back to School Series] [ep.170]

by Naomi Meredith

6 STEM Classroom Bulletin Board Ideas [Back to School Series] [ep.170]

Check out the full episode about STEM Classroom Bulletin Board Ideas:

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

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

Watch the video version of the episode here:

Episode Summary

It’s officially time for back to school, which means you’re most likely preparing to start decorating your classroom. With so many ideas available for decorating your classroom, what should you set up? What are some creative ways you can set up your bulletin boards? In today’s episode, I’m sharing six STEM classroom bulletin board ideas that you can implement for the new school year.

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript:

You're ready to decorate your STEM classroom, but what should you set up? And in terms of bulletin boards, what are some creative things that you can hang up in your classroom, and also kind of some things that you can keep up all year? Maybe you didn't think about that when it comes to your bulletin board situation. I'm going to be sharing with you six bulletin board ideas that you can hang up in your classroom. There is a creative twist to these, so I'm so excited for you to hear these.

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. Welcome to back to school season. You may or may not want to hear those words right now.

I totally understand however you were feeling. I actually posted an Instagram reel the other day, and it said you and your teacher, Bestie, are hanging out by the pool. One of you is obsessing about setting up your classroom.

The other one of you is waiting to hear when you guys are going to go get your next iced coffee. I've definitely been both teachers depending on the year, especially when I used to have started new positions in a school or a grade level. I've always been the one to obsess about my classroom and go in and get organized and figure all that out.

But then as I've been comfortable in that position and know what to expect overall, I'm the second where when is my next iced coffee. I don't know if you know this about me, but I love iced coffee and I especially love oat milk lavender iced lattes. That is my go-to, but it has to be from a local coffee shop that makes their own syrup.

So fun fact about me. So what are some bulletin board ideas that you can have for your classroom? So before I jump in really quick, something that I really want to try to do and I love to chat is keeping these episodes this school year a lot shorter. A couple of the podcasts that I listen to that actually aren't teacher related are doing this and I absolutely love it.

And I feel like I get enough information and I'm good to go for the rest of the day and I will binge some of them. So I'm going to try to keep these 10 minutes or less or around then. So I know you are busy and you want to get on your way.

So if you're like, I want more, I have almost 200 episodes and there are many that are longer than 10 minutes. So we're going to try this out and see how it goes. But of course I never run out of ideas.

My husband's like, how, what are you going to even talk about on your podcast when you almost have 200 episodes? I'm like, there's so many things. There's a lot, a lot of things to talk about. So you like to talk, then that's where we're at.

Okay. So six different bulletin board ideas in my STEM teacher one-on-one course that, um, you can jump on it into the whole course, or you can just jump in on specific modules that I am slowly releasing on teachers by teachers. But these are some of the things in terms of decoration and bulletin boards that I recommend.

So I actually have printed off the checklist, um, that goes along with this. So definitely helpful for your classroom setup. If you see me looking down, I am looking at the checklist if you're watching the video version.

So the first one, when it comes to bulletin board setup is having your classroom rules and expectations. This is something you need for any classroom, but it doesn't have to be ugly. And so think about how do you want to teach this to students, but also how are you going to display it in your space? And this is something you want to keep up year round and also something that is easy to see all the time and can be something you can refer to.

I recommend having maybe three to seven classroom rules. Five is pretty good. Three to five is actually pretty good for a STEM space.

And so definitely figure out where to put that. Next is having growth mindset sayings. And I'm sure this is something you have thought about, whether you're a classroom teacher or going into STEM or you've been teaching STEM for a while.

How can students use growth mindset and what are some things that you are going to be constantly remind them? Not have a good growth mindset. What are some of those things? We make mistakes to help us grow. Something that I like to say is practice makes better.

Perfect doesn't exist. And I don't say that to them. So practice makes better.

I had my growth mindset sayings on, like you could still see them, like kids could read it still. They would all the time. But I have them as light bulbs and they would be on the top of one of my walls.

So they decorated my classroom, but they were also things I referred to constantly and kept up all five years that I was in the STEM space. Next is, it sounds very simple, but it actually, like hear me out on this one, is I had giant letters up on my whiteboard. So one of my walls was an entire whiteboard.

And in the top right corner, I had a block letters that I printed and cut out with my bulletin board letters. And it said STEM. And underneath each letter, I had a little circle poster that would represent what does each letter mean.

So there's some images. What is science? Images for what is technology? What do the letters actually mean? That was a huge thing too. So kids actually knew, oh, STEM isn't just a buzzword.

It's not a STEM on a plant. It actually means something. And this is something I referred to constantly, constantly with kids.

And you're not teaching in isolation. And I did mention this a lot in my STEM in action series that was just before this one. But I would explain to kids, hey, this is what science means.

Here's how we're using science. When I had new students or my younger students who had never had me before, I would refer to this constantly. So this is, again, something I would hang up.

Bulletin boards don't also, or just decorations in general, don't have to be ginormous. It doesn't have to be a board. So you probably are noticing, oh, it doesn't have to be a board.

It can just, how are you using your space? It can be decoration, but how are you referring to it? So having those STEM definition posters, what does STEM mean? Very, very helpful. Next, this is a fun one, but again, a teaching tool is having a STEM and technology alphabet. And I just recently updated my STEM and technology alphabet.

I'm so excited about this because there are three different color schemes that you can print out and have it match your classroom. And there's also black and white versions so you can print on whatever color paper you want. And having a STEM alphabet, again, is a great resource.

And I also have had a teacher who messaged me and she said, I actually have your alphabet. And when I use your lessons, because I have vocabulary in all my STEM lessons that are content specific, she would print out the vocabulary that went with that lesson in a smaller version and hung it up with the STEM alphabet. So it was more like a vocabulary wall that connected to the STEM concept.

So I thought that was a fantastic idea. I also have a whole alphabet set up in my home office right now. So I love the update.

It's just more visually appealing, needed a little bit of a refresh. So that is, again, something that you can hang up in your space. The fifth decoration that you can have in your classroom, again, this is something I hung up all year.

I hung it right outside of my classroom where students were coming in. And side note, classroom teachers loved this, is having a STEM affirmation station. And so what you do is you grab a cheap mirror.

I found mine at Walmart. It was $7 at the time. Hung it up with Gorilla Glue tape.

And then there's different affirmations that go along with STEM, like, I am a mathematician. I am an inventor. I am a creator.

And you can hang that up all along the mirror. And teachers, when they're picking up their kids, they love to check your hair. So that is a fun one.

And again, right outside my classroom, if you are allowed, that was a really great addition to my STEM space for all the kids. And the final one that actually is a bulletin board is I actually didn't have official bulletin boards. But there was a space right outside my door that I created a bulletin board with some paper, had a border, had a cute little garland on it.

And I would change it out with seasonal bulletin board kits. So I made a different theme for every month that went along with STEM. And then I printed, cut out, laminated.

And I could hang those up every year. Or if there's a student teacher nearby or a parent volunteer, I would just hand them the bag with the theme. And they could hang that up.

And it was all finished up. So all STEM related, but a fun little theme. Because you guys know I love a good theme.

After these ideas, what are you hoping to try in your classroom? You can go ahead and make all the things, not stopping you. But if you want to save some time and get into more lesson planning, every single thing that I mentioned, including this checklist for setting up your classroom, you can find in the show notes for this episode, or they're also in my TPT shop, Teachers Pay Teacher Shop, Naomi Meredith. And you can just print, go laminate, and you are all done in a day.

Thank you so much. And I will see you 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:

Check out this playlist on Spotify I put together with all the episodes related to Back to school!

STEM Classroom Bulletin Board Ideas #1: STEM Alphabet

Get this alphabet and 3 different color schemes for your classroom here.

STEM Classroom Bulletin Board Ideas #2: Growth Mindset Sayings

Get these growth mindset lightbulbs for your classroom here

STEM Classroom Bulletin Board Ideas #3: Classroom Rules for STEM & Technology Classrooms

Get these rules for your classroom here.

STEM Classroom Bulletin Board Ideas #4: STEM Definition Posters

Get these STEAM posters for your classroom here

STEM Classroom Bulletin Board Ideas #5: STEM Affirmation Station

Get this affirmation set up for your classroom here.

STEM Classroom Bulletin Board Ideas #6: Seasonal STEM Bulletin Boards

Click here to view the whole collection of print-and-cut STEM bulletin boards fro your classroom here.

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

Check out more inspiration on her website: naomimeredith.com
Connect with her on Instagram: @naomimeredith_
Watch this episode on her YouTube Channel: Naomi Meredith
Join the Facebook Group, The Elementary STEM Coach Community | Technology & STEM for K-6 Teachers

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

She offers a variety of tools to help teachers feel successful teaching STEM to their elementary students through lesson plans, online courses, coaching and speaking events.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM, innovation and hands-on learning in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

Ways to Integrate Math in Elementary STEM [STEM in Action Series] [ep.169]

by Naomi Meredith

Ways to Integrate Math in Elementary STEM [STEM in Action Series] [ep.169]

Check out the full episode about Ways to Integrate Math in Elementary STEM:

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

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

Listen to this episode on YouTube:

Episode Summary

Today, we are wrapping up our STEM in Action Series with math in elementary STEM. Whether you already purposefully plan and implement math in your STEM lessons or are looking for ways you can effectively create math STEM lessons, today’s episode is for you. In this episode, I share some of my favorite tools for incorporating math in elementary STEM, some of my most popular math lessons, and how to ensure you are planning with the standards in mind.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

Standards to focus on for math lessons
Top Tools to Use
Lesson Ideas that use science as the main focus; project, station & 1 day lesson

Resources Mentioned:

Some items are linked to my Amazon Affiliate account. When you purchase through my link, there is no added cost to you, but I receive a small commission in return.

Episode Transcript:

What are some ways that you can purposely plan and add math effectively into your STEM lessons? We are here in the last episode of our STEM in Action series, where we kicked off the series with guest experts in the field to help connect together different elements of STEM. And then the second half of the series, I have been sharing my insight and practical lessons that you can implement in your classroom for each element of STEM. And here in this last episode of the series, we are talking all about math.

And this one might be one of those areas that you might be implementing a lot of, or maybe you're forgetting about, and what should we be looking for? So let's jump into this episode. Welcome to the Elementary STEM Coach Podcast, a show that'll 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. We are here in the summertime as the episode is live and maybe you're thinking about back to school.

And if you're thinking about you want to dive in more ways and make sure you're not missing out on anything for setting up your STEM classroom, I invite you to check out my STEM Teacher 101 course. You get to hang out with me during your own time and go through the process of setting up your classroom that is conducive to systems and routines, some lesson planning ideas and structures, and also different ways to help students grow in their STEM skills when it comes to growth mindset, collaboration, and all sorts of things like that. I have the whole entire course available for you.

You can jump right in or if there are just specific areas you really want to target. I am starting to break up the whole entire course so you can zone in on the lessons that you really need and you can find those separated out for you on my Teachers Pay Teachers Shop, Naomi Meredith, and each of those are listed separately. At the time of this recording, all of the first module, it's called module two, but all of that first module is ready to go for you.

So I definitely encourage you to check it out. Every single module has bonuses and things that you can implement right away. So my STEM Classroom Setup module has some maps and layouts for you, DEM posters that you can hang up to help kids know what in the world STEM or STEAM actually means, and a STEM Classroom Setup Checklist.

So check that out. There are videos for every lesson and also transcripts, a written out version of each video so you can take notes and help you out in your STEM journey. All right, we are here in this last part of the series where we are talking about all things math.

And like I mentioned in the intro, math is very interesting in the STEM space where I think it sometimes is forgotten about or just how can we be creative in that math piece where we are having kids really experience the science, the technology, the engineering math. How do you put it all together? So the capital letter of STEM is the M that we are zoning in on. So like the other three episodes, the science, the technology, and the engineering episode, in this episode, I am zoning in on what standards you should look for, what are my top favorite tools, and also some lesson ideas for different types of lesson structures.

For math, what types of standards should you be looking at? So of course, check out your state math standards. They may or may not be linked to the Common Core State Standards, but check out your math standards and this will give you a good idea of what students should really be focusing in on that grade level. If you are worried and thinking about, and I kind of mentioned this too in the science one, oh, I don't want to repeat anything that the classroom teachers are doing.

You are not really repeating it. Think about what you're doing in your STEM space. You are really, you are really giving these lessons a STEM twist.

And of course, with math, the more practice, the better. And of course, if it's in a hands-on way and in a way that kids can really connect with, that's really, really important. And so all types of review, especially in math, can be very beneficial.

So don't feel like you're repeating anything. Practicing those skills in multiple ways is extremely, extremely important and to help build that number sense and how math is used in real life. Also, I want you to take a look at those mathematical practices that are also listed with a Common Core State Standards.

These mathematical practices are really talking about how do you attack math problems. And these really connect with what you are doing in your STEM space. One of them off the top of my head is attend to precision.

Why is that important? Why do we need to be precise sometimes? I can think about coding. Coding actually has a lot of math involved. And when you're thinking about coding, you really need to be precise in the way that you are writing that coding sequence, because if you're not, then your robot or whatever you're programming isn't going to do what you want it to do.

And you will have a bug in your code and you will have to fix it. Same with measurements. If you have to measure things where they fit together perfectly and they are off, it can throw off a whole design.

So those mathematical practices are really, really beneficial and really connect together in your STEM space. So if you're really thinking about a lesson that's all very focused on math, then really look at those Common Core State Standards. But if you're, of course, trying to implement math, but it's not the main, main focus, mathematical practices can really align with everything that you're doing.

All right. So for those top tools, how can you just easily integrate math in what you are doing? A manipulative that I have had in my classroom, actually, ever since I started teaching, it's the same kit that has followed me through the years, is I have a set of tangrams. So it is those shapes that you put together to create other things.

And you might be thinking, oh, that's so old school. That is so lame. Kids don't like it.

They do. It's actually a really, really good challenge. And it really is great for that spatial awareness, noticing what shapes make bigger shapes, how to break things apart.

It does go along with those progressions of learning when it comes to math and how do you see things and break them apart. And so if you need a quick STEM station or a filler, tangrams are a really great option. And you'll be surprised, a lot of kids have not done tangrams before.

Along with that, kind of similar, kind of different. There are tangrams websites. I think there was one on ABC.

Yeah, I like to use. But another one kids were obsessed about that I would use sometimes as a little reward or fast finisher are Tetris blocks, playing the game of Tetris. And I've only had like a couple of kids in each class who had ever played it and heard of it and they were obsessed.

It was really hard for them. And so I know it maybe it's like kind of going backwards, like, oh my gosh, this is an innovative. Some of those simple things we forget kids might not have done them before.

And there is a reason why these things are really, really helpful. Along with that, because tangrams kind of goes with this next one, is I love using Osmos. This is not sponsored at this time of the recording, but Osmos are such a great attachment for your tablet.

So they do have an attachment for most tablets. So just double check the type of tablet you have and the Osmo that you are purchasing. But it is using augmented reality.

So it's combining things that you're doing in the real world and then putting it back into the screen. So there's that interactive piece, but they're using hands-on manipulatives. So kids aren't just sitting and staring at a screen.

They're actually doing something hands-on to build it and solve a problem. And the genius kit actually has some math components. So two out of the three activities in the genius kit have math.

So there actually is a tangrams kit for it. So it's really cool because as the kids are building the tangrams, it actually will self-correct and then it'll kind of give kids tips like flip the shape or move it over this way. So that's really helpful.

It gives that immediate feedback. There also is a numbers game. So there is the dots.

So the subitizing where kids are trying to combine numbers and then it moves into actual symbols of numbers. And so there's different math challenges and they have to combine numbers or sometimes they're subtracting. There's different levels so you can really differentiate the numbers game.

There is a spelling game. I didn't use that one as often, but when I did have time, I actually would use the spelling side as well because hey, why not? Let's add some ELA. Another kit, it's not in the genius kit, but you can get the coding kit.

And this one I was so impressed with and impressed with, and I don't know why these ones are more expensive, but it's actually hands-on coding. So in a way it's kind of unplugged coding, but it's not. And the kids actually have to move the shapes to complete the challenge.

And this one has three different apps that, again, you can differentiate. And I did this all the way from kindergarten to second grade. And you could actually use this for third graders.

I don't know how fourth and fifth graders might like it. They might like some of it. I don't know.

Give it a try. But the coding was really cool because I can remember distinctly, I had these two second graders who needed special supports and I had them in a different game. And they were known to have their own paras who would be working with them one-on-one.

So I actually paired the two girls up together and they were completely independent. They actually were completing the coding challenges and problem solving and getting the pieces and understanding how is the character going to move through this maze. And they were doing it hands-on.

Coding was really hard. It was very abstract for them, but adding in that tactile piece with these pieces was absolutely amazing and worked very, very well for them. Another tool I really like, which you could probably steal from a grade level teacher if you don't have them.

They might not know what to do with them or just borrow them, is I have these foam, squishy, geometric shapes. So they're big versions of like a cube, of a pyramid, of a cylinder. And I use these all the time when I am teaching, especially when I am teaching 3D printing.

And you might be thinking, wait, how is the 3D printing math? It is, especially if you use Tinkercad. I talked about Tinkercad in the technology episode of this series. 3D printing is so much math and geometric observation and recognizing shapes and how shapes fit together.

And also the difference between 2D and 3D. And also if you really are thinking about building something to scale, 3D printing has so much math in it. Maybe I'll throw, well, I'll throw in a bonus lesson here.

I have a whole series of 3D printing lessons, K through five. So make sure you listen to the technology lesson. I talk more about 3D printing, but 3D printing is like a whole math thing.

So that's a whole bonus lesson for you. But I actually use those squishy geometric shapes as a way to teach 3D printing and how to model things and how to visualize what the shapes are doing on the platform. And I pull those out all the time.

And so those are very, very handy. And again, really, really helpful when you're teaching 3D printing. Okay.

So what are some lesson ideas? I gave you a bonus one, but I'm going to talk about a project, a station idea, and a one day lesson that you can do. When it comes to a project. And again, you're like, these are all integrated.

Yes. The way I plan is very, very integrated. One that I really like, and you can modify the type of shape, is that I did robot snowflakes.

And I've actually have done this with different types of robots. At the time I used Sphero, but you could actually change it up based on the type of robots that you have. And what we did, it was during the winter time, it was during my winter robotics theme.

So everybody was working on robotics, but we had a different robot to use in a different lesson. Or maybe you have similar robots, but different lessons. So just a different way to use the robotics.

And in fourth grade, one of their math standards really focuses on lines and angles. And depending on when this lesson would pop up and what they're working on in math, sometimes my groups had background knowledge of lines and angles. Sometimes they were currently working on it, or sometimes they've never done it at all.

So I have experienced all of the above, and it doesn't really matter. And so it works all the ways. Again, it's okay.

I know for sure, 1,000%, they weren't doing this in their classroom. What I'm going to explain to you, so don't feel bad. So we moved all the tables.

I actually move all the tables during robotics anyway. And student, we talked about what symmetry means and how this is represented in snowflakes in nature. And then students had to design a simple symmetrical snowflake and had to measure out the lines and angles to design the snowflake so that their robot could code the path and realistically loop their code.

So once you press play, the robot could actually trace the whole entire snowflake in one go. So that was a really good challenge. It was beautiful.

It looked like Elf from the movie. Absolute one of my favorite movies. Decorated my classroom.

And so we actually, I had tile floors. We use chalk on the floor and students drew the lines using the chalk, and then they covered it up with masking tape. And then at the end of the week, they actually had to pull up the snowflakes so I could do it for the next class.

I would leave a couple just in case, but there's a really good lesson that was heavily math focused. For a STEM station, if now, I plan STEM stations where kids can be very independent. They're quick challenges, but one that could be implementing that technology, but really focusing on how is math used in the real world.

On my other podcast for kids, the STEM Career Quest podcast, I interviewed different people who are currently working in STEM fields and doing amazing things in their real lives. And in particular, I have interviewed two people who rely heavily on math and actually support students in math and why that's important to explain what they do. And so at this station, you can actually have students listen to these podcast episodes.

I have one with Tiffany Layton and then a different one with Christopher Robles, how they use math in their actual career and help impact kids. And so students can listen to these episodes. And I actually have podcast listening guides that go with the episode where students can practice that listening comprehension and also learn about STEM careers that are being used today to solve real world problems.

So you could share these digitally. You can print them out. You can share a segment of the podcast.

So with the guides, you actually get all the whole podcast segmented for you in video format. So you could just focus in on one part, but this is a really great way to help students practicing that listening comprehension. And again, how is math used in our real world? And for our one day lesson, this one's really good for maybe even a sub plan.

If you have a sub, you're very confident in their skills. And also a back to school challenge and also a last minute one day challenge. This was a really good one.

I have done this one in a lot of different capacities, like a whole group with an after school club in my STEM explorers club that I'm hosting in my community right now, but it is a straw maze challenge. And so all you really need for this challenge is, um, hard pieces of cardboard. So I like to cut up Amazon boxes for this one, hard pieces of cardboard, straws, tape, and marbles.

You can use rolling marbles, or you can use flat marbles. And then you can even teach kids like how to create their piece, like into a box and create edges with the cardboard so that the marble doesn't fall off. And so there's a lot of different things.

So there's that engineering piece, of course, but when you're connecting it to the math side, if you're really focusing on math, you can have students time themselves, how fast it takes for their marble to get through the maze from start to finish successfully. And then from there, they can actually keep track of their results to do it 10 times or have their friend do it 10 times, and then they can create a bar graph of their results. And then this can even help them modify their design.

So based on how someone is going through the maze, are there modifications that you can make to make it be harder or maybe make it a little bit easier? And so it really is connecting in why do we have trials through things? How do you use math to actually calculate results? So very low prep, it can easily be done in one day. And there are, there's a video to show you kind of like some tips and tricks to get started. And then also those math and science connections.

As a recap for this math episode in our STEM in Action series, we talked about the standards to really focus on when it comes to the math side. What are my favorite tools that are math-focused? And also some lesson ideas in terms of a project you can try, a STEM station, and a one-day lesson. All of the things we chatted about will be in the show notes, but specifically the lessons that I talked about can be found in my TPT, my Teachers Pay Teachers Shop, Naomi Meredith, where you can get all the things you need to get set up and on your way with these math-focused activities.

Thank you so much again for being here and being a part of the series. This was a fun one to plan. And I was very surprised that I didn't have this one as lessons, or not as lessons, as episodes.

So you guys really inspire me. I appreciate you reaching out and excited for the next series, couple series that I am planning out, where we are going to be talking all about back to school. Thank you so much again for being here and I will talk to you soon.

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 elementarystemcoachpodcast at gmail.com. Also make sure to check out my website NaomiMeredith.com to see all the show notes from today's episode and shop my K-5 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:

Check out more inspiration on her website: naomimeredith.com
Connect with her on Instagram: @naomimeredith_
Watch this episode on her YouTube Channel: Naomi Meredith
Join the Facebook Group, The Elementary STEM Coach Community | Technology & STEM for K-6 Teachers

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

She offers a variety of tools to help teachers feel successful teaching STEM to their elementary students through lesson plans, online courses, coaching and speaking events.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM, innovation and hands-on learning in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

Engineering in the Classroom Examples [STEM in Action Series][ep.168]

by Naomi Meredith

Engineering in the Classroom Examples [STEM in Action Series] [ep.168]

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Episode Summary

We are continuing our STEM in Action series with engineering in the classroom examples. In this episode, I will be sharing how to incorporate the engineering aspect of STEM into your classroom, my favorite tools for engineering lessons, and examples of different types of engineering lessons and projects you can incorporate into your classroom.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

Standards to focus on for engineering lessons
Top Tools to Use
Lesson Ideas that use science as the main focus; project, station & 1 day lesson

Resources Mentioned:

Some items are linked to my Amazon Affiliate account. When you purchase through my link, there is no added cost to you, but I receive a small commission in return.

Episode Transcript:

What are some ways to effectively plan and incorporate engineering into your STEM lessons? I feel like the engineering side might be one of the easiest, but there are some tips and tricks that I like to use when really focusing on the building aspect. We are continuing our STEM in Action series, which we kicked off with guest experts in the field to help connect different elements of STEM. For the second half of this series, I'm sharing my insights and some practical lessons that you can implement in your classroom.

In the last episode, I focused on technology. The one before that, I focused on science. If you haven't listened to those episodes, go back and check them out. You don't have to listen to them before this one, no worries at all. But we are going to get into the engineering side. As the summer might be in full swing, or maybe it's winding down for you and you are thinking about back to school, you might be wondering how you can really focus on what you need to do for your classroom. I have my on-demand STEM Teacher 101 course where I walk you through the whole process of setting up your classroom, what types of lesson plans you can have in your space, and then some other things to think about like grouping students and having them collaborate effectively.

Now, based on requests from you, I am splitting up the whole STEM Teacher 101 course. You can take it as a whole, or I'm breaking apart the lessons and adding updates as I go, so you can focus on something specific. The course is more effective if you do it on your own, but if there are certain things you need to focus on, like how to set up your classroom, what type of checklist to use as a teacher before the kids even arrive, all of those segmented lessons are being uploaded to my TPT shop, Teachers Pay Teachers shop, Naomi Meredith. You can go and check that out. At the time of this recording, all of the lessons in module two are up in my TPT shop. This is a great way for you to gradually get into the course or just pay as you go, and it's a great way to focus on the lessons you're looking for.

Alright, when it comes to engineering, I feel like it might be one of the easiest aspects to think about in STEM. I want you to keep in mind, though, that we're not isolating all the letters in STEM, where you're only doing engineering or only doing technology. You’re really focusing on all of it, but maybe highlighting one more than the others. Think of each episode as the capital letter in STEM, with the rest being lowercase, so in this episode, E is capitalized.

If you're wondering why I'm not doing an art lesson, there is always an element of art in STEM. You're always thinking about creativity. In the business world, they call it STEM, which is why I use STEM, but I'm not ignoring the art piece. Trust me, I'm all about making things look nice and being creative.

In this episode, like the others on science and technology, I'm going to talk through the standards to think about, my top favorite tools, and some lesson plan ideas. If you're thinking STEM doesn't have any standards, especially engineering, it actually does. In fact, your science standards likely include building a model, creating a solution, or building to solve a problem. Those words are in your science standards for a reason. Some science standards lend themselves well to experiments, while others are better for an engineering design process challenge to build and solve a problem. Really look at those keywords in your standards.

My other favorite standards are the Next Generation Science Standards that specifically talk about the engineering design process. It’s a process real engineers use to build and solve problems and go through the iteration process. It’s different from the scientific method but equally important. I have a poster that supports this process, which I blew up at Walgreens. It was inexpensive, and you can hang it up all year. I also display it digitally. Familiarize yourself with the engineering design process. It’s important and helps design challenges, whether they are multi-day or one-day challenges.

Regarding tools, here are my favorites for reusable items and maker space. For cardboard, I love the thin cardboard from cereal and snack boxes. I collect it constantly. My teacher honey saves it for me, and I cut it up into pieces to force students to build creatively. I also store it in a drawer in my home office. For thicker cardboard like Amazon boxes, I recommend investing in cardboard saws like those from MakeDo. Be cautious with these, especially for younger students. For tape, I prefer masking tape. I limit its use by making baby tape rolls wrapped around a Popsicle stick. I haven’t found a favorite brand, so I look for the cheapest options on Amazon or at Dollar Tree.

For hot glue guns, choose low-temperature ones. Ensure you use the corresponding low-temperature sticks to avoid clogging issues. I use these from second grade and up or third grade and up. I have a poster with instructions, which you can find on my YouTube channel.

For consumables, I love using math manipulatives. I collect old ones from teacher hallways at the end or beginning of the school year. I also found Unifix cube alternatives at Target’s dollar spot. These are great for various STEM activities.

For lesson ideas, if you want to focus on engineering as your main goal, here are some suggestions. For a multi-day project, consider my STEM Survival Camp. In episode four of this podcast, I discuss all six challenges. The build a shelter challenge is popular, where students create a shelter to withstand elements like wind, water, and snow.

For STEM stations, use my engineer inspiration boards. These are low-prep, themed activities that students can build using any materials on hand. They are perfect for last-minute lessons or fast finishers.

For a one-day lesson, consider the paper plate marble coaster. It’s a fun project where students design a coaster using flimsy paper plates. They learn about roller coaster design principles and use cardboard building techniques.

In summary, today we talked about the standards for engineering in STEM, recommended tools, and lesson ideas for multi-day projects, STEM stations, and one-day lessons. You can find all lesson-specific resources in my TPT shop, Naomi Meredith. Feel free to reach out to me via email or Instagram for links or questions. Can't wait to hang out with you next week for the last episode in this series, where we'll talk about all things math.

Thank you for listening to today's episode of the Elementary STEM Coach Podcast. Connect with me on Instagram at NaomiMeredith_ or via email at elementarystemcoachpodcast@gmail.com. Check out my website, NaomiMeredith.com, for show notes and K-5 STEM resources. Reach out with any questions or ideas for episodes. Talk to you soon!

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

Check out more inspiration on her website: naomimeredith.com
Connect with her on Instagram: @naomimeredith_
Watch this episode on her YouTube Channel: Naomi Meredith
Join the Facebook Group, The Elementary STEM Coach Community | Technology & STEM for K-6 Teachers

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

She offers a variety of tools to help teachers feel successful teaching STEM to their elementary students through lesson plans, online courses, coaching and speaking events.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM, innovation and hands-on learning in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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