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3 Turkey STEM & Stories Activities [ep.185]

by Naomi Meredith

3 Turkey STEM & Stories Activities [ep.185]

Check out the full episode about Turkey STEM & Stories:

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

Episode Summary

I’m sharing three turkey-themed STEM lessons perfect for Thanksgiving week, plus a bonus LEGO activity to engage your students. These low-prep ideas pair with the books The Great Turkey Race, How to Catch a Turkey, and Turkey Trouble, incorporating creativity, engineering, and storytelling. Whether it’s building turkey catapults, or designing turkey disguises, these activities are easy to adapt for all ages and guarantee holiday fun in your classroom.

Make sure to listen to the end because I share a bonus, low-prep Thanksgiving activity that I am going to teach to my students this week!

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: 

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.

Raise your hand if you are teaching during Thanksgiving week. If you’re watching the video version, I am raising my hand. I am currently in the middle of long term K-5 STEM subbing for one of my friends in the STEM teacher community.

And at the time of this recording, I have just completed my first month in this job. So that has been really fun. I finally have met all of the kids in the school.

And we do have school Monday and Tuesday, the week of Thanksgiving. So I feel your pain, or not pain. I mean, hey, maybe you’re very excited to teach that week.

But I understand where you’re coming from. And maybe you want something seasonal that you can do with your students. And so I’m going to be sharing with you three turkey themed STEM lessons that you can do with your students of all ages.

They are low prep, they’re a lot of fun. You can do these lessons as a whole group experience, or even if you want to mix it up as STEM stations, or do a little bit of both. And at the end, I actually have a bonus activity that this is actually what I’m going to be doing the week of Thanksgiving.

And so wait till the end because you get the three lessons I’m going to share and then that bonus all three of these turkeys STEM lessons I’m going to be mentioning go along with books. And you can find these books at your local library, on Amazon, or maybe you already have them in your classroom. And I will make sure to link those in the show notes.

The first STEM and stories lesson to try in your classroom that goes along with turkeys is going with the story The Great Turkey Race. And this is actually a funny book. Some of the kids actually might start laughing because the turkeys are gonna realize Oh, no, we are going to be Thanksgiving dinner.

And kids might put that connection. Oh, we’re eating a turkey that was alive. But anyway, it’s a funny book.

And I’m gonna spoil the story for you. But the turkeys are trying to escape and race so that they’re not going to be eaten. And what I like to do with this lesson, and I actually have a whole unit written for this that you can find in my TPT shop, Naomi Meredith.

But what’s really fun is you’re going to create some turkeys out of pom poms, the students can create them and glue the image of the turkey onto the pom pom, or maybe you have them pre created. And then students are going to build a fence using materials that you have, and then create a catapult that will launch the turkeys over the fence. So there are a lot of steps to this project.

So like I said, you definitely could do this as STEM stations, where one station is creating the turkeys, the next station is creating the fence. And then the next station is creating the catapult, which now that I’m saying this out loud, I think that’s actually how I want to run this this week. So there you go.

Really fun story, fun lesson. And if you don’t want the students taking the catapults home, one thing I like to do is when they clean up at the end of class, they actually have to carefully cut off the rubber bands. And they get really sad, they want to keep it but I don’t want to deal with them launching other things in their classroom.

So up to you what you want to do with that. But that way you can reuse materials minus the rubber bands. So up to you.

The next story is really fun. There’s a lot of variations of this story throughout the year. And I’ve actually been sending those to my niece and nephew who are in elementary school.

But this story is how to catch a turkey. And you can pretty much guess from the title, but they’re trying to catch the turkey. And so after listening to the story, students can design a contraption that is safe that can actually catch the turkey for you know what.

But again, this could be a really fun way you can integrate this into your classroom. And the final turkeys seven stories lesson that you can try is goes along with the story turkey trouble. And for this one, students have to create a disguise for the turkey.

You can do this on paper and students can build on top of the paper turkey. Or if you had a robot that represents the turkey get turkey, they can disguise the turkey that way. Maybe you have turkey toys that you have purchased and they could create a design using 3d printing.

The possibilities are endless how complicated or what types of materials you want to use. But again, really fun. It adds in a lot of that art element, which almost all of my lessons have that let’s be honest, I love that creativity piece.

Even though I say stem, everything that you do in STEM has that art piece anyway, because you want to be creative and add that really that fun and really visual element. So this one’s really fun. And again, other possibilities.

And I promised you a bonus activity that you can try in your classroom. And this stem from, I was meeting all the kids in the school. So I had four different rotations, I told you, I just met all the kids.

And I wanted to get to know them. And so I was doing a lot of my usual back to school lessons with the students, but it was October. Because that’s what it was like for me, I had the back to school teacher tired and setting up some of the routines and really trying to continue the ones that the teacher already has in place.

So that when she comes back, it’s a lot easier. And so I played with them my all about me brick build, which has back to school themes, I changed up a couple questions. So it was relevant to where we were at.

And the kids really, really liked it. My students at my other school really, really liked it as well. These students did too.

So it really brought Hey, I should make a Thanksgiving themed one. So a couple of you have already grabbed it from my TPT shop. But it’s the newest item in my shop.

It’s a Thanksgiving themed all about me brick build. There are questions that are Thanksgiving theme that a lot of people typically do during this time. And so if it’s true about them, such as do you like mashed potatoes? If this is true about the student, they’re going to get the matching Lego bricks that are listed on the screen.

So for that question, do you like mashed potatoes, then they have to get one yellow Lego brick. If it’s not true about them, they just wait for the next question. And I mix it up where they’re gonna probably say yes to a lot.

But it’s definitely up to them what shade of Lego or the size later on in the lesson and actually talks about counting the studs or the bumps on the top and adding in that mathematical piece in a low entry point way. And so it’s really fun to get the kids talking. And then they can build with the Lego bricks that they collect along the way.

And then at the end, they can create a final design with all the pieces that they collected. For me those two days of Thanksgiving week, I actually want to see the whole school. So I have 24 different classes.

And my classes are 45 minutes long. So I’m going to start with one class. So let’s say I’m teaching third grade, my third grade class is going to come to me for the first 20 minutes, then I’m going to switch with the art teacher and we’re going to switch classes.

So I’ll see that her class for 20 minutes. So I’m this will happen for two days. So Monday, Tuesday.

So within two days, I’m going to teach this lesson 24 times. So I better have this memorized at least by the third time. So easy to prep if you have a bunch of mixed Lego bricks, that lesson is good for you.

And all of the questions are made and ready to go and have some visuals. I hope you like these fun Turkey and Thanksgiving STEM lesson ideas. Let me know in my DMS what you think at Naomi Meredith on Instagram or TikTok, or write a YouTube comments.

I would love to hear from you and hope you have a great holiday.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

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!

Quick & Easy Thanksgiving STEM Activity with LEGO Bricks

by Naomi Meredith

Quick & Easy Thanksgiving STEM Activity with LEGO Bricks

Are you looking for a Thanksgiving-themed STEM activity that’s simple, engaging, and uses materials you already have? Look no further! I’ve got the perfect activity for you: The All About Me Thanksgiving Brick Build. It’s a hit with kids and teachers alike, and all you need are LEGO bricks and a few themed questions.

Easy Thanksgiving STEM Activity with LEGO Bricks: How It Works

  1. Gather Your Materials:
    Grab buckets of mixed LEGO bricks and place them on tables around the room.

 

2. Explain the Rules:
Read out Thanksgiving-themed questions to the group. If a statement is true for a student, they’ll grab the matching LEGO bricks described in the question. For example:

  • “Grab one yellow brick if you like mashed potatoes.”
  • “Pick up two red bricks if you’re thankful for your family.”

If the statement isn’t true for a student, they can either wait for the next question or start building with their collected bricks.

3. Wrap Up with Creativity:
At the end, students can use all their collected bricks to build a fun creation to share with the group. This adds a collaborative and creative twist to the activity!

 

Grab this activity for your classroom HERE!

 

Why Teachers Love This Easy Thanksgiving STEM Activity with LEGO Bricks

This morning, I shared the link to this activity in my Teachers Pay Teachers shop with my email list, and within an hour, I received an enthusiastic response from a teacher. She had to make a last-minute change to her plans and used this activity with her students. She told me how easy it was to set up and how much her class enjoyed it!

The All About Me Thanksgiving Brick Build is a great way to encourage teamwork, creativity, and reflection—all while keeping the holiday spirit alive. It’s a wonderful way to connect with students and give them a chance to share a little about themselves.

 

Ready to Try It?

This activity is perfect for classrooms, homeschool groups, or even family gatherings. Grab your LEGO bricks and let the Thanksgiving fun begin! If you’d like to get the full activity with detailed questions, it’s available here in my TPT shop. Teachers are already using it with great success, and I know your students will love it too.

Happy Thanksgiving and happy building! 🍁🦃

Try this with your class here!

 

 

Other Posts You Might Enjoy:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About the author, 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!

I Bought a Trailer to Be a Mobile STEM Classroom…Now What!?! [ep.184]

by Naomi Meredith

I Bought a Trailer to Be a Mobile STEM Classroom…Now What!?! [ep.184]

Check out the full episode about a mobile 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 special episode, I’m recording from an exciting new location—my mobile STEM trailer!

This trailer is something I’ve dreamed of since 2020, and I’m thrilled to share how this vision came to life.

Join me as I give you a behind-the-scenes look at my journey, from hunting for the right vehicle to the inspiring reasons behind creating a mobile STEM classroom. I’ll share some fun stories, like my search for this trailer and how I’m setting it up to reach even more students in our community.

Plus, I’ll explain a fun way for you to join this journey—by adding your name to the trailer in a special way. Let’s dive into how we can make STEM accessible to every child, one mile at a time!

Resources Mentioned:

  • Contribute to the trailer HERE or see what resources are still needed HERE

 

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.

Today is a very fun episode and if you are watching the YouTube version of this, you might have noticed that my background is a little bit different than normal. We are almost 200 episodes in and there’s only been a couple times where my background has changed and this is one of them. I am recording this episode inside my brand new to me mobile STEM trailer or that’s what I’m converting it into.

 

It isn’t very acoustically great for podcasting and my camera might be shaking a little bit because I have it on a stand right now connected to one of the counters, but I really wanted to record it in here because I feel like that this is very monumental in my STEM journey as an educator and also what this business has evolved into and how my passion for STEM has kept growing and growing. So with that, I wanted to give you a behind the scenes look at how I got here, why do I have a STEM mobile trailer, and what’s going to go from here. So for some of you it might seem actually very random.

 

It seems very very random, but of course not everything I share on social media. I share quite a bit, but not every single little thing you know that. Ever since January 2020, I was updating my vision board with personal and business goals that I wanted to grow and one of those things was having a mobile STEM classroom and I have a picture of this cute little blue truck I think it’s on there.

 

I didn’t really care so much the color, but I wanted something where I could bring STEM to more kids in the community because at that time I was still teaching K-5 STEM. I was right in the middle of that part of my career and I knew how big of an impact, positively big of an impact that STEM has had on my students and I knew that after building that program up for a while, I wanted to expand it in lots of different ways and I still had all the things I was doing in elementary STEM. I’m not, I don’t think I quite had the elementary STEM coach podcast yet, but I did have another podcast, but that was something with having a mobile STEM classroom was one of those many things that I really dreamed of having.

 

Here we are in the first week of November of 2024 at the time of this recording, over four years from when I created that part of my vision board and it’s so surreal sitting inside of my trailer of something that I absolutely dreamed of and at this time I’ve only owned it for one whole week. Little quick thing that I did today, I’m getting better at connecting the trailer. I’ve only driven it a handful of times right and so I cleaned out the whole trailer today, wiped everything down and then you can see behind me that there’s two different colors of white on the counter where I was filling in the holes and the cracks and then painting and then visualizing and measuring of the things that I’m going to add on this first level.

 

So realistically this trailer for me is moving ready, but of course I love to decorate and add that STEM twist. Okay, so how does a STEM trailer fit into what I am doing? Earlier this year, April 2024, I actually started my own community STEM programs and my side of that business is called STEM Explorers Club. You can check that out at STEMExplorersClub.com. So within that first year of me leaving the classroom, so I left the traditional classroom teaching K-5 STEM at the end of the 2022-2023 school year and I do have a podcast episode about my whole journey in elementary STEM you can go back and listen to, but during that first year out of the classroom I really was exploring a lot of different things within elementary STEM and things that I like and didn’t like and still continuing my business and adding on things as well.

 

And one of the things that I really realized is I still love to teach and actually I did know that. That’s actually not why I left the traditional classroom. I love to teach, but I also wanted to do it on my own terms and I did for a little bit partner with a local business and taught some Lego clubs after school and it really made me realize, oh I can actually teach my own programs in the community and bring STEM to kids who may or may not have experienced it.

 

Again, back to the vision board, it was really bringing that part out of it. So in April of 2024, I started doing teaching in the community and partnered with a local coffee shop which I still do a lot with them and excited how this trailer can fit in with our partnership. So I started teaching some drop-in STEM sessions for kids in my community.

 

I had a lot of kids from my old school come visit me. Also some kids from my Lego clubs come to my sessions and continue to dabble with that throughout the summer. During the summer I also started reaching out to schools near me that were interested in STEM after school programs and so currently I have three going on four schools that I partner with and each day I go to a different school after school and teach my own curriculum to kids who love to build and create.

 

So really through all of this, having a mobile STEM classroom wasn’t 100% necessary. This is something that I’ve been building up, building those connections, learning how to create projects for kids who may or may not be familiar with certain types of things in STEM and also projects that can be done really really quick in about 45 minutes because when you really think about the teaching time and then the kids are building and creating and then the cleanup time, it really is 40 to 45 minutes where they start and finish this project. So that is something I am still working on.

 

Also through that I’ve also realized that there is so much potential and opportunity when it comes to different events that I could do for STEM such as field trips or partnering with homeschool groups. I have a homeschool group I’m currently working with. There was a trunk retreat that happened in my neighborhood that would have been really cool to be a part of.

All sorts of things that have been brewing in my head where it’s really combining the business side of my brain and also the teaching side of my brain into one and having this mobile space, having this mobile trailer is definitely a dream, like literally a dream come true for me because really building up this space is so much fun for me and also thinking about okay how can I connect with different groups and how can I bring this into a lot of different spaces because that is the thing having this space where to have a program like this can be really really tricky and so I can be more mobile like legit a mobile STEM lab that can provide the opportunity. So it’s been really fun to visualize it. Okay you also might be wondering how and did you pick this trailer and how did you find it? My original idea and back to that thing on my vision board, I actually had a little bus and if you were following me on Instagram at Naomi Meredith, I actually took a look at a couple of buses so I was looking on Facebook marketplace.

 

I also remember this is after I created my vision board seeing a teacher create a mobile classroom out of a small bus but it was for preschool and I thought oh I really should get a bus and I was really stuck on the bus like that was what I was really really focused on was to get a small mini bus to be my mobile classroom and that’s what I was looking for. So I first was looking at Facebook marketplace and then a couple of local businesses that specialize in small buses and I actually went and saw two in person. The first one was so cute it was hot pink and the inside was all torn out and all flooring it had some shelving much like what I’m sitting in right now and it was used for a mobile boutique so it was super cute in the pictures went inside and all the tires were flat.

 

Now the paint job was fine actually but all the tires were flat and the whole inside of this bus was just filled with all their junk and they even said oh yeah we haven’t ran it for like maybe four years so yeah I was just kind of sad about that like this isn’t meant to be. So then I kept looking kept looking and then I found another bus also the full everything was torn out had flooring and went checked it out made a little weekend of it with my teacher honey we went and checked it out it was great for the space so I all I had to do was add furniture but we couldn’t even get it to start and it had a lot a lot of miles and so we’re like oh like it’s already having issues probably shouldn’t go along with it. 

 

So at the same time I saw that second bus I actually saw this trailer and this trailer was used also as a mobile boutique much like that first bus I saw where it was used for selling clothing at farmers markets and other events and I saw this one I’m like ah I don’t know I think I want a bus like that way I can just drive it on my own but then after seeing the second bus I went back to the posting of the trailer and I’m like well if I did get a trailer then I don’t necessarily have a full other vehicle that I have to manage so thinking about the gas a type of registration riding it these buses actually they’re bigger than I thought like they’re small but they’re actually bigger than I thought and so finally I’m like you know what we are I’m gonna like go look at this trailer so I contacted the owner went and saw the trailer and like I got chills the whole time and this happens to me a lot like like you know when you get that feeling but I got chills I’m like oh my gosh this is perfect for what I’m looking for um same kind of size 

 

so I’m looking at it right now same kind of size all torn out it has shelving and in the pictures it looked a little bit smaller but when I’m thinking about how kids work and are in here I can do a lot of inside outside work which was what I was planning on doing anyway with the bus but the shelves are actually at kid height so I’m sitting in this video and it’s perfect height for kids and definitely is moving ready for me so after some talking and negotiating and trying to figure out all of that finally worked it out and long story short got the trailer which I have never driven one before and luckily my car can tow so that was absolutely perfect that is where we’re at so in like I said in those stages of decorating planning we’re getting into those winter months which is perfect where I can get this trailer all set up build those connections really think about how I purposely want to use this and also I’m very open to ideas too I’m very much open and willing to try new things and excited to share with you all how it’s going in a few months I bought these little gears 

 

so if you’re in the video you can see these gears I bought these little gears that I’m going to paint and hang up in the trailer as a way to honor you and for any part that you want to be in part of this journey whether it is donating materials or if you have donating any funds that will help renovate this space and bring this program to life there are so many things that are to be added to this space to make it innovative and welcoming for kids and would love for you to be a part of it so I will add a link in the show notes for you. 

 

Any little bit helps that will help build this dream into reality and you can be part of this journey and you will actually be inside this trailer where I’ll actually write your name on these gears! 

 

I’m so excited to share this all with you just a more personal episode but I love doing these personal episodes here and there because it’s like documenting what I am doing and I actually go back and listen to these because sometimes they even talk about things that I might end up might end up wanting to do in the future and I end up doing it which is pretty exciting so I’m super excited for you guys to be here thank you for all your support and love all your kind words over on Instagram were so kind thank you so much and excited to check in with you even in six months to see where this mobile STEM trailers at. 

 

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:

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

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!

What Scared Me the Most When Teaching K-5 STEM [ep.183]

by Naomi Meredith

What Scared Me the Most When Teaching K-5 STEM [ep.183]

teaching-k-5-stem

Check out the full episode about teaching K-5 STEM:

Watch the video version of this episode here on YouTube:

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

Episode Summary

After being a classroom teacher for 6 years and stepping into a K-5 STEM role, there was a lot that I didn’t know and also realized I would be concerned about. Over the years as a passionate STEM educator, there are a handful of things that scare me about K-5 STEM education that might scare you, too.

In this episode, you’ll learn what scared me the most when teaching K-5 STEM:

  • Having access to up-to-date resources and tools for students
  • Feasible time to complete projects
  • Creating and teaching a well-balanced curriculum with a variety of experiences

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: 

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.

I wanted to record a spooky episode just in time for Halloween, and if you are watching the video version, I am wearing a spider web shirt to get in the spooky mood. Now, you can actually listen to this at any time. It’s actually not specifically Halloween related, but there are some things about elementary STEM that scared me when I was getting into that space.

So let’s get into it. One of the first things that was a little bit scary for me getting into K-5 STEM and really continues to be a little bit scary is making sure that my students had up-to-date resources and having the funding to provide those experiences for kids. Sure, you can do a whole lot with recycled materials, and if funding is something that you feel like is stopping you, there is a lot that you can do in Let’s Chat.

I have a whole playlist about Makerspace that you can get started. But really, there are some ways to get some funding, and we’ve also talked about that here on this podcast before. But I always was concerned about, I want to make sure that kids are attacking problems and having experiences with things that are relevant and up-to-date.

When I walked into my K-5 STEM space, when I was a classroom teacher for six years, walked into that K-5 STEM space, I had limited supplies. I didn’t have a whole lot of experience. I did with teaching, but not in STEM and no curriculum.

There were some things in there. There were some older STEM kits. There were a lot of things that were meant for middle school students.

There wasn’t anything for the little kids. I had an old 3D printer and a broken crayons, and it did scare me a bit. How am I going to create this program really out of nothing? And I really did.

There are a lot of great free resources out there. So even if your school has access to computers for your students, mine did, thankfully. And so I would have students bring in their computers into the classroom so I didn’t have to purchase any.

There are some you can do online. Like I said, create with makerspace materials. But there are some ways to write grants as well and creative ways to get some funding.

But that is something that scared me and continues to scare me and is always on the top of my mind to make sure that kids are being able to use resources that are relevant, that are up-to-date, and can really help them make those connections to the real world. So that is something I’m very passionate about, having really good resources. And I really try to bring those up here on this podcast or over on my social media to make sure that we are doing what is really fun and also relevant for kids.

Another big thing that would scare me as a K-5 STEM teacher and also now educator in my community is the amount of time. Time and pacing on projects is really tricky. Even now for me, when I am starting and creating new projects, I feel really bad for my Tuesday afterschool STEM group because they are the first ones to try the project and it always goes better with my Thursday group.

So I always want to make sure that I’m thinking through those steps with my Tuesday group and then I try my best and it goes way better on Thursday. But the amount of time is so tricky. This goes also to those experience and resources.

What do we have kids learning? What can we feasibly do in the amount of time? And I totally get it. A lot of you actually teach STEM to your whole school by Friday. So you see a different group of kids Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday.

I was really lucky. I got to see kids Monday through Friday. Even in my long-term STEM subbing right now, I’m teaching K-5 STEM currently.

Having that luxury of them every single day is awesome. But I know that’s not always the case. With my STEM afterschool clubs, I see them for an hour and we’re done for the week.

I don’t carry on projects. So having that time can be scary and adjusting what works well. And it really is a lot of trial and error and keeping track of what works well and what doesn’t.

And bringing this all together, these all really connect. These are always things that I was worried about is having a well-balanced curriculum. It was really interesting when, and I still hear this too, when I talk to kids about what STEM is like in their schools, if they have it.

So I don’t even work in this school. Some kids say they only do coding. Coding’s awesome.

That’s great. But that should just be called a coding class, not a STEM class. And so I really try to ask kids, what do you do in STEM? What kinds of projects? Some kids say they don’t even do projects.

I’m like, oh, interesting. We’re always on the computer. Interesting.

So my thing when teaching K through 5 STEM and also thinking about your curriculum as well, I have an episode actually about auditing your STEM curriculum and really making sure it has all the pieces that you need because there are really purposeful ways to plan. And then there’s some quick ways that I just need to get something out there. But I was always concerned about how can I have a well-balanced curriculum that carries me throughout the year, that has a variety of experiences and also has a progression of learning.

Starting off the first couple of years, kids may or may not have a whole lot of background. However, as you get through the years, you do need to have some more challenges, but you also want to carry through those skills. And so that is scary.

There’s a lot of puzzle pieces fitting in. And I do have my K through 5 STEM year-long plan, scope and sequence that you can take a peek at for free. It’s at Naomi Meredith.com slash year-long plan.

Super helpful for you. You can grab all the lessons individually or in a bundle, but you can take a peek at the actual year for free and all of the standards that went along with it. Also, if you’re needing more support when it comes to setting up your space or a big thing is lesson planning at this time of year, I do have my on-demand STEM workshops that in two hours, I walk you through.

There’s a K through two workshop and a three through five that really walks you through the process of how I actually plan lessons using standards and a variety of experiences to bring it all together. Those are linked in the show notes for you, but this is a great time of year to really dive in. Now that you know your kids and kind of what you like and don’t like in this space, those workshops are extremely helpful.

There is a certificate that you can turn in if you need professional development hours, but definitely something to not have you be scared anymore and feel a lot of success. What are the types of things that scare you in the K through five STEM space? Let me know in the comments if you’re on YouTube or feel free to reach out to me on Instagram at Naomi Meredith underscore. And I would love to hear your thoughts.

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 episodes and shop my K through five STEM resources. Any questions you have needs for resources or ideas for episodes, get in touch.

I’ll talk to you soon.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is 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!

3 Pumpkin STEM Stations for Your Classroom [ep.182]

by Naomi Meredith

3 Pumpkin STEM Stations for Your Classroom [ep.182]

Check out the full episode about pumpkin STEM stations:

 

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

Episode Summary

If you are looking for Fall-themed STEM stations that aren’t Halloween-related, but still celebrate the time of year, I got you covered in this episode! I’ll explain how I organized the stations with a group of students and how they rotated through.

Then, I’ll share with you the three, easy-to-prep pumpkin STEM stations that you can try with students. In my group, I had kids from 4 years old to 10 years old mixed together, and they all had a blast!

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Organizing and rotating students through the 3 pumpkin STEM Stations
  • Life Cycle of a Pumpkin Robot Coding
  • Pumpkin Pixel Art
  • Pumpkin Vine Pom Pom Mazes

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: 

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.

The other day when I was shopping at Trader Joe’s, my Trader Joe’s had all of the pumpkins decorating the outside. Pumpkins of all shapes and sizes and all sorts of colors, and they even had bumpy pumpkins. I love fall, and where I’m here in Colorado, it hasn’t felt like fall.

It’s actually been pretty hot, but in the mornings I like to pretend it’s fall. It feels very, very nice. And so this episode I’m sharing with you three pumpkin STEM stations that you can do with your students that are super easy to prep and a lot of fun for the kids.

I recently taught these pumpkin STEM stations to a homeschool group that I am connected with, and there’s about 15 to 20 kids, depending on the day, that I get to teach, and we reserve a room in our local library that I actually get to teach and do all sorts of fun STEM stuff with them for an hour. And I love a good theme. I’ve said this a million times, but that’s actually the way I like to plan.

It’s really good for helping make connections, especially with the different types of activities that you do. And this one was all about pumpkins. This isn’t specifically Halloween related, so you can definitely do these for this time of year, Halloween, if you’re listening in real time.

But if you want to save them for November, you can definitely do that too. I had kids in my group who don’t celebrate Halloween. So this definitely worked for kids just learning about pumpkins.

Really quick how I set this up. This isn’t my typical four stations because I knew kids wouldn’t have enough time to rotate through all four. And so I had four groups, but I had three stations.

And this is actually how it worked. The kids were in their four groups. So for me, I had a lot of ages.

So I actually leveled them by age when they were in their groups. I had three different stations. So robotics, a pixel art station, I’m going to explain all of these.

And then they had a creation station or their engineering station. And one group would be at robotics, one would be at pixel art. Two groups were with me at the creation station, the engineering station, and I would set a timer.

When the timer went off, the robots and the pixel art stations would switch. So they would get a chance to do that. Then the kids who were with me creating, they actually stayed with me.

So it was like they were rotating two times. They did need a little bit of extra time to create. And I did this before with another type of stations that we did about space.

And it worked really well. I set a timer again. So after that timer went off, my kids who were creating, they were done with their creation.

And I had them set their creations over to the side. Then the kids who are at pixel art and robotics came to my station for the last two rounds. And then my two groups are with me, one went to robotics, one went to pixel art, and then they would do the switching.

So it worked out awesome. They’re the sweetest little group. I love working with them so much.

I’m excited to see them in November. But this works really well. If you can’t do two days of rotations, I still have the four groups, but they rotated through all three, because everything was pretty simple.

And they got to try it all out. So let’s get into those pumpkin stations. The first pumpkin station was using a robot, I use the code and go mouse, but you could use pretty much any robot you have on hand.

I have coding mats for many of the popular robots that you can print and create, which I keep a stash of those here in my home office. And what we did is students had images of the life cycle of a pumpkin. So starting from the seed, all the way up to the adult pumpkin, and they could put the cards wherever they wanted on the mat.

And they coded their robot to travel the path of the life cycle of a pumpkin. Once they got the hang of that, and if they had extra time, I also had a cube that a paper cube that is folded and taped together that had all the different images of each step of the life cycle of a pumpkin, they could roll the dice and then code their robot to go to that location. Even though my students were mixed in age from kindergarten all the way up to fourth grade, none of them actually had experience coding a robot before even this simple type of robot.

So it actually worked well for my mixed ability of students. Because this was their first time doing this and they loved it. The second station that we had was creating fall pixel art, I went online and I searched up different images of pixel art fall things.

So leaves, pumpkins, those type corn, those types of things. And I had those images printed out in color and I put them in page productors and they were laying on the table. And I had a grid printed out for kids.

And then the kids are able to create pixel art that was colored in. Now I’ve done pixel art a few ways where I’ve had the old blocks old boards. I don’t think blocks is old, but I had older blocks, old boards, and they had these tiny cubes where students would put the art in.

That is definitely something that I want to invest in eventually, which they have versions of pixel art with cubes you can purchase online, which I will link in the show notes what I’m talking about. But I like students to create pixel art that way. Coloring is great.

You can even buy colored squares that they can put on a grid and create pixel art that way. You can even use those little melting beads where they have a grid. You could put those together and then eventually melt them.

I did coloring just for our time. It worked out well. Some students even would trace their image with pencil and then color in later.

So that was an easy station for them to do. And you can have a lot of variations. And for the station with me, students were creating a pumpkin patch.

And you might have seen on my Instagram at Naomi Meredith underscore, I was taking video of me prepping for these STEM stations. And one of them, I really was doing this. I wasn’t just acting for this video.

I really was doing this. I have a whole bucket of pom poms and I was picking out all of the orange pom poms. Because I didn’t want kids to fight over, I want this color pom pom.

I want this color. Nope. I picked out all the orange ones.

There’s a few different sizes. That’s okay. And that was enough.

So I had orange pom poms. Then I had paper plates that I made sure had an edge around it. Some of those really cheap paper plates, you know what I’m talking about.

There’s no edge. It’s just there. It’s a plate.

But a little slightly more expensive ones with the edging so that the pom pom wouldn’t come out. Then I had some images of pumpkins that they could color. And then I cut strips of green paper that would represent the vines.

And so what students did using glue sticks is they created a pumpkin patch with vines that had some loops and swirls and different arches that the pom pom could roll through. And then they would color in those pumpkins, cut them out, and add them to their pumpkin patch however they wanted. This was really simple, but they really liked it.

And if they held down the paper of the construction paper vines, it worked just fine with the glue sticks. And they had a lot of fun and they were shocked. I was actually a little shocked too, that the pom pom rolled around really well.

So it was a really great activity. And all of these things, so their pixel art and their pumpkin maze, they could take home with them. Of course they couldn’t take home the robot, but I even printed them out the life cycle of a pumpkin activity that they could complete at home.

At the end, we had a little bit of extra time after we cleaned up. And the kids were actually telling me about this pumpkin story they had heard about. And so we actually had time to listen to the story, Too Many Pumpkins.

You’ll have to listen to it. It’s actually pretty cute. And it’s also not really Halloween-y.

And so that was a great ending to our time together. Let me know if you try any of these pumpkin STEM stations in your classroom. I will link everything in the show notes for you so you can find what you need and have a very pumpkin-y time.

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 through five STEM resources. Any questions you have, needs for resources or ideas for episodes, get in touch.

I’ll talk to you soon.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is 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!

3 Spooky Science Experiments To Try [ep.181]

by Naomi Meredith

3 Spooky Science Experiments To Try [ep.181]

Check out the full episode about spooky science experiments:

 

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

I’m diving into the spooky spirit with three fun and easy science experiments that you can try with your students! Whether you’re planning a Halloween-themed lesson, a special event like trunk-or-treat, or just want to add some excitement to your classroom, these activities are low-prep and big on fun.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Smoldering Pumpkins
  • Static Ghosts
  • Flying Bats

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: 

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 all know I love a good theme and when it comes to pretty much every holiday, I am all about it. In fact, if you are watching the video version of this episode, I have a spooky in quotations sweatshirt that I absolutely love. I downloaded the template off of Etsy, and then I made my own sweatshirt.

So that’s a fun little hack if you need something in a pinch. But I have three spooky science experiments that you can try with your students. Or if you are doing a spooky presentation, maybe you’re doing something at trunk or tree or something for your school.

These are very, very easy to prep and they are a lot of fun and show off some fun science. I recently presented these three experiments at my old school that I taught K-5 STEM. One of the families asked me if I could be the featured presenter for their Cub Scout group and they actually had a whole lot of kids and it was a lot of fun to see some of my students from the past and meet some new ones and some little siblings.

It was a lot of fun and of course I decorated the table. I brought in some fun little Halloween and spooky decor and as the kids are coming in, they wanted to hear all about it. So I actually got to present in front of the whole group of kids.

But like I said, you could do this like a station rotation and all of that. So let’s get into it. Any extra materials that I used that I can find the links, I will link that in the show notes for you so you can grab them if you want to try these yourself.

The first spooky experiment that I did was a smoking pumpkin. So I had one of those pumpkin buckets that you see for a dollar or two where you can go trick-or-treating and a little cauldron. And right before my presentation, I went and purchased some dry ice.

I was able to find dry ice at my grocery store. They had it where customer service was and I brought in my own cooler and gloves to make sure that I didn’t burn myself because it’s very, very cold. And then I brought in some water bottles and I talked with kids about how you have the three states of matter.

And I have the kids tell me the three states of matter. They recited those for me, solid, liquid, and gas, the basic ones that we talk about in science in elementary. And I let them know that usually when things turn from a solid to a gas, it will melt.

And so you have the solid, it will melt, be the liquid, and then turn into the gas. But dry ice is different because dry ice is a solid, but it switches quickly from solid to gas when water is poured on top, creating this science explanation called sublimation. And then the gas, which looked like smoke, came out of the pumpkin and the cauldron.

The kids absolutely loved it. It’s super mesmerizing. You can move the bucket around and the smoke kind of moves around and it’s super spooky.

If you want to make it a little spookier, you can put some glow sticks in there as well. So that’s a really fun crowd pleaser. The dry ice is really thick.

So I recommend if you have a hammer, kind of breaking it up into chunks and you should be good to go. The next spooky science experiment is static electricity ghosts. All you need for this one is a blown up balloon, tissue paper, where you cut out some ghost shapes.

I also drew cute little faces and a little bit of scotch tape. What you do is you tape the bottom of your ghost to your surface and make sure that they can move around. Mine had a tablecloth when I did this and it kind of stuck to the tablecloth.

So make sure just to add a little tape on the end of the ghost and then the rest can move around. Then this was really fun. I went around and rubbed the balloon on the kids’ heads to build up that static electricity charge.

After you rub the balloon on their heads, then float that balloon on top of the ghost and all of a sudden they start popping up looking like they’re floating. It’s really cool because when you are getting that static electricity, when you are rubbing that balloon, the balloon’s atoms are becoming negatively charged where the paper ghost has positively charged atoms. So opposites attract and then it seems like those ghosts are floating up in the air.

So this is really, really fun. And the last spooky science experiment that you can try are rocket bats. All I did for this one is I bought a stomp rocket, very inexpensive, that came with four rockets.

Mine glowed in the dark, but you get a stomp rocket with your rockets. And then I cut out some shapes of a bat. Now there are a couple of science things that go along with this.

I told the kids a little bit about bats and how they are nocturnal, where they sleep during the day and they hunt at night. And I told kids that there is a spot in Austin, Texas, where all these bats like to hang out under this bridge. And then when it becomes getting darker at night, all the bats will fly out at once, which is so crazy.

So I told them about that a little bit, how bats are helpful pollinators. And then I had a few volunteers come up and they got to stomp on the rocket to make the bats or the little rockets fly in the air. We also talked about why this is happening and how this is demonstrating Newton’s third law of motion where every action has an equal and opposite reaction and how this is happening where a rocket is being launched in the air.

There’s all of that buildup. And once it’s ready to be launched, the rocket launches up and there’s all of that equal and same fire or blast coming out. It was actually really cute because the kids would stomp on the rocket and then the rocket actually launched out in the crowd and they’re very, very light and the kids are trying to catch it.

So this was a lot of fun. Would you try these spooky science experiments with your students? Maybe you even try them with your own kids. They are very low prep, but they are a lot of fun and to get you in that spooky season.

Before we go, I got a really sweet message on my Instagram DMs that I wanted to read with you. So, and sometimes my things get hidden in my requests, which sometimes I don’t know why, but thank you to am 57. She said, Hey, I’m a fifth grade math teacher.

And this year I’ve also been assigned to incorporate STEM into my classroom. I’m so grateful to have found your YouTube channel. So helpful.

I’ve purchased some of your things on TPT. I love that I can be helpful. I totally understand what it’s like transitioning from the classroom and then being a K through five STEM teacher and now teaching STEM in my community and online in a lot of different ways.

So I’m so glad that the things that I’ve created and continue to create are helpful to teachers who are just like me. If you haven’t already, feel free to leave any kind things of how this podcast is helpful for you. Leave a review.

This helps other teachers know if this is the show for them. 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:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

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!

Must-Have Coding for Kids Online Resource to Try: imagi Edu

by Naomi Meredith

Must-Have Coding for Kids Online Resource to Try: imagi Edu

 

As a K-5 STEM educator, I am always on the look-out for ways to increase my students’ problem-solving skills with coding. Likewise, I want to ensure that the tool is easy to use, affordable and prepares them for the real world. 

One thing I noticed in my first year teaching K-5 STEM is that my students didn’t have a lot of background knowledge as to what coding was and how it was used. However, while consistently implementing computer science and programming into my curriculum, their skill levels increased over the years.

In terms of teaching coding to elementary-aged students, the typical progression of coding languages I use are: directional coding (with arrows), block-based with images or arrows, then block-based with words. 

However, after block-based, I felt a little stuck knowing which direction to go, and I had students ready for the next challenge!

I was excited when I heard about imagi Edu and how it’s great for introducing students’ ages 8 to 14+ to Python coding in a way that makes sense and is fun!

 

You can try imagi Edu for FREE using my link here. 

 

What’s fun about this platform is that kids are able to learn Python coding as they create colorful pixel-art projects. The imagi Edu platform allows students to code in real Python and then receive immediate feedback on the screen. 

The imagi Edu platform also includes an AI-powered Debugging Buddy, which offers contextual feedback to help students understand and resolve coding errors. It’s designed to build confidence and problem-solving skills without shortcutting the learning process. Even if they haven’t taught coding before, teachers can use this feature to make coding instruction more accessible and support student creativity while teaching foundational Python skills.

 

When coding with students, I also look for ways to make the experience tangible and hands-on. To bring students’ pixel art to life, you can connect the imagiCharm and the same code is in the palm of your hand. I actually wrote the code to display my name on the imagiCharm for a conference, and I got a lot of compliments (and questions!) on how I did that.

When getting started, there are also lesson slides to use with your students, which areis so helpful when teaching multiple classes and grade levels a day, because everything is laid out for you. The free version of imagi Edu comes with 5 lessons and 50 student accounts, so it’s easy and affordable to try. 

 

The lessons are step-by-step, which is something I found very useful since I am new to Python coding myself! Even when I was going through Lesson 1 before using imagi Edu with my students, I was learning so much about Python myself and really getting the hang of it. You can see for yourself how easy it is to connect the lessons to concrete coding projects that align with students’ interests. What I realized is that Python isn’t just for older kids, it can be used for younger students as well! 

If you’re looking for a way to level up your coding and teach your students a programming language that is currently used by computer programmers, this is a resource that you want to add into your computer science lesson plans. 

 

You can try imagi Edu for FREE using my link here

 

Have you tried imagi Edu yet? Feel free to send me a DM on Instagram, @naomimeredith_ and let me know what you think! 

 

This post is part of a paid collaboration with imagi Edu. While this is a sponsored partnership, all opinions, ideas, and content are my own, and I only share resources that I believe are valuable and relevant to my audience.

 

Other Posts You Might Enjoy:

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About the author, 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!

Engaging Space Lessons for the Elementary Classroom from Study.com

by Naomi Meredith

Engaging Space Lessons for the Elementary Classroom from Study.com

As a STEM educator, finding the right resources for lesson planning can be a challenge, especially when it comes to complex topics like space. Recently, I was delving into STEM lesson planning focused on space and found myself struggling to locate relevant materials that matched my objectives. While I came across some intriguing images and videos, many resources weren’t at the level I needed for my students. Thankfully, I discovered Study.com, which offers a wealth of engaging lessons on various space-related topics. Here’s a breakdown of three standout lessons that I found particularly valuable.

 

You can get 25% off your first month with study.com using my unique code here.

Watch Naomi talk about these space resources: 

 

1. International Space Station (ISS)

The first lesson I explored was all about the International Space Station. When I introduce this topic to students, I often find that most of them have never heard of the ISS or understand its purpose. This lesson from Study.com does a fantastic job explaining what the ISS is and how it came to be.

It also provides an overview of what life is like for astronauts living and working in space. One of the most engaging features was the paired video, which captures the students’ attention and helps them visualize the concepts being discussed. This lesson is an excellent way to pique students’ curiosity about space exploration and the science behind it.

To find this lesson on study.com, search for: “International Space Station Lesson for Kids”

2. Constellations

Next up is a lesson focused on constellations. I recently hosted a STEM booth, and the students’ knowledge of constellations was surprisingly varied. Many resources I’ve encountered in the past were aimed at younger audiences, so I was thrilled to find a comprehensive lesson designed for upper elementary students.

This lesson provides a solid overview of constellations, making it ideal for older kids who are eager to learn more about the night sky. The depth of information and clarity of presentation in this lesson ensure that students walk away with a better understanding of how constellations form and their significance in astronomy.

To find this lesson on study.com, search for: “Constellations Lesson for Kids: Definition & Facts”

 

3. Parts of a Rocket

The final resource I want to highlight is a lesson dedicated to the parts of a rocket. This lesson breaks down each component of a rocket and explains its function in the overall launch process. It promotes reverse engineering, encouraging students to think critically about how each part contributes to the rocket’s ability to function.

This unique perspective helps students grasp the complexities of rocket science and see the connection between the parts and their purpose. The hands-on approach is fantastic for inspiring a love of engineering and space technology among young learners.

To find this lesson on study.com, search for: “Parts of a Rocket: Lesson for Kids”

 

Have you used these space lessons before? What other lessons and resources on study.com do you enjoy?

 

You can get 25% off your first month with study.com using my unique code here.

 

Feel free to send me a DM over on Instagram, @naomimeredith_ and let me know!

 

Other Posts You Might Enjoy:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About the author, 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!

Easy Classroom Incentive Idea for Positive Behaviors in STEM [ep.179]

by Naomi Meredith

Easy Classroom Incentive Idea for Positive Behaviors in STEM [ep.179]

Check out the full episode about easy classroom incentive idea:

 

 

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

When you teach multiple classes a day, how can you easily set up a classroom incentive that encourages positive behaviors? In this episode, I’ll share with you a game I came up with that’s easy, fun, and motivating for elementary students of all ages.

There is also a bonus clip where you will hear me introduce this incentive with a class and hear their reactions!

Resources Mentioned:

 

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.

I got a question asked over on my Instagram @naomimeredith_ and it reads, Hi Naomi, I was wondering if you have any recommendations for whole classroom reward systems. This is an area I’m struggling as a first year STEM teacher. This is a great question.

And whether you teach the same kids all week, you see the whole school in one week, or maybe you even teach STEM after school clubs, or you are subbing as a STEM teacher, which is all the above all the things that I have done and do. So let’s get into this classroom reward system that I came up with that I actually have tested with classes. It is very, very simple.

Anybody can implement it. Even if you’re a classroom teacher, it’s very easy to manage, very straightforward. And I think you’re definitely going to enjoy it.

So this classroom reward system that I came up with is called Behavior Blast Off. And all it is is a poster with the title of Behavior Blast Off. It has a giant rocket and then an open space that will have five large stars.

Then on the side, I have a small cup of other stars. And each star has their own number labeled one through 30. The goal of this behavior management system is that it is rewarding positive behaviors.

So the goal for the class is to earn all five stars to get a five star rating. And we know that can be a good thing if it’s five out of five stars. So the kids of the class are trying to earn these five stars.

And every time they’re demonstrating the positive behaviors that you talk about in your classroom all the time, they can earn a star that goes right above that rocket. And every time you see those things, they can earn another star. And for every star that is earned, you have that tiny cup of the stars with the numbers.

At the end of class, that means how many stars that the class earned, the big ones, is how many little stars you’re going to pull out of this cup. And I mentioned that all these little stars have a number on them. And those numbers match a student.

So maybe it is their cubby number, their laptop number. So you probably have the kids numbered one through 25 or however many students you have. So if the class earns four stars, that means you pick out four stars out of the cup.

And what happens when you pick those stars at the end of class? Well, they can earn a small prize. And this could be very small. It could be a sticker.

Maybe there are things that the school already does that they can earn. Maybe you have school stickers they can earn. Maybe it is to help you out or to have lunch with you.

Whatever it may be. It can be a very big prize. It can be a very small prize.

It could be anywhere in between. So this is really fun because it’s kind of random. It is a game.

And the kids get really excited because they want to be the ones to get their star pulled out of the cup. Now, one caveat to this, this actually happened. I did this with six different classes in a row.

And it didn’t really come up until the last class. Well, what if there is a student that you have to talk to repeated times and their number gets called? Do they get to pick out of the prize box? And I wish I had gone over this before when I explained the game because that happened. I did have a student who was having a harder time.

Their name got called and it kind of wasn’t fair. So that is something with your discretion that can be up to you that you can do as well. Now, I did something else when I was a STEM teacher.

It was different because I had that relationship. I kind of didn’t really do an incentive like this, but I should have. But I’ve tried this with other classes that I have been in recently.

And the incentive of earning a prize is huge and all my classes have bought in and they’re super into it. Can classes lose stars? Up to you and what your philosophy is with that. They could or they couldn’t.

So definitely up to you, but play around with it. So that really is the game. It’s very easy to manage.

And I actually packaged it all together. I have the print and go poster. I made this the morning before I was subbing for a STEM teacher one day because I needed something.

And so I made, I thought of this when I was walking my dog Frederick one day. And so the poster is very, very easy. The rocket’s already big.

So you just print it out on normal paper. I put it on a poster and was good to go. So I have it all packaged in my TBDT shop and also linked in the show notes.

And I also walk through everything that I just explained for you that if you forget how to implement, it’s all there. So as a little bonus for this episode, I actually have short audio that I’m going to play right after I’m done talking. But you actually get to hear me when I was explaining this to the class.

There were a lot of other things that were happening in between. I did keep, this is when I was subbing for a STEM teacher. I did also keep her incentives that she did in her classroom.

So that would be a really fun episode too, is gathering what do all of you do for behavior class incentives. So I’m going to keep that in mind for another question I need to ask, but there were some things going on. So if it sounds a little choppy, I did cut some things out, but you get to hear how I use this with, and it was a first grade class, but I did use this K through five.

This is behavior blast offs. You’re going to play my game. So we have this rocket and some stars.

Let’s see how many stars are up here. Ready? Five. Now, if you’re doing a good job, you’ll earn stars from me.

Every star you earn at the end of class, you guys know your cubby number, your classroom number, tell the person next to you what your number is. Thumbs up if you know your number. Right now there is one star because you came in and you listened really well.

So that means I will pull out one star and whoever’s number I call, you get a pick from the prize box that I brought. You can earn up to five stars. So it’s a game.

It’s fun, but pretty cool. So you already have one out of five stars. So you want a five star rating.

Have you heard of that? That’s good. So when you have a restaurant or like a hotel and it’s out of five stars, if you say five out of five stars, this is great. We went to a restaurant, you guys, we have a one out of five stars.

It’s not pretty fun, right? I did post this video on my Instagram. So it’s also embedded in the show notes. So if you want to watch me when I was doing this, it’s all there.

So I hope this helps. Don’t make it overly complicated. Make it simple for you to understand, to keep up with.

Same with the students, for them to understand, for them to keep up with. And as long as it’s a game and it’s encouraging that positive behavior, something like this can really help in your classroom. Thank you so much for this question.

If you have any other questions, feel free to DM me or send an email my way. I love this two way street where I’m getting your input and all of your insights. And then I’m here in my home office by myself talking to my camera, but really makes me feel like that we are connecting in a different way.

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:

 

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

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 to Make a Grid Mat for the Bee-Bot Robot

by Naomi Meredith

How to Make a Grid Mat for the Bee-Bot Robot

Are you wondering how to make a grid mat for your classroom for the Bee-Bot robot? Below are some easy ideas on how you can create a mat that can help students visually see the code for any type of project you have in mind

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.

How to Make a Grid Mat for the Bee-Bot Robot: Option #1

Grab a large piece of poster board or butcher paper and a ruler. Code the Bee-Bot to move one forward movement on your paper. Measure the distance and make a mark. Draw straight lines with the ruler to draw a square that measures one forward movement. Make the grid as big or small as you want, then laminate.

 

Grab a clear, cheap shower curtain like this one, then cut it to be the same length as your grid. Secure one end of the curtain to the mat with binder clip so it can easily open and close. This allows adding different task cards for coding underneath the shower curtain and onto the grid and helps the Bee-Bot drive on top without getting caught on the cards. I recommend taping the cards to the grid mat so they don’t slide around while coding.

 

 

How to Make a Grid Mat for the Bee-Bot Robot: Option #2

Create the grid the same way as described above with the measuring and drawing. Instead of adding the clear shower curtain on top, add one soft velcro dot to each square. Once you have your task cards ready, add the “hook” side of the velcro dot (the scratchy side) to each task card.

The Bee-Bot doesn’t seem to get stuck on the Velcro on the grid if there aren’t cards. It would be hit or miss with the robot getting stuck on actual cards since they popped up more. This is a lesson that I love to do with primary students about The Very Hungry Caterpillar and we even dress up our Bee-Bot!

I even tried this with playing cards for a last minute lesson where students rolled a numbered die, than programmed their Bee-Bot to the matching playing card.

 

How to Make a Grid Mat for the Bee-Bot Robot: Option #3

Drawing and measuring a grid accurately can be time consuming! (Trust me, I know from experience.) To ensure all of my squares were equal size and I could customize the cards for lessons, I made a digital version of a perfectly measured.

You can even create a blank grid with these print-and-cut squares, then glue on poster board.

 

I’m not a perfectionist when it comes to measuring and creating a grid, so this helped me create a mat that was accurate for my students to use when coding with the Bee-Bot.

Grab this template for your classroom here. 

 

Which way do you think you’ll create your Bee-Bot grid?

Let me know over on Instagram, @naomimeredith_

Other Posts You Might Enjoy:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About the author, 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!