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The Great Tape Debate: How to Manage Tape in a STEM Classroom [ep. 216]

The Great Tape Debate: How to Manage Tape in a STEM Classroom [ep. 216]

Check out the full episode on how to manage tape in a STEM classroom:  

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

Episode Summary

If you’re wondering how to manage tape in your STEM classroom, you’ve come to the right place. This is a HOT TOPIC among the STEM teacher community! When I posted about this on my Instagram, @naomimeredith_, I showed the most common ways you might have students use tape in the classroom. The responses to this post spanned across the board, and there were other strategies shared as well!

Let’s dive into what you said and see where your strategy lands, and maybe you’ll gain a new strategy while listening.

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.

Let’s settle this debate once and for all in the STEM classroom. How do you manage tape with your students’ STEM projects? I asked this over on my Instagram at Naomi Meredith and there was a lot of opinions and a lot of debate about this topic and it actually made me laugh and makes for a really good podcast episode. So let’s see if you use any of these strategies when you manage tape and maybe you’ll find a new one that you haven’t thought about before.

If you’re watching the video version, I have on my lap my cute little dog, Frederick, so we’ll see if he stays with me the whole time. Sometimes he will. He actually really likes it when I talk and record podcasts.

He gets all sleepy because he thinks my voice is very soothing. Out of the strategies, the strategy for tape that was the most popular, based on your comments that you are making on this video, is rip and stick. So you have your roll of tape, you take out a certain amount, you rip it, you stick it on the side of the table.

So this one was actually very, very popular and all these strategies that I’m mentioning, I actually use myself based on the kids I’m working with and the project that we have. Some people are really specific where they have a certain amount that they rip and stick. So maybe it is the length of their arm.

Maybe they have the kids measure a certain length and carry it back to their table and stick it to the side of the table. I have showed kids to do this where they’re sharing the rolls of tape I put on the table. I just show them, rip off the amount that you need, put it on the side, then you can cut the tape or you can rip the tape so that you’re not scrambling for the roll of tape.

Some of you did similar things as me. This strategy, in a way, does manage the tape. So some of you have the rolls on the table, they rip and stick it on the side of the table themselves.

Some of you as the teacher are in charge of ripping and sticking the tape. So this does manage the tape. Maybe it’s not as specific, but there is some sort of control on how much tape they can use.

This next strategy is even more controlled where you have the tape where it’s measured and stuck onto the actual ruler. So this gives that mass measurement of visually being able to see, oh, I only have a foot of tape. It’s on the actual ruler.

This is all that I can use for a project. And I have actually done this too, where I have a classroom makerspace menu where kids can buy certain amounts of tape. And so if you have it stuck on the ruler, especially if they’re in the process of building the project over many days, this can be really great because the tape is already there.

And if they need to buy more, they can see how much tape that actually is. I thought this was a really cool comment. One of you said you do this ruler strategy, but you use both sides of the ruler.

So one side is the 12 inches and then on the back is the 24 inches, which I thought was really clever as well. I really liked that idea. Some of you have even said, because you work with so many kids, you’ve been doing this for so many years that you are so good at ripping and sticking the tape on the ruler.

You don’t even need the ruler. You have the exact measurement. I feel like I could actually do that as well.

I totally get that. This strategy might seem like it’s very chaotic with the tape, but also in a way it’s not as restrictive and you just give them the whole role. And I’ve actually been doing this strategy with my STEM Afterschool Club kids to see how it goes.

And at first, usually the first few projects, kids use an abundance of tape. But when you think about it, when do they really build a lot of things and get to use tape in other areas of their life? So it’s exciting to use tape. It’s something they don’t get to use all the time.

So of course they want to use as much as possible. But then over time, again, they have the whole role to themselves on the table. They start using less and less and how to use the tape strategically and how to fold it or really think about, oh, I should use a piece this size here.

Or maybe if I cut the cardboard this way, I could use a little bit of a glue stick and the tape. So the whole role of tape has been working out fine. And this is my third year doing STEM afterschool programs and not every project uses tape anyway.

So you can definitely try that out. Maybe try with your older students and see how it goes. But this actually works out a little bit better than you think because you’re letting them have access to the tool they’re so in quote-unquote forbidden to use.

But when they have access to it, they don’t eventually use as much as you think. So this is a very interesting thing to try, but it’s been working well for me. Making baby tape rolls is also another strategy that I used a lot during COVID where my students weren’t allowed to share materials.

We were just, it was a lot of unknowns at the time. So I took a popsicle stick. I, again, could use that body measurement and be pretty precise on how much tape I was ripping.

But I would take a measurement of tape and I would wrap it around itself on a popsicle stick, sticky side down. So it was making a baby tape roll that kids could use themselves. This actually still works well.

I’ll still do it from time to time. If kids are sharing or having a hard time sharing, I’ll just make one really quick. I’ve also seen kids do this themselves.

If they need a little bit of tape to take home, they’ll make their own baby tape roll on a popsicle stick. Or I saw a kid yesterday do this with a straw. We were making straw mazes.

This is a really good strategy. It can be time consuming. I’m really fast at making them.

I don’t do this strategy as much anymore. Again, I just give them the whole roll. I’m like, try it out and see what happens.

I mentioned this a little bit before, but this can really depend on the project and how you want kids to use the materials and what element of math you want them to use. But having a maker space menu where all of the supplies have a cost to them. And it could also be based on scarcity.

The less of the items we have, the more expensive it can be. I do that a lot. I have a menu in my Teachers Pay Teacher Store and a whole in-depth way of how I use this with students.

So that will be linked in the description. But tape is usually like a middle priced item that students can buy for their projects. I always let them use glue sticks for free.

Hot glue gun depends on the kids. Sometimes I let them buy that as an option. But having that economy system and buying all of the items can be really helpful.

I usually have a set budget when I use this in my classroom where all the kids get the same amount of money. They’ve always asked me, how can I earn more money? And I’m like, you can’t. But one of you commented and said that you do let kids earn more money.

And to do that, they have to clean certain things in the classroom and they get really excited about it. I’m like, that’s actually a really good idea. So I thought that was really creative for the way to earn more.

With these tape management systems, it might not be the same for every environment. Like I said, I run STEM after school programs right now and the kids are ages 5 to 5th grade. But this could really depend on the age of your students, the project that you’re working on, the types of systems and routines you have in your classroom.

It is a real thing to talk about. So I just wanted to make sure that this was something that was in a podcast episode. It is really funny that this is that we’re talking about, but it is real life and something that we use a lot in a STEM space.

And a lot of money goes towards tape. If you have anything that you want to share, feel free to send me a message on Instagram at Naomi Meredith underscore. Or if you’re watching the video version on my YouTube channel, Naomi Meredith, you can just add a comment below.

And I would love to hear your thoughts about this topic. And if there’s other STEM materials that we need to chat about in the management and what you should and shouldn’t do, maybe hot glue guns, let me know. And maybe that’ll be an episode in the future.

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

I’ll talk to you soon.

 

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a K-5 STEM educator and business owner 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!

Create a 3D Printed Keychain without any 3D Printing Experience [ep. 220]

Create a 3D Printed Keychain without any 3D Printing Experience [ep. 220]

Check out the full episode on creating a 3D printed keychain:  

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

Episode Summary

Want to try 3D printing with your students but aren’t sure where to start? I’m sharing a fun, beginner-friendly 3D printing project that students can complete in just two class sessions—no previous 3D printing experience needed!

I’ll walk you through how my students created their own Halloween-inspired 3D printed keychains using Doodle 3D Transform, a free, easy-to-use design tool that doesn’t require student accounts or logins. From drawing their designs to exporting files, organizing student prints, and decorating the finished keychains, I’m sharing the entire process along with tips I’ve learned from teaching this project myself.

Whether you’re brand new to 3D printing, looking for an easy project for younger students, or want a quick seasonal STEM activity, this lesson is a great way to get students designing and creating!

Resources Mentioned:

Some items are linked to my Amazon Affiliate. When you purchase through my link, no extra cost to you, and I may 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.

If you’re looking for a quick 3D printing project that your students can do in about two days without any 3D printing experience, this episode is perfect for you. Likewise, if you are a teacher who’s also wanting to start 3D printing in your classroom and you’re unsure how to get started, this is an easy, low entry point 3D printing project where even you as the teacher, you don’t need a ton of experience as well. I’m going to be sharing with you a project that I am currently doing with my students.

They’re going to get their prints back next week if you’re listening to this in real time and I think you’re really going to enjoy this episode. This entire lesson, I will have linked in the show notes for you. So, I created worksheets, videos, examples, everything you need, the teaching slides, it’s all there for you.

So, you don’t have to go out and search for it. I literally made it for you and for the kids. I use it with my own students.

So, that will be linked and get you well on your way. When I’m designing 3D prints, I am a huge advocate for using Tinkercad in the classroom. I’ve been using that since 2018 with my students, but I actually don’t use Tinkercad for this project.

Instead, I use the free website. It is called Doodle 3D Transform. It’s a free open source website, so there’s no logging in, no accounts you need to create, which also saves time to begin with, and there also is a paid app for the iPads, which it works slightly better.

It doesn’t zoom in and out and get a little crazy, which can happen when you use this app. So, if you have a little bit of money, I would recommend if you have only tablets, try buying the app. It just works slightly better, but if you can’t, this is what I did, is you can just create a QR code of the website and then kids can scan it and use it on the iPads and just tell them just to be really careful.

The screen will zoom in and you can’t zoom it out and then have to restart their project, so just be aware of that. This project, I did it in line with Halloween. I had them get to this website.

You could draw in Tinkercad if you really want to. It’s just that the tools are a bit limited when it comes to drawing specifically. So, what it looks like on this app, it’s one page.

They don’t have to click around. It’s so easy to get started. It’s really fun.

Where on the left side, they draw their design using their finger. There are a few tools at the bottom. There’s a select tool.

You could select the whole project and move it around. There’s the drawing tool, so it gives you some options. There’s a pencil, a line tool, so just drawing perfect straight lines, and a paintbrush.

I recommend using the paintbrush. That one draws and prints the best. The pencil’s a little weird with the printing.

I’ve tried it. It just breaks apart. It’s strange, so definitely use the paintbrush.

There’s an eraser. There’s a few stamps with basic shapes. You can also change the colors, too.

If you have a 3D printer that can print in multiple colors, which I do, kids can create using colors, and you can download as an OBJ file where it will save all the color options. So, that’s a whole project. I’m not talking about that in this episode.

I let them draw in multiple colors, but I told them I’m only printing this in white, and since it’s for Halloween, my white glows in the dark. So, I’ll also link that for you, and what I did is I printed out different Halloween how-to-draw examples that I made, so I made them for kids. There’s 10 different options as inspiration or support because they are drawing their design, and I didn’t want kids to feel intimidated that they were drawing and saying, I don’t know how to draw anything.

Well, I created step-by-step kid-friendly directions for you. So, these are one-page printables that are in that lesson that I talked about. I wasn’t very strict on it being Halloween.

Most of them did Halloween. Some did not, which is totally fine. Again, whatever vibes you’re going for.

I’m planning on creating other themes, Halloween’s where we’re at right now. The kids draw directly in the app. One quick thing before you download all their prints is either you have the students or you do it, but you need to create some sort of hook on the keychain.

I went through and did this while I was saving. I just added the little hook, and my video in the lesson shows you exactly how I do this because punching holes through a 3D print when after it’s printed is really difficult. It could break your print.

It might not be where you want it. So, I show you exactly how to do this in the video. And for this specific project, I downloaded or exported the files as STL files and sent them to my computer.

This is probably the hardest part, and you need to be very, very organized to do this. So, because there isn’t a login for this, I save it in two ways. So, I made the kids give me their iPads when they were done, and I actually had a share iPad.

So, there’s an option to save it directly in the app and or the specific web browser. Definitely play around your devices and how you want to save it before you do this with kids. So, try it on a device by yourself first.

Figure out how you’re going to get the files off of your device, and you’ll totally be fine. The iPads that I was borrowing didn’t have Google Drive downloaded on it, didn’t have AirDrop enabled. So, I wish I checked before because I sat there for 45 minutes after my club, and I had to log into my Gmail account on every single iPad and email myself those files.

But I didn’t know how else to get them off. I didn’t have access to download any apps. So, just figure it out.

AirDrop is fantastic if you can do that. Once I have all their files downloaded, I save them in a folder on my desktop with the name of the class. I also have a free 3D printing station that literally goes through how you can organize all your prints.

I’m not going to get into that right now, but I have pictures and everything in that freebie I’ll link below and how I get all of that organized for the kids. Once you get everything organized with your files and you get these printed, they’re going to print really fast and you probably can get a whole class done in two to three rounds and be done. The cool thing about creating things in Doodle 3D Transform is all of the prints are flat.

So, yes, you have all these cute little designs like a little ghost or pumpkin. It has all the curves, but everything’s going to be the same height and print quickly because you don’t need to print with supports. Nothing hangs off the edges.

It prints really nice and it’s really, really fast, which you could get if you started today. Tomorrow, the next day, you could get this done by Halloween. Once the prints are all done, you have them organized.

You know who’s is who. You put each kid’s print in a bag with their name on it. That’s what I do.

Then I provide them a bunch of different paint markers, which I’ll link the brand I’ve been rebuying every year below, and I let the kids just decorate their cutie little keychains. If you are doing glow-in-the-dark, I recommend just coloring one side, which also helps with them drying a little bit faster because the glow will kind of come through, but it’s best if you just keep one side empty. You can attach that cute little keychain and you’re good to go.

They did a project and they’re excited. They’re proud of it. They made it on a device and it’s a good stepping stone into Tinkercad or just a quick project.

You’re using your printers and again, this is really great, especially for the primary students where they really want to design their own 3D prints. They’re not ready for Tinkercad yet and you’re helping them understand the process of what 3D printing is, how to get started, how to be the creator, how to create without using AI. They’re using their own brains.

They’re using their own drawings and they turn out really, really cute. Again, everything’s going to be linked for you in the show notes below and if you’re not already following me on Instagram at Naomi Meredith underscore, I share lots of examples about 3D printing, what I’m doing and questions that you have. I try to answer those in post, so let me know what you think.

Tag me if you do this project and also keep an eye out for other holiday themes because if you’re not ready to do this for Halloween, I’m going to create themes for all the other holidays. I’m a theme person, so you know I will. Thanks for being here and I will chat with 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 Naomi Meredith dot 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.

 

 

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a K-5 STEM educator and business owner 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 Glow-in-the-dark STEM Activities to Try [ep.219]

3 Glow-in-the-Dark STEM Activities to Try [ep.219]

Check out the full episode on glow-in-the-dark STEM activities:  

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

Episode Summary

Add a little glow to your spooky STEM lessons this Halloween season! In this episode, I’m sharing three fun, hands-on STEM activities that glow in the dark and are perfect for bringing a little extra excitement into your K-5 classroom.

From building a glowing spooky house using just paper to experimenting with glow-in-the-dark slime and designing 3D-printed Halloween keychains. Plus, I’ll share classroom tips, materials, and ways to make these projects easy to prep and teach.

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Welcome to the Elementary STEM Coach Podcast. I’m your host, Naomi Meredith, a former classroom teacher turned Paper 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.

 

In today’s episode, I’m going to be sharing with you some fun spooky STEM lessons that are things that glow. There’s just something about that glowing touch to the projects that make the projects a little bit more exciting, especially during this time of year when the days are starting to get shorter, it’s getting dark earlier. So I think it’s going to add that fun little spooky element in your class.

 

If you haven’t already grabbed it, and it’s also linked in the show notes for this episode, I put together a whole guide, 15 plus spooky STEM lessons that you can download for free. And it’s a bunch of different lesson ideas that you can use for your classroom that are also glowing, but also just some fun, spooky themes. And each of the words and pictures you can click on, and it will take you to more information about that lesson.

 

So it’s best viewed on a computer, you can view on your phone, definitely recommend to view that on a computer. So make sure to check that out. The first glowing STEM lesson that your kids are definitely going to love is to build a spooky house.

 

This requires minimal materials, super easy to prep, all you need is the free spooky house template that I put together for you. And with that, there is a video that I recorded of me building and explaining this little house. It’s a lot of cutting and folding.

 

Again, it’s one sheet of paper for one house. But it’s really good for kids to practice those skills and also to take their time and to be precise. And if they do those things, it will be put together very easily.

 

It’s very similar to building a paper dice, if you’ve ever done that with kids. And some of my other lessons actually have building a paper dice in there, like my Goldilocks digital citizenship lesson that is about private and personal information. This is really fun, where they build this cute little spooky house, they can decorate it if you want.

 

And then if you have those small LED battery tea lights, you can put that inside. And if they hold it on a paper plate, it’ll hold the light in the house. It glows really, really cool.

 

If you follow me on Instagram, I actually have a video of this in action. But this is a great one day lesson. Again, works on that precision and cutting and taping skills, which we know are needed even outside of a STEM classroom.

 

But this is a fun little spooky lesson that my students definitely enjoyed. The next glowing STEM lesson is so much fun. And you can do this during spooky season.

 

And or if you’re planning on having a glow day, which is when I actually taught this lesson, is creating glow in the dark slime. And it sounds a little bit intimidating. But trust me, the recipe that I put together, and I wrote it in smaller proportions, where you don’t need a whole lot of materials to create the slime, it’s just enough where the kids can independently pour the ingredients, measure those out and put it together.

 

And what makes this slime glow is the glue. This isn’t sponsored, but Elmer’s actually makes a glowing glue, a glowing liquid glue. There’s a few different colors.

 

I particularly enjoyed the blue one, and it has some sparkle too. But it’s really, really fun to create this slime. And again, it glows.

 

You don’t need a black light. When I did a glow party, and I could do a whole episode on a glow party, I can go back and see the pictures that I took of that time. You just want to make sure that the bottle of glue, the glowing glue, gets some sunlight, some natural light before you create it.

 

And then if you go into a dark space, it will glow right away. When I was testing my slime, when I was recording the video for this, I forgot that my nails actually glow as well. So I have some cute little spooky nails.

 

And so I’m taking a video of this, and not only is the slime glowing, not only is this slime glowing, but my nails were as well, which was pretty funny. That’s a fun activity. And you can go deeper into this with the worksheets I have for it, where you talk about the three states of matter and how slime is actually non-Newtonian fluid and has properties of solids and liquids.

 

So there’s actually a testing sheet that you could go through that process and really understand what properties of the slime prove that it’s a non-Newtonian fluid. So it’s pretty cool. And the last glowing STEM activity, which you don’t have to make this glow, but I recommend it, is creating 3D printed Halloween keychains.

 

This is a lesson that I’m actually putting together, so it might even be live by the time you hear this recording or even a few days from now. So just keep making sure you check back in the show notes. You can easily create little keychains that glow, and there’s 3D print filament.

 

There’s a few brands that I’ve used that glow in the dark. Now, side note, I’m going to tell you how to make those keychains, but when you are printing these, when you’re 3D printing these keychains, you probably want to play around with the settings, because for some reason, glow in the dark filament is a little bit finicky in terms of printing and how it will feed through the extruder. The two that I’ve used have worked okay, depending on what printer I’ve used.

 

So play around with it. They do actually glow. Like, I’m actually shocked.

 

I’ve tested the actual filament before even taking it out of the package to make sure it glows, and it does. You could do this a few ways, where the one filament I’m currently printing, actually a different project, Constellations, for my students, the filament is white. So what is really cool is you can have the kids draw and design their keychain.

 

I recommend, if you want to do this quickly, you can use the free platform Doodle 3D Transform. There’s an app for it, but also it’s an open source website where kids can just draw their design. They don’t need to log in.

 

Tinkercad has a drawing feature, which is okay, if you prefer. I love Tinkercad. Their drawing feature is not great, but you can still use it.

 

And you can have students draw their Halloween keychain. So maybe a cute little ghost, a cute little pumpkin, and print them all in this white glowing filament. So they will glow regardless.

 

And then, if you have some paint markers, which I always have those on stock with my 3D printing club, the kids can actually color in the little designs they want on their keychain. That way, your prints are actually going to print a lot quicker. You can do a lot more at once because you’re only using one color.

 

You could probably get everybody’s prints done in like a day or two because they’re going to be flat. That’s why with Doodle 3D Transform, it’s really great because they’re a flat design. There’s not a lot sticking out.

 

So they print really well. And then you can have these cute little keychains for your student. If you’re wondering how to add the hole, what you would do is there’s an eraser in that platform.

 

You just like kind of, and you might want to do this as the teacher depending on the age of your students, but tap in a little spot where you want a hole. So it erases it. You could see the work plane behind it.

 

You could even draw like a little tab onto the keychain and then add a hole there if it doesn’t make sense in the designs. That is something I’m going to put together in a video. That’s my next on my list.

 

If you are pretty comfortable with those platforms, you’re like, all right, I’m good. Go for it. I think they’ll be really cute.

 

The ones I’m going to make for samples, I’m going to end up giving to my nephews because I’m going to trick or treat with them. So I hope you enjoy all these glowing spooky STEM ideas. And again, make sure to check out that free printable I put together for you where you can see these ideas and more to bring the spookiness into your STEM space.

 

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, naomimeritus.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.

Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.

 

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a K-5 STEM educator and business owner 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!

5 October STEM Activities for Kids [ep.218]

5 October STEM Activities for Kids [ep.218]

Check out the full episode on October STEM Activities for Kids:  

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

Episode Summary

I love themed STEM lessons, and I know you and your students will enjoy these October STEM activities. I put together a mix of robotics lessons, Makerspace, and even technology options to help bring Fall into your classroom. These five fall STEM activities to try are perfect for one-day lessons, sub plans, or even class parties, especially since they are low-prep challenges.

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith  00:27

If you haven’t learned this about me by now, I love a good theme. You heard all about how I themed out my first unit of the year back in episode four, Welcome to STEM Survival Camp. If you take a peek around my house, I have some fall decorations peeking in the corners on my tables. Of course, I have all of those fall-flavored candles. In turn, I don’t always teach themed lessons in my class. It can be really fun to integrate these within your lessons, especially if you need something quick that works for one day. If you really want to extend it throughout the week, all of these challenges will work perfectly for you and across many different grade levels. So let’s jump into these five ideas that you can implement in your STEM space.  


Naomi Meredith  01:40

The first fall STEM activity to try is apple and pumpkin lifecycle robotic coding. This is a great low prep challenge that you can use as a station, and students can learn all about the lifecycle of favorite harvest fruits like apples and pumpkins. You can do this challenge for anything, but these two are very popular during the fall season. All you need to do is have each stage of the lifecycle of the pumpkin or apple on different cards, and students will code in a variety of ways to help them learn more about those life cycles. So here are a few variations of this that you can use with the robots that you have in your classroom. This will work well with pretty much any type of robot that you have. The only one I think it might not work best with is Ozobots unless you have a special grid, you could definitely do this in a different way.  


Naomi Meredith  02:40

Speaking of grids, there are grids that you can purchase that are fancy for all of the robots. However, when you are on a budget like most of us, it is sometimes easier to create your own grid that the robots can move along is really helpful for students to visualize the steps that they need their robot to travel. Most robots for children have very specific movements when they are moving forward in one space. You can create your own mat by measuring the distance of one forward move for each robot. However, I have created a lot of these for all the smaller robots and RDS with all the measurements done for you. So you can just print, cut, glue, and create whatever size mat that you want. Of course, all of the challenges that I will be talking about and these gridlines will be linked in the show notes to save you some time with your fall theme planning.  


Naomi Meredith  03:35

So for this lifecycle coding, create a map or use one that you have on hand and have those cards that are about the lifecycle of that living thing. You can even have students be more involved in this creation process. They can create the cards that they will code for that specific lifecycle. Once all of these resources are created, here are variations that you can play with these cards. If you’re creating the grid ahead of time, you can laminate the different stages of the lifecycle of the pumpkin or apple. Students will code to those different locations on the grid. Another variation of this challenge is students can be in partnerships. Instead of having the cards laminated on the grid, they can be movable. One partner can place the cards on the grid-facing app, and the other partner will code the robot to gather all of the pieces in order of the lifecycle, and then they can switch. The third variation would be having that partner system, but then they have to code the lifecycle backward. The fourth variation is they can either go backward or forward, but instead of the grid-facing app, they can have them facing down, and it can be more like a memory game.  


Naomi Meredith  04:53

So there are a lot of different variations to this and with the age of your students and their coding experience. It’s fun for them to try these different challenges to practice their coding skills. The second fall STEM activity to try is creating one-page inspiration boards that follow along with any of the fall holidays you are discussing in your classroom. These could be things like the Day of the Dead, Thanksgiving, Halloween, or even for the whole month, such as what different things are typical for that month. For instance, for the month of September, October, and November, what are different items that people think of for that month? You can have different pictures on this one-page board that can inspire students to build, such as apples, pumpkins, baskets, you name it. You can have these visuals for students, and then they can build with any materials that you have on hand, whether it’d be items in your Makerspace or if you want to pull out LEGO bricks. I really like using this type of engineer inspiration board with my younger students, especially when a lesson might go quicker than expected. These are really great to have on hand that you can have printed at a station, or you can display on the projector or TV in your classroom.  


Naomi Meredith  06:14

The third fall STEM activity to try is creating a pumpkin bridge. Again, this can be a one-day challenge in your classroom, or, if you want to dive in deeper, you can extend this for the whole week and use the Engineering Design Process. If you are a bit unsure about what the Engineering Design Process is, fairly recently, I had a whole mini-series about the Engineering Design Process where I dove into every single stage of that process to give you ideas on how to teach this in your classroom. So make sure to go back and listen to those because that will help you extend your knowledge whether you use the Engineering Design Process already or looking to gain more knowledge about it. For this pumpkin bridge challenge, you can use any materials you have on hand. I like to use popsicle sticks, tape, and cups. Students will build one of the types of bridges that we talked about in class to hold as many pumpkins as possible. This is fine if you use the pumpkin candies that you can find at the store. You can also use unifix cubes as I have. I’ll tell the kids that the pumpkins are square because they came right out of Minecraft. There’s a whole lot of buy-in for that, and they don’t mind that the pumpkins are different colors. You could do a whole lot of math afterward, like how many pumpkins could it hold, and compare the different bridges in the classroom. You could measure how long the bridge was, how wide the bridge was, or how tall. So there’s a whole lot of math that you could do with this STEM challenge.  


Naomi Meredith  07:30

The fourth fall STEM activity to try is pumpkin digital activities. Now this one isn’t as hands-on, but it’s a great way to implement the T-technology within your classroom if you want something that is paperless and easy to assign. I have two different variations for the grades. So for K through two, I like to create a digital interactive activity that they can use on Seesaw or Google slides that are quick little tasks on each slide. These tasks are helpful for the students because they can practice their digital skills, such as dragging and dropping, drawing on the screen, and labeling a picture. All of those tech skills are important for any type of activity, not just pumpkins. You can create each slide that goes along with a theme, like pumpkins. They can do things like measuring a vine using digital unifix cubes. They can use the shape tools to decorate a picture of the pumpkin or even an alphabet match where students are dragging the letters to help them spell different words such as pumpkins. Having these slides with quick activities helps students be successful. They can work at their own pace and also help each other out when they get stuck. For the older students, you could do something similar, but I also like to give them digital interactive notebooks that help them explore other outside resources that are kid friendly. This is where I like to pull in other resources such as podcasts, videos, paired selections, and nonfiction and fiction texts, and they can respond within the digital interactive notebook. You could share just one slide a day. You could have it be differentiated where certain kids might have specific slides, or you can have it even open-ended, and kids pick the slides that are most interesting to them. So this is a great way to pull in those outside resources that you might have been collecting over the years and assign them to one digital platform.  


Naomi Meredith  08:01

The fifth fall-themed STEM activity to try is having students design a harvest basket. Now, this isn’t a lesson that I have in my store yet, maybe by the time this recording comes out, it will be in there. But this would be another fun challenge that you can use the Engineering Design Process or even do it in one day. You can have tiny pumpkins or tiny apples, or even pretend if you’re worried about them getting damaged, and students could use materials like straws, popsicle sticks, or string to create a harvest basket to hold as many of these fruits as possible. This will be a great collaboration challenge, and also learn different techniques when it comes to securing items and being able to hold weight. If you wanted to extend this challenge even further, you could have students weigh how many apples or how many pumpkins their basket was able to hold. Then you could compare the weights using greater than and less than place value, or even graphing, depending on the age of your students and the math standards that would tie into those.  

 

Naomi Meredith  09:04

This was a quick episode today, but just some fun fall STEM activities that you can try in your STEM space and bring the fall into your classroom. So let’s go over those five different activities that you can try. First is the apple and pumpkin lifecycle robotic coding. Next, our fall-themed engineer inspiration boards. Third, are pumpkin bridges. Fourth is pumpkin digital activities. And fifth is designing a harvest basket. I hope you enjoyed these fall-themed activities and definitely share with me what you have done in your classroom. I would love to see how it goes with your students. 

 

 

 

 

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a K-5 STEM educator and business owner 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!

Lessons for Starting A STEAM Program with K-4 STEAM Teachers from Ladue School District [ep. 217]

Lessons for Starting A STEAM Program with K-4 STEAM Teachers from Ladue School District [ep. 217]

lessons-for-starting-a-steam-program

Check out the full episode on lessons for starting a STEAM program:  

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 this episode on YouTube here:

Episode Summary

In this episode, I’m joined by four elementary STEAM teachers who worked together to build a brand-new K–4 STEAM program across their district: Kristina Lodes, Jenny Bradley, Miranda Berry, and Mary Linneman. 

We’re chatting about what that process actually looked like—from defining their roles and creating a curriculum to working with a budget, using materials they already had, and figuring out how to fit robotics, coding, engineering, makerspace, 3D printing, and more into a meaningful learning experience for students.

You’ll also hear about some of the biggest successes they’ve had along the way, including STEM Survival Camp, 3D printing, digital portfolios, and their district-wide STEAM Fest and Recycled Runway. Most importantly, they share how collaboration, having a strong starting point, and being willing to adapt lessons for their own students helped make an overwhelming process feel much more manageable.

Whether you’re brand new to teaching STEM or STEAM, helping build a program from scratch, or looking for ways to strengthen the program you already have, this conversation is packed with real-life ideas and encouragement you can use in your own STEM classroom.

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.

 

 

Meet Kristina Lodes

Kristina Lodes is an experienced Missouri educator with 22 years dedicated to driving innovation and student success in the classroom. She spent 16 years as a 3rd, 4th, and 5th-grade classroom teacher in the Francis Howell School District, serving 9 of those years as an Instructional Technology Lead. She later joined the Ladue School District as a Technology Specialist and Digital Learning Coach, supporting educators and students with meaningful tech integration.

Kristina holds a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education alongside a STEM Certificate. Now in her second year as a STEAM Specialist in Ladue, she teaches K–4 STEAM, empowering young learners through hands-on inquiry, creative design, and problem-solving.

Connect with Kristina on Instagram: @Spoedesteam

 

Meet Jenny Bradley 

Jenny is an experienced educator with over 15 years in education. She is currently in her second year as an elementary STEAM teacher. Her background includes a decade of foundational experience as a 4th-grade teacher and 3 years as a digital learning coach, supported by a Master’s degree in Educational Technology. Throughout her coaching and teaching roles, Jenny has dedicated herself to supporting teachers and students in using technology in meaningful ways to enhance instruction and boost engagement, while actively guiding students and staff on their digital citizenship journey to use technology safely, ethically, and responsibly.

She is passionate about providing hands-on opportunities for students to build, create, and innovate. Her goal is to foster a nonjudgmental learning atmosphere where students can safely experience failure, build perseverance, problem-solve through challenges, and fearlessly try new things.

Connect with Jenny on Instagram: @reed_steam_lab

 

Meet Miranda Berry 

Miranda Berry is a passionate and energetic educator with 11 years of experience, now serving as a STEAM Specialist in the Ladue School District. She spent 8 years as a Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd-grade classroom teacher in Ladue before transitioning into her current role. Miranda holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education, along with a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis in Reading. Now in her second year leading a dynamic STEAM program, she thrives on sparking student curiosity, pushing creative boundaries, and guiding young learners down exciting new paths to discover just how capable they really are! When she’s not in the classroom, you can find her enjoying time with her dog and cat, Sadie and Blu, traveling with her husband, Dallas, or on the field coaching high school girls’ lacrosse!

Connect with Miranda on Instagram: @ob_steamlab

 

Meet Mary Linneman

Mary Linneman is a passionate Missouri educator with over a decade of dedication to fostering curiosity and academic growth in the classroom. She spent the first 9 years of her career as a 3rd-grade teacher at Conway Elementary in the Ladue School District, cultivating a vibrant, engaging learning environment for her students.

Mary holds a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction for Elementary Education. Building on her extensive classroom experience, she helped pioneer Ladue’s new STEAM program, working collaboratively to design and launch the district’s K–4 STEAM curriculum from the ground up. Now in her second year as Conway Elementary’s STEAM teacher, Mary is dedicated to inspiring young minds through creative problem-solving, hands-on exploration, and innovative design.

Connect with Mary on Instagram: @conwaysteamlab

 

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.

 

All right, so thank you everyone for being here today. This is a really, really special episode and when I’m creating lessons, I always know that the lessons work for my students with trial and error. They’ve been taught a lot of times and I post it in my shop.

 

I post about it on social media, but I don’t always hear how it’s going with your own students. And I know you guys are using them to say, thank you, whatever, but I don’t always hear all the details. And so this episode is really special because especially if you’re watching the video version, there’s a lot of us here on this interview.

 

So I’m going to have everybody introduce themselves and we’ll get into about STEM lessons and how things that I’ve created are being used in other classrooms. So I’ll call on each of you and you guys can introduce yourselves really quick. All right, how about Jenny? You want to go first? Hi, my name is Jenny Bradley.

 

This is my 15th year in education, second year as an elementary STEAM teacher. Prior to teaching STEAM, I taught fourth grade for 10 years. And then I was a digital learning coach for three years, supporting staff and students in integrating and using technology and meaningful ways in their classroom to enhance instruction, increase engagement for students.

 

And now I’m in the STEAM position, which was really exciting. Awesome. Thank you.

 

Mary, do you want to go? Sure. Yes. I’m Mary Linneman and I teach STEAM at Conway Elementary in Ladue School District, which is in Missouri.

 

We’re all in the same district. And this is, yeah, also my second year teaching STEAM. The program started last year.

 

And then prior to that, I was teaching third grade at the same school for nine years. So it’s been a great transition. Awesome.

 

Miranda? Yeah, I’m Miranda Berry. And as I mentioned, I’m also a STEAM specialist here at O’Bottom Elementary in Ladue. And I have been in education for 11 years.

 

The last two years, counting this year, was in STEAM. And I really have that primary focus. So I’ve taught kindergarten, I’ve taught first grade, and I’ve taught second grade.

 

And so really that primary focus. And then, yeah, we have just been having so much fun with the STEAM program. But yeah, it’s a little bit about me.

 

All right, Christina? Hi, I’m Christina Lotus. This is my 22nd year in education. I started in Francis Howell at Central Elementary and was a classroom teacher for 16 years, teaching third, fourth, and fifth grade.

 

Then I came over to Ladue and was in kind of a coaching role, digital learning coach, for about four years. And then this is my second year teaching STEAM at Spady Elementary. I love.

 

So if any of you listening, you’re like, oh my gosh, I’m just getting into STEAM or STEM. Everyone has a background in education and teaching. So that plays a really big role in what you’re doing.

 

And these ladies know each other. So they’re not just random teachers that just popped in on this interview. They all know each other.

 

And Jenny reached out about what, we’ll get into it as well. But so what, like, how do you guys know each other? So does someone want to explain that? Sure. Yeah.

 

So we’re all in the same district. So our district has four elementary schools, and they are all K-4. And so we’re all just at the elementary schools.

 

And the STEAM program was started in our district last year. So I mean, before we had the STEAM class, teachers were just encouraged to do it in their classrooms, to integrate it into their lessons. And that was challenging, of course, for all of the things that are already on classroom teachers plates.

 

And so then we started the STEAM program, and we all got hired at our respective buildings. And then we just started working really closely together. And some of us worked closely together before this.

 

I know Jenny and Christina had a similar role before the STEAM position, if you guys wanted to mention that. Yeah. So Christina and I were digital learning coaches here in Lidu School District prior to teaching STEAM.

 

So we collaborated and worked closely together often. For some of those years, Christina was between two buildings. I was between the other two buildings.

 

But we would still plan and work together and talk about different strategies for supporting our staffs, for supporting our students. We also planned STEAM days across all four of our elementary buildings. So planning different makerspace and robotics challenges for our students to participate in, and a really fun, just full day of STEAM.

 

Awesome. This is like not the main focus of this podcast, but having people to collaborate, especially since most STEM or STEAM teachers are the only ones in their buildings, finding people to collaborate is such a blessing if you’re in the same district, because those district initiatives you can chat about together. But there are people who are teaching these programs might be in a smaller school.

 

So even reaching across districts can be really helpful. But having a team can really make it a lot easier, especially if you’re so used to being a classroom teacher back in the day, you have a team, you’re used to that collaboration, it can really definitely make a difference. But that’s a side note, because we’re going to actually get into building up your STEM program, which the collaboration is a part of that.

 

And thinking about this, since it is a newer thing in your district, which I’m so excited, that’s actually great to hear that your district is excited about STEM and STEAM and sees the value in it, because I hear the opposite, but a lot of programs get cut. So it’s great that this is getting started. But thinking of that, what struggles were you finding when building up your STEAM program in your district? Because it was so new, you have all these different backgrounds, but knowing you’re in this role, what were those struggles you’re finding when building them up? Christina? Yeah, when we reflect back, they can kind of fit into like three categories.

 

So we’ll kind of go through those. Role definition was one, content creation, and then budget. I’ll kind of hit on those three.

 

So as Jenny kind of expanded on, we had come from like a digital learning coach position. We also had instructional coaches. And as we evolved as a district, and kind of were going a different direction and wanted to have a STEAM specialist that were more, we focused more on like our time with students, you know, so support directly with students.

 

So we were transitioning from more of a position that supported teachers to more interaction with students. So we wanted to have a smooth transition with that. So we kind of like listed out all the things that we did and thought about what made the most sense to keep as a STEAM specialist role.

 

And so we decided to focus on like our student broadcasts and supporting teachers with technology integration. And then of course our STEAM lessons with our specials rotation. Then we kind of looked at all of the other things that were on there and collaborated with our district administration, our admin assistants, and our content leads, and kind of redistributed everything so that every area was still supported.

 

And once we got to that point, that was awesome. And then we’re like, okay, let’s focus on our content. What are we going to teach with STEAM? And wow, that really became overwhelming very fast.

 

We started kind of looking over all these programs that were developed, but none of them really matched our vision. And a lot of them had a high price tag. So to kind of like commit to a program that was ready to go with all that money, we were looking for something that had a good mix of like robotics, makerspace challenges, student creativity, just open-ended projects, some coding, some 3D printing.

 

We kind of wanted all of that. We also wanted to tie in some science concepts, but we didn’t want that to be the base of our foundation. We wanted to support what teachers were already doing, not replacing it and give students a chance to dive deeper into some of these areas.

 

So not to jump too far ahead, Naomi, but your resource pack was kind of like, yes, this is what we’re looking for. So that was when we found that, that took a huge weight off and we knew we could use, we have used a lot of your lessons as like, you know, not just a starting point, but we’ve adapted several of those and it just really took the pressure off. So then, you know, we have the budget.

 

We were also navigating first starting out. We didn’t really know where the money would be coming from or how much we would have. So we kind of took a conservative approach.

 

We were very lucky to have a lot of resources already that we wanted to utilize so that we didn’t have to buy all new. And a lot of your lessons kind of tied into a lot stuff we already had to. So looking back, you know, we had those huge hurdles, but we’re kind of at a place now where we’re continuing to develop.

 

We think we’re creating something that’s sustainable and just really excited about what we have. Yeah. I’d like to make sure that’s so exciting.

 

I, because what you’re saying, like, well, it’s overwhelming. There’s all this stuff we have to teach. Like it’s not just building, it’s robotics, it’s coding, it’s 3D printing.

 

It’s all of this stuff that you have to fit in. And you also don’t see the same kids every single day. So how can you have that high level learning and everything that you touched upon, but still make it meaningful? And that was exactly my thoughts when I had my space because I had a brand new classroom and zero curriculum.

 

So I had a background in as a classroom teacher, and I know exactly where you’re coming from. You’re like, I didn’t have a budget to buy curriculums. They’re like, here you go.

 

Good luck. I’m like, well, don’t tempt me with a good time. I will figure it out.

 

So that’s really great that, and I’m so glad that my lessons could help you. And we’ll get more into that, like help you find what you were needing based on the materials that you already have and then grow from there. And maybe, I don’t know if you guys have seen this too, based on having your kids for a couple of years now, adapting those lessons based on their skillset also comes into play.

 

Like, oh, the first year we really had to work on some basics. Next year, highlight those basics. But now we can get deeper into those projects and see that progression of learning, which is definitely what I was envisioning when I’m creating things.

 

Like, okay, this is where they’re starting, but here’s how it will grow throughout the years and they can practice those skills. So that’s so exciting to hear. I was like, oh my gosh, you guys.

 

So you mentioned it a little bit, Christina, but Jenny, how did you find my resources and decide that it would be a great fit for you and what you were looking for? Christina mentioned it a little bit, but I think there’s more onto that side. Yeah. So like Christina said, we were pretty overwhelmed.

 

We found out that our district was developing the STEAM program. I think it was maybe end of March. It was sometime in spring.

 

And so this would have been like two springs ago. And we were like, okay, we have to come up with an entire scope and sequence and curriculum, kindergarten through fourth grade by the time we start next school year. And so, again, we’re very fortunate to work in a district that provides us with a lot of resources, a lot of support.

 

So they gave us full days of curriculum writing and planning at the end of that school year and a few days over the summer to meet just the four of us so we could really dig in and develop our curriculum. So in the midst of feeling overwhelmed that spring, I was like, there has to be some resources out there. We’re not the first ones to create a STEAM program at the elementary level.

 

So I started doing a little bit of research online and I have listened to some educational podcasts before and that were really helpful, especially going into a digital learning coach position. And I found your podcast and I was like, oh, this sounds great. I started scrolling through the names of your episodes.

 

And I think it was the first episode was like, I’m a new STEAM teacher. Oh my gosh, it’s speaking to me. So I started listening to it and I was like, okay, this is already helping me to take a deep breath, calm down a little bit.

 

We can do this. And I shared it with our team and I was like, okay, you guys got to listen to Naomi’s podcast. I think it’ll really help give us a starting point and just to help us feel less overwhelmed.

 

Even getting into like your classroom management episodes, your makerspace episodes of how to utilize tools from your podcast. After listening to a few episodes, I continued researching and looking through some of your resources on Teachers Pay Teachers. And like Christina said, a lot of your material already aligned so well with the resources that we have in our district.

 

I think it was your year at a glance or your scope and sequence that I found. And I was looking through it month by month for each grade level. And I was like, okay, you mentioned Sphero Bolts, you mentioned Lego Robotics, you mentioned all these resources that we have access to.

 

And I was like, I think this can really help give us a good starting place without feeling so overwhelmed. One other thing that we were kind of getting stuck on was at this point in the planning, do we need to make sure that we’re aligning with our NGSS science standards or certain math standards, things like that. And I saw that you already had a lot of that connected on your year at a glance.

 

So we’re so appreciative of your resources for really helping to take some of that pressure off and giving us a starting point for developing this program in our district. I’m so glad. You’re welcome.

 

Yeah. And it’s hard too, because every district has different things they’re looking for, the time you have with kids. And yes, you mentioned the standards.

 

It actually kind of helps keep your program good. You’re like, hey, I actually teach standards, you guys. It’s not just a free for all in here.

 

But yeah, when I’ve created everything, it’s so hard creating it, but at the same time, I know other people are feeling the same way as me. I knew that from the beginning. I knew that, but I don’t want to just keep this to myself.

 

If this is going to help somebody else and their students, because it is a lot and it’s overwhelming, but it’s also really fun. If I can help someone else, I’m going to do the work regardless. I had to, you guys do too.

 

But no, that’s exactly why sharing all this, I’m here, I’m with you, I get it, I’m doing it, I understand. And it’s so exciting that it did take that pressure off and you can connect the things that you guys have a vision for, but also have a good starting point to keep moving forward for sure. Also, side note, Jenny, I love seeing my engineering design process poster in the background.

 

That’s so exciting, seeing that hang up like, oh, I know that poster. I know it. So along with that, Miranda, could you tell us some of the successes of your program? And I’m sure you guys chatted about this before, you might see similar things.

 

And what do you love most about it? So tell us all. Yeah, so I mean, we could probably do one episode just on like the successes truly of like, what has come from this last year, because we’ve had so many wins over the last year when this program started. And just like, as they’ve said, just developing it, we felt like we caught like momentum and like we were feeling good about it.

 

And so some of the units specifically that you created that really stuck out to us and that we enjoyed, and the kids really enjoyed and just really took off was the STEM survival camp, which was elite, you know, like the kids loved it, especially the timing of it, like the fall season right about now, and kids are camping, we have, I feel like a lot of kids that enjoy outdoors and enjoy the camp. And so that was a hit. We also love the 3D printing unit, which I’m speaking for myself, I have zero clue how to 3D print.

 

I think I can speak for a lot of us. And so that was amazing. And I like you said, you’re going through it together, like as newbies.

 

And so and a lot of kids were as well. And then your digital citizenship unit, which we take pride in here at Ladue. We want kids to, you know, be safe digital citizens when they’re online and using technology.

 

And then your Maker Month and our systems unit. And so with that STEAM survival, I still have, I brought them, I brought them down, some projects that kids kept. Oh my gosh, look at that little, it’s a, for those of you listening, it’s a shelter.

 

Oh wait, no, that’s Protect the Food. Protect the Food challenge. Yes.

 

And so the kids that maybe didn’t want to take it home, or I was like, please let me keep some to showcase like all the amazing work. But yeah, so that was really good. And I, like I said, I feel like it really tied into a lot of students’ interest in the camping background.

 

And even just like with the Protect the Food and Cross the Bridge and then the Game from the Land. I mean, we could have probably spent a month or two on Game from the Land, girls. I think we talk about it all the time.

 

Like we plan so far in advance for the kids, just because we want them to go deep with it and not just surface level with a lot of those things. So they loved it. And they were just incredibly proud with things that they created.

 

And then your 3D printing series was a lifesaver because I had no idea. I feel like it was very new in our world. And thankfully a lot of kids were starting to dabble in it too.

 

So they actually taught us, which is amazing. And they know a lot of things that maybe we didn’t. And so it was just so fun.

 

And by the end of the unit, we also explored Tinkercad and that is the app that we use to design and like have, especially the older grades, second, third and fourth, they really got to just explore. And we kind of just said, have fun and figure things out. And so they got to design some things and then they eventually printed those things.

 

And then kindergarten and first, we learned about that Tinkercad process. We actually dabbled in Keynote because I feel like they’re very similar in a sense of creating and just more age appropriate for that piece. And then they also got to take home a key chain that was 3D printed and design.

 

And so they loved it. I mean, they just the idea of something being 3D printed and they get to keep it and it is their own. So that was really cool.

 

Gosh, I could go on, but there’s Seesaw. Oh my gosh, Seesaw. So we still use Seesaw to this day.

 

We just really appreciate the connections in every single lesson and every single unit, every grade had a Seesaw connection where they could use it to reflect or use it to upload their work or whatever, maybe or collaborate with other classmates. I think it was also cool for us as teachers to just go through the journals and see what they were creating if we weren’t able to see them that day. Because we have used Seesaw in our district before during COVID.

 

So there’s some strong feelings there about Seesaw, but we’re really hoping that with us using it with all K through 4 students that teachers will receive the value again. And there’s so many amazing updates since COVID and the dashboard is so easy to access. And so we’re really excited to continue to explore that and just have a way for kids to have a digital portfolio online, kind of like a cloud, iCloud based system where they can always keep their things and parents essentially will be able to see those things across their tenure at Ulbonnum.

 

And then I feel like our main finale, so one of our big successes here at WODU was last spring and really it started like last fall, ladies, I believe. Our Director of Technology, Dr. Patricia Brown, had this vision and she’s very much woven in with the STEAM world as well, like with us. She loves technology, loves integration, loves integrating it.

 

She was a Technology Director here, or Technology Coordinator at Ulbonnum. So I kind of worked alongside of her years and years ago, but she wanted to put on this STEAM Fest night. And so we started collaborating very early on.

 

She gathered a lot of students and staff members that really also saw the value in this work. And so we created a STEAM Fest night. It was back in April.

 

And so some of the things that happened was it was just for one night, which I feel like, again, it could be across a week in reality, just because of how much content was in there. But we had it for one evening and our entire community, WODU community, and really outside of WODU, it wasn’t really like if you didn’t go to WODU, you couldn’t go. Like everyone was invited to come, friends, family.

 

If you’re at your friend’s house that night, you could come with them. And so it was jam-packed with just STEAM. I mean, it just like oozed STEAM everywhere you went.

 

And so we had different zones, and there were six zones. And some of those zones entailed AI and digital intelligence, the maker zone, which me and Christina led, that was really fun, like the building and designing. We had the computational thinking zone, which is more like logic and game power, the exploration zone, scientific discovery, creative arts zone, and then a future pathway zone.

 

And what was still very unique is that we also had outside vendors that correlated to this field or any of those fields that could come in and just share the knowledge and share their career fields of like, this is possible. This is what you are very interested in. Like, this is what it can look like in the real world.

 

And so it was a huge hit. And I feel like the timing wasn’t just a coincidence. I feel like this was like a buildup of we want to create this program.

 

And then we have done it for the past year. And then almost like an exclamation mark with STEAM Fest. And it was our first year doing it.

 

And it was just so fun. And yeah, it was a huge hit. And we still talk about it to this day.

 

And we are currently in the planning for STEAM Fest 2 in April of this spring. And so we’re very excited to continue that work and just spread the wealth of all things STEAM. And so those are some successes.

 

I feel like we could talk about it way more. But those are just some of the fun like successes and wins of this year. Like we had way more wins than we had, you know, necessarily failures.

 

But even in those failures, there come wins. And so yeah, it’s been it’s been fun. A lot of wins.

 

Yeah, you guys are done a lot in two years. Sorry to interrupt, but I feel like Christina and Miranda have to share their STEAM Fashion Runway show that appeared at STEAM Fest. Because yeah, this was Christina’s baby.

 

This was her idea. Yeah. I’ve always loved the idea of just making things with recycled materials.

 

And like even as kids, my sister and I were bored one day. And we’re like, let’s make some outfits out of, you know, this cardboard and stuff. And we did a whole little fashion show thing.

 

And then we brought it to our cousins. We had a yearly tradition where we met at a cabin. And my aunt was always like, no screens, no TVs.

 

So at least one of the days we’d have this. We called it a trash fashion show at the time. But I rebranded it to the Recycled Runway to bring to Ladue.

 

And so we had any students, some students could sign up ahead of time saying that they’d make their outfits at home. We had a stage set up. We had music.

 

We announced them. They got to strut across the stage wearing their creation. We also had a room, a makerspace area at STEAM Fest where students could come in and make their outfits there on the fly.

 

And they got to be a part of the show too. Of course, every year one of something you come away with ideas of how you want to do it differently the next year. So we’re looking forward to bringing it back.

 

And that was so fun to see that come big picture there. So you are going to do the runway again? Yeah. Okay, good.

 

Recycled Runway. I mean, we were on a high, literally. And there was just so many kids that, like Christina mentioned, they could come and do it there.

 

Or they could plan a month or so in advance. And there were so many kids that developed and created their costume there. And we thought, oh my gosh, is it going to be enough time? Plenty of time.

 

And so it was just, yeah, it was a hit. Thanks to Christina’s wonderful idea. They’re going to start making their costumes now.

 

You guys are planning the event. They’re at home making their costumes. So you’re going to have like over the years, like all these, like you’ll see the progression of the costume that they’ll look forward to.

 

That’s so cute. I’m going to come. It’s in on April at the STEAM Showcase.

 

It’s amazing. And it sounds like your guys’ district, like because they are starting this program, it just sounds like they’re very supportive. And I can feel your energy off of the screen.

 

And you all are excited about it. Also, you wanting to do this podcast is like a big deal. It’s scary to do a podcast.

 

I don’t know. Maybe I’m not. I’m not too scary.

 

But I just love how your guys’ leadership, and that can be a huge impact in what you’re doing, is they know, okay, we’re starting from scratch. And we trust you as teachers to make those decisions and build this program. And you guys are working together.

 

You’re trusting each other. And the kids can feel it too. And it just, it’s a really cool trickle effect.

 

And I can just tell that you guys are like in a dream environment. And you are all in different schools. But you’re really trying to have like these really meaningful experiences for kids and using your skills in meaningful ways.

 

And in turn, these amazing outcomes. And kids are excited about what you’re doing. Like kids love STEM anyway.

 

But it’s scary for them too to be in a creative space and trying those hard things they’ve never tried before. For sure, they haven’t done STEM Survival Camp because I made that up. So like all these different experiences, and you’re providing these spaces that they’re excited about it.

 

And they want to try new things. And they can’t wait for the next year. So I really like, it’s so awesome to hear that.

 

And like having that STEAM showcase is such a great way to celebrate all the work that you guys are doing. Because I mean, you’re doing it for the kids. We know we’re as teachers, we’re doing it for the kids, but also a space that they can celebrate the creativity and the hard work and they can look forward to it.

 

So I love that’s like a tradition, becoming a tradition in your district. To finish this off, Mary, if there are teachers on the fence about investing in my resources, what would you say to them? Well, it’s clearly worked out so well for us. I mean, like I think Christina and Jenny said at the beginning, when we were in those beginning stages of creating our own curriculum, it was so overwhelming, so stressful.

 

I’m just like, where do we start? You know, we had different outlines that we were kind of drafting and we didn’t know which one would be best if one was better than the other. And we were looking at all these options online. And so finding your bundle on Teachers Pay Teachers, and then when we got that, we just felt like it was a huge weight off our shoulders.

 

I mean, it was just, we were ready to just dive into it. There was, it’s like just hundreds of things in there that we could look through and kind of pick out. And I mean, the lessons that you create, they are just like ready to go.

 

You can pretty much teach them how it is if you have the materials. But we spent a lot of time kind of adapting them, making them our own, kind of creating our own slides and our own seesaws to go with them, just like using what you had started. And so we, yeah, we’ve gotten into a really great groove with planning those.

 

And we just liked how there was choices for the different grade levels for every unit. I think it was the, yeah, the digital STEM planner that you created that was, that kind of had, every month had a different theme, and then each theme had lessons for each grade. And so we just kind of looked through to think, you know, which one will be best for year one last year.

 

And now, now that we’re in year two, we’re kind of picking different ones to cycle in there. So it’s, you know, different things that they’re getting. And the kids just love it.

 

I mean, they just eat it up. Like every day, they’re so excited to see what we’re doing. You know, they get, they get most excited about the flashy things like the robotics and they, they always come into STEAM class.

 

You know, I always have kids that come in, are we doing robotics today or 3D printing? It’s like, no, we’re going to do something. And then they just get so excited about whatever it is that we’re doing. And so, yeah, I just think that we have the best job.

 

lessons-for-starting-a-steam-program

 

 

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More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a K-5 STEM educator and business owner in Colorado supporting elementary teachers world-wide navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there. She has over a decade of experience teaching, 5 years teaching elementary STEM, along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM Certificate.

She offers a variety of resources 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!

Kicking off the School Year with STEM Survival Camp with Bre Smith [ep. 212]

Kicking off the School Year with STEM Survival Camp with Bre Smith [ep. 212]

Check out the full episode on kicking off the school year with STEM Survival Camp:  

 

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Episode Summary

How do you authentically teach students how to use the Engineering Design Process in K-5? I’m chatting with K-5 STEAM teacher, Bre Smith and how she uses STEM Survival Camp to kick off the school year with her classes, and has even made it a tradition to start the Back to School Season.

Meet Bre:

Hi, I’m Bre Smith, the STEAM teacher in Colorado. I work with all of our K–5 students to spark curiosity, creativity, and problem-solving through hands-on, minds-on learning. A few years ago, I designed and launched our STEAM program, aligning it with NGSS standards and making sure every student has opportunities to explore science, technology, engineering, art, and math in meaningful ways.

I believe kids learn best when they’re building, experimenting, and reflecting, so I focus on creating challenges that inspire them to think critically, collaborate, and bring their imaginations to life. My favorite moments are when students surprise themselves by realizing they can do something they didn’t think was possible.

Outside of school, I’m a mom of three, and you’ll often find me cheering on the sidelines at their games, spending time outdoors, and traveling.

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.

 

All right, well thank you Bree so much for being here today. I’m so excited to have you as a guest because we’ve connected in lots of different ways and we met at a conference I think in Colorado at an ENCO in Breckenridge and you were in one of my sessions and then a few years later I still currently teach right now a STEM club at your school and I like walked in your class like a few weeks ago. I’m like oh my gosh like you’re teaching my whole STEM survival camp unit and the kids are telling me about it and you kind of had it decorated with tents and you have the fire and I had to tell kids in my club to get out of the tent like that’s Miss Smith tent like get out of there so I was like oh my gosh I would love to hear how it goes in your class because it’s one of those things that as you know being a STEM teacher you’re the only one in your building teaching it and so you don’t always know how things are going or like what other people are doing so I’m like cannot wait to talk to you about this because I wanted to ask you more before we start recording we’re like no we need to get this on audio but yes before we do that yeah if you wouldn’t mind telling us more about you and what you teach and also a little snapshot about your schedule um how often you see kids all right well my name is Brie Smith and I teach kindergarten through fifth grade and I teach STEAM so we have the A for Art at Redstone Elementary in Highlands Ranch Colorado this is my fourth year currently that we’re in in this role prior to that I was an intermediate teacher mostly in fifth grade I did that for six years and then I stayed home with my kids for eight years and so I came back to teaching right before COVID it was the worst time to come back so I was teaching part-time computer science and the school shut down and they were the kids were spending their entire day on the screens and I it didn’t feel right with me to give them more digital assignments and so I started giving them STEAM challenges at home with materials that they had around the house and they loved it and so that’s kind of when it clicked for me how important those skills are the creativity the problem solving the resilience it was things that they were naturally during using during those STEAM challenges so after that crazy year I set out to build a full STEAM program at my school so I proposed the idea to my principal and vice principal and they were so supportive and on board so then I presented to staff and then PTO and everyone was on board and so I wrote a couple grants to get it funded and now here we are so it’s grown into something so much bigger than I have ever imagined and it’s so fun to see how it’s impacting the students so I see kids on a weekly rotation every third week so we have PE music and then STEAM and then my classes are 45 minutes long and I see six classes a day so kindergarten through fifth each day so that’s about me and my schedule okay I had no idea you kind of like created your position I did I had no idea that’s like a whole other podcast because that’s a whole other thing we could talk about that another time because like that’s pretty cool because you were already hired as computer science like that was your title and then yeah let’s switch it up right and the timing worked out well because our art teacher who was the third rotation she was retiring and so and that’s when I saw you at in EDCO that was like I just got in that position I was like trying to get prepared for that first year so yeah and it’s it’s a lot it’s like I have a brand new position you’re creating this whole program right and it’s like all new to you because you have teaching experience which is so helpful but it is a whole other world in STEM and I don’t remember what I presented about I was it STEM survival camp no it wasn’t I think it was just kind of like the logistics and stuff which is so important and like your favorite my favorite quote of yours is like how we’re like the fun aunt planning a birthday party six times a day because that’s literally how it feels like the energy level is like you have to just be excited every class but I will say after my second year teaching STEAM I gave all my general like classroom supplies away and I don’t I don’t think I’m ever going back to the gen ed class so that’s yeah you’re committed you are committed yeah and her room is so cute you’re gonna have to send me some pictures I love it’s just so warm and cozy and like you can tell there’s just so much creativity in there it’s so she’s like this cute rainbow she painted on a pegboard and then like all like she I really like you have um like all the reusable blocks and stuff but then you have them color-coded for what types of projects they can be used for like you have like really cool things going on in your classroom and um you can tell like the kids love it in there and create and have such a fun time um so it’s so fun like going in there everyone’s like oh I like walk around like oh look at all this fun stuff but that’s what I saw I’m like oh my gosh it’s STEM survival camp so what made you decide um to do some survival camp because I did mine like the same time like back to school-ish time um so what made you decide to teach it and when do you teach it so like how do you um set that up because you do see kids for the whole week every the same kids every single day for a week which I did so yeah how did you decide to do that and then like how do you how did you set it up for your kids okay well I mean we live in Colorado so I feel like it’s a natural fit um but I love camping and like honestly my favorite shows are alone and naked and afraid and all that stuff so it just like totally fit my personality um and I’ve been teaching it every year since I started the program and I just love it um and so when I teach it so I usually have the first round of kids we go over the rules and expectations and the routines um but then after that our first unit is survival STEAM um and I do it first through fifth grade um and I tried my kindergarten but when it’s so early in the year I realized they’re just learning how to be students um and I take the outside to collect materials and yeah learn from experience so um so now I just do first through fifth grade um and I chose to teach STEAM survival at that time for a couple reasons the first is they are so engaged um and so you mentioned I set up my classroom so I have this big like I got off Amazon it’s this big like kind of fabric that has the mountains in the background and then I have a clay collapsible tent and then I have a little campfire that I illuminate with a flashlight and I turn the lights off and then I invite the kids in for their first day and they’re like oh it’s STEAM survival so all the kids that have been here in the past get so excited and all the new kids are like wait what why is there a campfire why is there a tent um and the first graders they get so excited because this is their first they’ve heard about it but this is their first round doing it so for me it’s engagement from the beginning um but then also it sets up skills that are really important for the rest of the year um so I really hit planning hard um during this unit and I use your rubric for the four star plan um and so we really dive in and go slow as we’re planning for STEAM survival um and I just have a quick story so I was explaining to the kids like you need to have these were fifth graders you need to have two different views of your shelter um and maybe a bird’s eye view so I just like threw that out there and then a girl came up to me she had finished her plan and she had drawn her shelter but had a bird flying over it because she didn’t understand what a bird’s eye view was and I was like see this is why it’s so good that we’re going slow so we can go fast and so we stopped and explained like oh a bird’s eye view is when you’re like you know flying like a bird and you like look down you know so that whole thing but it was just really good to like know that yeah we got to slow down and do this at the beginning so we have success later in the year um and then the teamwork skills that come with STEAM survival are huge and that’s a great way to start off and so we talk about how to work in a team we talk about what to do if someone isn’t helping on your team um I have like three steps that they go through we talk about the difference between being a leader and being bossy and so we go through that so it just really sets up the collaboration skills um and then overall the general just engineering skills like how do you manage supplies I only give out like 12 inches of tape so how are you gonna use it um managing your time like the kids that are making the game from the land they get so into it and they just want to build these elaborate things I’m like you guys only have a day like we do one build day um I’m like so you gotta like manage your time wisely um and then also like how to test and improve and all that so all those things come with the same survival and they just really set up my class for a year of success when we do it at the very beginning I love hearing that so much because I saw the same thing when I started doing it I started teaching it well probably not too long before you because um I created it in 2020 so we were going back in the fall because um I was also watching a lot alone I’ve camped a lot I have a lot of experience camping I just don’t do it a lot as a grown-up um but I can um I can do it I have a I have a stun trailer so I can do it um I was the same way but I the I created it because we actually couldn’t share supplies and um we I was like well let’s bring the kids out as much as possible and so that’s why I create I’m like I’m gonna do it for one year and I have the same reaction as your kids like we have to do it every year and so they are like so excited and um I keep doing it and I taught a few of them in my STEM camps now just for one day so I really just hit hard on the creation but I love how you focused in on the planning but all the skills that come with it um I love that so much like hearing the progression and since you’ve done it every year like you said the kids are excited have you seen like their skills kind of just keep building off of each other a little bit oh yeah like um especially specifically with the planning like my fifth graders um they’re so good at it now and then also the biggest thing I’ve seen is the improvement in the resiliency um like when I first started they cried all the time and being an intermediate teacher I’m like we don’t cry like why are we crying you know and so I’ve really worked to build those skills and the STEAM survival is awesome because you know they’re building with sticks and tape and it doesn’t work they don’t stick you know and so they have to be resilient have to keep trying we’re gonna dump water on it we’re gonna blow it over that’s okay you know and so we talk it’s more about the process not your final product but you can really see the skills are finally building after like in my fourth year I’m like yes all that hard work I’ve done for three years is really paying off so I’m so glad you mentioned that I had the same same experience like kids like why why don’t we get all the tape we want like they would cry all the time like I’m all because you I mean when you think about it and how important STEM is and STEAM um and you’re in your fourth year but what the kids are typically doing most kids from what I’ve seen they’re not doing this kind of stuff as often as they should be at home and so when you’re building with and all the technology skills are important too that’s a whole other thing but um like the tangible like things you’ve never dealt with before like I don’t know how to do I’m like well everything new is hard at first how would you know I tell kids like you wouldn’t know I made this up like I made this whole thing out of my brain so you probably haven’t done it before because it’s made up so yeah it makes sense you don’t know what to do yeah but I love hearing like where you’re at with STEAM that you’re like seeing like oh my gosh like you’re building upon that and um all the skills are growing have you seen any other successes with it you’ve said so many amazing things like any other cool successes yeah so many so many but um one of them was that um there’s a lot of students even living in Colorado that don’t like to go outside and um so and they’re not comfortable they love to be on their screens you know and so um the way I set it up is like Monday is building background knowledge Tuesday is planning Wednesday is going outside to get the materials Thursday’s building and Friday is um test and share so on Wednesday we go outside and collect materials and so um the way our school is set up is like our we have a big property but then just behind our property is like a walking trail and there’s a big field so that’s where we go to get um our materials and I I’m close enough I have a walkie you know so I can still get a hold of people but um so in the years past I would have kids that just stayed on the sidewalk with me they would not venture into the field they were afraid about they were afraid of snakes they were afraid of bugs they were afraid of grasshoppers um afraid of ticks I mean I’m allergic you know and so but every year less and less kids have been staying back with me on the sidewalk they have been yeah being brave and going out there and it’s like it’s feeling more comfortable to them um and so I just think that’s a huge success because I mean we live in such a beautiful state like get out and enjoy it so um and I do have to say and I had texted you but we every year we see a snake and we did see one this year and um it’s kind of like the highlight the class was like it was third graders like we saw the snake because it’s like a big deal to see a snake but we also talk about snake safety I mean living in Colorado I had a snake living in my front yard so it’s like it’s part of um our world and it’s their habitat and so we talk about snake safety um and so they will tell me oh I was hiking over summer and I saw a snake and I did exactly what you told me to so yeah so that was yeah so that’s a little fun thing um and then with that just over the summer when they go camping um they tell me how they built the real life thing so they’re like oh I built a real life shelter that I could fit in me and my brother would hang out in there or um you know one kid was like I did a bear hang um um when we were up in in the woods and so it just it’s just so cool to see it like bark something like translate um and then probably my most favorite one is um comes from the sewing of backpack and I have to say I was like that was my least popular like and I think teachers are scared about sewing and I’m so excited to hear what your experience I was terrified so I think I did it for two years and I didn’t do that one and then I was like okay I gotta do it and so I chose a class size that at the time one was small I think there was like maybe 20 kids in that in that um grade level for each class and then um I all and they were they’re pretty competent you know so like I knew that they could handle it um because you know every year or every grade they’re like yeah these guys are really with it and or these guys need more support you know so I knew that this class was the one to try it on and so we did it and I learned a lot but I loved it so much I was actually really surprised how much I loved it and they turned out so great and I have to tell you the kids loved it and I had one I had one um fifth grader yeah I think it was last year um she was kind of like it was hard for her to make friends and she was kind of introverted um and she loved the sewing unit so much she went and had her mom take her to like Hobby Lobby and she was sewing all these things and bringing it back and all the other girls were like oh my gosh that’s so cool and so it was like a bridge for her to have friends through the sewing unit so yeah and then um I have like a like I’m obsessed with sloths I have a bunch of stuff yeah you are I did notice that actually like I think she likes sloths oh yeah I do I love them but um so the the girls would go home and sew my sloth stuffies like different items and stuff because they love the sewing so much so that is probably my most favorite when and it came from the unit that I was most terrified to teach yeah and I I was shocked too by the sewing because like I it’s based off of the show alone so everything that you do and I alone is maybe not so much for kids I always like what are your parents discretion um but everything in there and I’m like the sewing um a lot of them use sewing in different ways like they might not necessarily be sewing their backpack however so many of them are sewing up a hole in their shirt like they’re out in the wilderness they can’t fix it some of them are sewing their shelter it’s actually a good skill it’s a great skill for life simple simple basic mending hand stitches I had a lot of kids I don’t know if you had kids say this but um with their boy scout or girl scout patches they’re like I can sew my patches now oh no one’s ever told me that that’s yeah I had quite a few kids like I can sew my patches now I’m like that’s awesome and I have videos in there too like uh so anyone who’s like I don’t know how to sew it’s literally like two three basic stitches the videos were like essential because I am not a sewer and that’s kind of what intimidated me but we like I learned with the kids and so we would play it and we would just like practice it and then once they got it they got it you know and now now I’m like almost a pro yeah like I know all these stitches I’m also not a sewer I did work at Build-A-Bear in college and the bears already have the string on there and you have to pull the strings and then you tie a knot but when you pull them sometimes the string would come out so I actually learned a different stitch that’s not in those videos but um yeah it is an interesting one and I think some teachers avoid it but it’s actually not that bad that one takes the longest but it’s also really fun and like you said a life skill yeah and they’re just so proud of it like they like would carry it around with them and just and they were just so proud so yeah and you don’t need sewing machines that’s what I like too because I always wanted them in my class but I never had them and so hand stitching it is it’s perfect I love it yeah um so anything else about the lessons or any tips or tricks or if a teacher was on the fence um with this because I know there are six lessons and I like how you even said I tried it with kinder just wasn’t the right time for them so even if someone started it in mid-year they might be ready I saw that too with some kinders too I would maybe do one day with kinder and then we’re doing some other stuff but right right um but any like a teacher’s like I’m not a camper I don’t know like what what would you say to them well first to start with some tips and tricks um if you can I just really encourage you to go outside it is such a fun engaging thing for the kids and it’s really a good behavior incentive because it’s the beginning of the year right we’re doing the plans and everything and I’m like you must have your plan done and it must be a four-star plan and you must follow all my other rules if you want to go outside and so being it that it’s midweek on Wednesday I mean I’ve never had to you know stick anyone in the office while we go outside so just going outside and just being you know with nature and um we’ve seen so many besides the snakes we’ve seen some really cool um like praying mantises you know it’s just it’s just fun you know kids love to be outside so that is one I would highly recommend obviously it’s all dependent on the weather but that’s why I do it at the beginning of the year because it’s nice um and then bringing all that nature back in gets very very messy yes I’m sure you noticed that when you came you’re like oh my god I stopped giving them bags I’m like because they’re just putting scoops of dirt I’m like no you got to carry it with your hands well that’s and I said don’t put in your pocket you don’t make baskets out of your shirt it’s like the only your two hands and so I got um tidy tubs so they’re like little trash cans that I put on each of the different table groups and so I and I had to explicitly teach them sweep your nature crumbs into the tidy tub and then they would leave it so I’m like carry your tidy tub to the trash can but that’s really helped um with the mess because I tell them I’m like you guys it looks like nature threw up in our room like we got to clean it up um I’m sure the cleaning crew like hates my classroom but um so it is very messy but it is worth it um and then just a couple of the actual units um the fishing pole one that one I really had to learn um by trial and error so my first year I did it with first graders I we went and got our sticks and I gave them the tape and I said okay just make your fishing pole and they did not have the skills and so um one thing could not tie the string to the paper clip and then like they were trying to tape it but their spatial skills weren’t quite there so instead of going into like taping a long pole they were doing it like doubled and so it wasn’t very long so I have learned that we have to go step by step with that so we get our supplies and then on Thursday under the document camera um I explain and model everything and so I start by their tape I give them about eight inches and I just hang it from their tables um and so each kid has their own tape and then they each have their own scissors and so I always start with okay first you need to measure the tape the tape should be about as long as your finger and then you cut it from the bottom because they would try to cut it from the top cut it from the and then you lay it sticky side up and then I create the image like oh we’re going to put two siblings we’re going to tuck them into bed so one head goes here the other head goes there their feet are sticking out and then we tuck them in tuck them in with the tape and so but you have like I had to be so explicit step by step and then there are some kids who just catch on and I’m like okay go you know but most of the kids stay with me and we connect three sticks so it’s um so it’s doing that twice and then um I say if you can tie tie your hook on but otherwise we tape it we tape everything sometimes I have to go around and just like reinforce the tape but the fact that they were able to do it by themselves they were so they’re so proud I mean it might be like droopy but they did it you know so I’ll go around and just kind of reinforce with duct tape or stronger tape but so that is like a tip for the first grade yeah yeah yeah and and then now they know how to measure tape that they had to use tape like it’s a huge skill um but again it sets us up for the rest of the year so and we’re doing bioluminescent animals now which is when they ever like they got the tape down like you don’t go slow to go fast so so um for crossing the river I originally say you don’t get any new supplies like you just get what you get in your basket that’s all the tape you get use it wisely um but then when they’re testing I bring in a bucket of water and when they test everything gets wet and so at the end of our first build day so that’s Thursday um I say okay I’ll give you new tape tomorrow because everything’s wet yeah um and so then on Friday they get like I don’t know 15 minutes to finish building and get ready to show and then they can have new tape um because it was just a soggy mess but they have to test like yes I know I did the same thing but it’s like good how you say it later so they’re not like counting on it I know you’re like okay now I’ll give you some now you can’t and then the other one was just the the sewing like just don’t be afraid of it and then um I tried like getting the um kids safe did not work so I I agree I had the same experience yeah yeah yeah and it’s like you know if they can handle a hot glue gun and they know how to be safe it’s just another tool so I just go over how to be safe with it and um that we haven’t had any issues um and then I the thicker thread is important because it just kids will just like pull it through yes um so that is helpful and then um I also got fabric squares that are already cut because I was just getting huge sheets and then having to cut it for all three classes and it took me forever so I just get the fabric squares off Amazon but then also like the kids love to bring in their own fabric which I was really surprised about but they want they want a certain pattern so they will take their parents to like Hobby Lobby Walmart and get their own fabric so um I’ve only had to buy out of the years one um one like group of fabric squares off Amazon everything else has been through donation so oh cool that’s cool yeah I love that wow and then um if a teacher is on the fence I just it’s just one of those units where the kids just light up and they’re just so excited and engaged because it feels real and it feels a little adventurous I mean think of the adventure they get in their life at school every day it’s pretty boring but this is exciting and adventurous um and it’s just so fun to get to see them problem solve and think critically and collaborate with each other um and then it really brings out strengths in kids that you might not normally see um in a church like doing traditional STEAM challenges or just the traditional classroom um that I had a quiet kid he was a fifth grader and he just kind of was in the back of everything just went along but then for STEAM survival he had so much background knowledge and he stepped up and I was just blown away and I I told him I’m like it is so cool to see this side of you he’s like I love it I just love it and like oh that’s cool I know but it like I wouldn’t have seen it if I didn’t do some survival um so it’s hands-on it’s messy it’s super creative but it’s the kind of learning that they’re going to be talking about um for years to come you know and like I’ve had parents come and say oh I was showing like a bear got into you know my grandma’s house and so I was showing my kid a video of the ring you know but it’s because it’s real life in Colorado but yeah but they’re just they’re talking about it at home with their parents they remember it um and it’s just as fun for me as it is for them so I just encourage everyone to give it a shot.

 

I love it that’s like so crazy like like I said like I I knew I had fun teaching it and I’ve taught it even again recently outside with my trailer for two hours and we were in nature we actually tested the fishing poles oh in a pond oh my gosh so cool yes I’ve never done that like we have paper ones um that I do but we did it in a pond and a kid caught a fish job oh my gosh and a real fishing pole in the pond with his use his created one. That’s so funny she caught a fish a fishing pole a fishing pole but it is so crazy like I know how fun it is but like hearing I love how it’s like like a tradition in your program which is so cool like it’s like making me tear up because it’s like so like cool hearing that like how excited you are teaching you like have fun with it and things you probably add every year or kids are like oh my sibling did this one and I can’t wait to do it so that it’s like so cool to hear your whole experience and like yeah like when we have twins in the opposite classes they’re like I know what we’re you know they’re just so they’re like I know what we’re doing you know yeah they just come in and they’re ready to go it’s just so fun oh I love this it’s a fun it’s like one of my favorites to teach slash I’m like the most proud of but I’m so glad it’s like successful for you like I love it so much but it’s so fun um I’m sure other teachers love hearing about it and they probably have other questions like there’s other like good like nuggets that you said um but if teachers wanted to reach out to you what would be the best place for them to find you and we’ll put in the show notes yeah so I well I have a classroom Instagram and so you can actually I just posted a bunch of pictures because we just wrapped up that unit so um I have a bunch of pictures of um the fishing the kids fishing and all that stuff so um they can check it out on Instagram it’s it’s kind of a long one but it’s rse mile high steam um is my Instagram and you can just message me on there it’s probably the easiest way but I’m happy to answer any questions because like you I’m just so passionate about it and um it just it gives me so much joy to talk about and to teach it so yeah I teach a bunch of units and I always I line up the kids

 

 

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More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a K-5 STEM educator and business owner in Colorado supporting elementary teachers world-wide navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there. She has over a decade of experience teaching, 5 years teaching elementary STEM, along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM Certificate.

She offers a variety of resources 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 Implement What You Learned after a STEM Teacher Conference [ep.211]

How to Implement What You Learned after a STEM Teacher Conference [ep.211]

Check out the full episode on how to implement what you learned after a STEM teacher conference:  

 

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 this episode on YouTube here:

Episode Summary

Attending STEM teacher conferences can be such a blast, but also exhausting! You are gathering so much information within a few days, so how do you even implement it all? (Spoiler: you don’t!) I’ll be sharing my strategy on how I organize information I learn from these conferences in a meaningful way and actually use what I learned in the classroom.

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.

 

Hello and happy to be back here for the Elementary STEM Coach Podcast. We are here for a fresh and new season, getting ready to get ready for that new school year. Whether you listen to me in real time over the summer, or you save these episodes for when you’re ready to think about back to school time, no worries at all.

 

We are in this together. And if you are watching the video version of this, I am sitting on the bed of my hotel room. I just got done this morning with the ISTE Conference 2026 in Orlando.

 

My shirt says vacation vibes. Those are the vibes I am bringing before I head on home tomorrow. I am definitely sleeping in because conferences, especially like ISTE or any of those teacher conferences can definitely be overwhelming.

 

During the whole experience, it’s amazing. It’s fantastic. You’re gathering all this information.

 

You’re running into people that you wanted to see or making new friends. But then you get back to the hotel room or even just at the end of the whole trip and don’t even know where to begin. Where do you even start with the information and the pictures that you took and the swag that you got and all of the flyers? What do you do for this information? And I know for me, because I have a backpack full of stuff that I want to start all of it.

 

I want to do it all. I want to do all the cool things that I saw. And realistically, it’s not going to be that way.

 

But I do have a strategy that I have done after almost every conference I have been to, big or small. And I’ve been involved with teacher conferences in so many different ways, whether I presented, whether I’m just an attendee for IFSTEA. I was running social media for the EdTech company that I’ve been doing their social media since the end of 2023.

 

And if you want to know who, check out my Instagram at Naomi Meredith underscore. There are some hints and things on there for you. But I was doing that.

 

So I didn’t get the chance to attend sessions, but walk around, talk a lot to teachers, whether it’s wandering around the expo hall area, poster sessions, and all of that, or a lot of it was at the booth. And I guess I was filming things from time to time. But I was able to talk to teachers a lot more about the products, but really more so about teachers’ experiences.

 

And that was super, super amazing. Shout out to all the teachers who came and saw and found me or ran into me. That just absolutely blew my mind and made me tear up and made me cry in this hotel room, because I never know.

 

It was just really cool. It was really, really cool. Don’t make me tear up now.

 

Stop. Allergies. Anyway, but it was just like everybody has their unique stories, but there’s just a lot of common themes between things.

 

So again, ideas for podcast episodes. But thinking about, again, that information that you gathered, what do you do with it? So here’s what I have done. I’ve also been in charge of taking information back to my staff, and you might be one of those people too, or back to your admin.

 

What are you going to do with that information? So first of all, you have everything organized. And I have my stickiness here being organized, is thinking about, based on the conference and what you’ve learned, what are the things that you want to keep? So take out your year-long plan. Maybe you have it typed up.

 

Maybe it’s in your plan book. But take a peek at all of those things. Maybe highlight all the things you want to keep.

 

And honestly, you’re going to probably want to keep a lot more than you think. And that must make you feel good. There’s probably things you’ve seen at the conference, like, oh my gosh, this teacher does this as well.

 

Or, oh, this teacher and I use the same lesson. Like, that’s great. Like, we’re on the same page.

 

That probably makes you feel good. That happens, I feel, like, at a conference. You’re like, oh, okay.

 

Like, we’re doing the same thing. We’re in this together. I’m going to keep that lesson and move on from there.

 

And a lot of you who are listening teach more than one grade. So having a complete overhaul when you get back really is not sustainable. It’s not realistic.

 

And we’re going to get into what you can do. But really think about, oh, there’s a lot more things that I can keep. So that’s super great.

 

From there, there’s probably some things that you want to update. And so thinking about, okay, this lesson’s good. Standards are there.

 

The core concepts are there. But I can actually do this lesson a bit better based on some tools that I saw. So probably just having an update.

 

And the cool thing about all of my resources that are up in my TeachersPay Teacher Shop is anything that you purchase, you get forever updates as long as that product’s live and stuff up there. You also get access if it’s taken down. Anyway, it’s digital.

 

But the really cool thing is if I update it and put it in there, you get that. And I always post things that I have used with students, I’m currently using with students, or maybe I’ve re-taught it, and then I update it based on what I saw. So recently, I’ve had a lesson, Beagle the Unimaginary Friend, and super great story, cute STEM and Stories connection where I had it.

 

They’re learning about magnetism and creating their unimaginary friend, which goes along with the story, and how magnets, what things are magnetic and not. Still in that lesson, but I also added on a 3D printing component because since making that lesson, I have more skills and training and experience about 3D printing and how to do this with kids. And so I didn’t even get rid of all of that.

 

Even just updating the look is great. But I’ve added in that 3D printing component. And funny enough, I actually had a teacher come up and tell me at this conference, she did that part.

 

She has done that lesson with 3D printing. So just take a peek because you might have some of those lessons, maybe you haven’t taught in a little while, or maybe you’re like, eh, it was okay. Based on your conference experience, are there things that you can update? And you probably have a bunch.

 

So don’t do a whole overhaul. Start with one and then go from there. And finally, and I’m saying finally, for a reason, is thinking about the things you want to try new, do two or three things to start.

 

And the new could be just how you’re teaching it. I’m sure there’s so many ways, like a strategy that you have learned, something you want to try, that could be the new thing. But also, maybe it’s a new tool.

 

So again, kind of back to that update. I’m thinking more of something brand new you’ve never used before. Maybe your school’s purchasing it, maybe you’re borrowing it from another teacher.

 

But that could be that new thing that you focus on. Because I feel like if you’re doing 5 million things at once, and I’m going to a different conference for learning about things for myself. And I’m guilty of this, that I want to do all the new things.

 

But if I really am focusing on like two to three, get really good at it, and feel comfortable about it. If I can teach somebody else about it, then I’m like, all right, I feel good. It’s not even new anymore.

 

Then you can move on, look at your list of things you learned, and then try that. So I know you’re going to want to do all the things, everything you saw in the vendor hall, everything you saw, that is up and coming that you should be on top of it, focus on one to two things, it will be okay, you are doing your best. Even adding one thing is a big deal.

 

That’s what other jobs do that? Yes, they do. But I feel like teachers are trying new things all the time. You’re trying way more.

 

So give yourself some grace. Don’t feel like you have to do it all. And I would love to hear about your experience and what you’re actually trying.

 

So feel free to send any questions my way by way of email or on Instagram at Naomi Meredith underscore. And I am so excited to be back and more episodes to come. 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:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a K-5 STEM educator and business owner in Colorado supporting elementary teachers world-wide navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there. She has over a decade of experience teaching, 5 years teaching elementary STEM, along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM Certificate.

She offers a variety of resources 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 Should a Word Wall Look Like in a STEM Classroom? [Back to School STEM Tips Series] [ep.201]

What Should a Word Wall Look Like in a STEM Classroom? [Back to School STEM Tips Series] [ep.201]

Check out the full episode on what should a word wall look like in a STEM classroom:  

 

 

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 this episode on YouTube here:

Coming soon!

Episode Summary

As you are setting up your STEM classroom, what are things you can decorate with but still connect with what you are teaching? A word wall, or vocabulary wall, can be a great asset to your units to help students make connections across content themes. I’ll be sharing practical ways you can set up a word wall that you can use throughout the school year and with all grade levels, K-5.

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

(0:00) Welcome to the Elementary STEM Coach Podcast. I’m your host, Naomi Meredith, a former classroom (0:06) teacher turned K-5 STEM teacher and coach. With over a decade of experience teaching and a master’s (0:12) degree in STEM leadership, I’m here to coach you throughout the year to help you gain back (0:16) more time to create innovative experiences for your students.

When you are setting up your STEM (0:22) classroom for back to school, have you thought about adding in a word wall? If so, where are (0:29) you going to put it? And if you haven’t, how does this even connect to your STEM classroom? And should (0:34) you even have one? Let’s chat about it. With anything that I have set up in my classroom spaces, (0:41) whether it is my STEM trailer that I am putting together or my K-5 STEM classroom, I am very (0:48) purposeful about the things that I hang up on my wall. Yes, I like things to look cute and cohesive (0:55) and go together.

But also, I always want to make sure, are the things that I’m hanging up, (1:00) are they purposeful or helpful for students? Can this be something that is a good teaching point (1:06) for them? And every single thing that I’ve hung up has a dual purpose. So of course, like I said, (1:12) it might look cute, but also there is a purpose behind it. One thing that can be really helpful (1:18) in your classroom is having your own type of word wall.

And you can do this a couple of ways. One (1:25) way you could do this is you can have an alphabet that you hang up all year long, and each letter (1:31) on the alphabet has a different STEM connection. For example, Y could be for YouTube, S could be (1:38) for file, like a digital file, and so on.

And it helps kids think about the world in a different (1:44) way and with the alphabet. I have a few different options and different colors of this you could (1:49) print and hang up in your space. That’s super easy.

It has a really cute update. So I’m excited to (1:56) choose what color scheme I want to hang up in my STEM trailer. So stay tuned for that.

And another (2:02) way that I have done this as well is you have the alphabet, you hang this up, but also leave space (2:08) underneath each letter. And this is something that you can add to all year long, or you could (2:16) just do this for every unit. Now when you’re teaching K through 5 STEM, that’s six different (2:22) classes, some of you even teach pre-K in there, and all the way up to eighth grade.

So it really (2:28) depends on how you want to do this. Like I said, you could change it out every unit. And if you’re (2:32) teaching in cohesive themes, there is going to be some overlap with how you’re going to use this (2:37) alphabet slash word wall.

So for every unit, you probably have some key vocabulary and concepts (2:44) that you want kids to know about. For example, if you’re teaching your second graders about erosion, (2:50) you probably want the kids to know what the word erosion means while they are creating an invention (2:56) that will help slow down or stop erosion. So with all of those units that go together, (3:02) you can print out that vocabulary that is content specific for that unit.

And then you can add that (3:10) to your word wall. So it makes it very interactive if you are changing it out where the alphabet (3:16) letters can always stay there. But then you are changing out the words.

And you might say, well, (3:22) all of the words are going to be mixed up. Do I have to change it out for have a separate word (3:27) wall for every single grade? You could. But like I said, if you’re teaching in units, everything can (3:33) kind of go together.

And the kids can actually start seeing those connections. So what’s really (3:37) cool when I have done this is the kids will see the words and the vocabulary where has the pictures, (3:43) the word and the definition with them, which all of my lessons that are in my K-5 STEM year-long (3:50) plan, any of those by separately or in the plan, I have all the vocabulary out there for you. So (3:56) you could print them at various sizes.

But what’s really cool when you have all of these words (4:01) hanging up for the unit, the kids might remember what they learned the past year and get really (4:07) excited about it. Like, oh, yeah, I remember that. And that can actually help me with this project.

(4:12) Or even kids who haven’t seen those projects where they weren’t there the year before or (4:17) they are younger, they might get excited and ask more questions. Oh, what does this word mean? (4:21) So having that interactive word wall with your alphabet can really build those connections (4:29) and also help them see that content in a different way. So you might be teaching those (4:35) same standards they’re learning in class, but you are giving it that STEM twist.

So as you are (4:41) setting up your classroom, think about how you can integrate a STEM alphabet and quite possibly (4:48) make it a word wall. And that could be a really cool thing to add into your instruction and (4:53) continue to build up that science vocabulary for your students. If you’re interested in the alphabet (4:59) that I use and hang up in my STEM spaces, you can grab that in my TPT shop, Teachers Pay Teachers (5:05) shop, Naomi Meredith, and you can print the color options I have for you.

Or there’s a version where (5:10) you can just print your own color version to make it match your classroom theme. Thank you so much (5:16) for listening to today’s episode of the elementary STEM coach podcast. I would love to connect with (5:21) you over on Instagram at Naomi Meredith underscore, or send me an email to elementary STEM coach (5:27) podcast at gmail.com. Also, make sure to check out my website, Naomi Meredith.com to see all (5:33) the show notes from today’s episode and shop my K through five STEM resources.

Any questions you (5:38) have needs for resources or ideas for episodes, get in touch. I’ll talk to you soon.

Watch this video to see how I set up my vocabulary wall:

Grab the STEM Alphabet featured in the video here

 

 

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a K-5 STEM educator and business owner in Colorado supporting elementary teachers world-wide navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there. She has over a decade of experience teaching, 5 years teaching elementary STEM, along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM Certificate.

She offers a variety of resources 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 Do You Teach Your Students What STEM Means? [Back to School STEM Tips Series] [ep.200]

How Do You Teach Your Students What STEM Means? [Back to School STEM Tips Series] [ep.200]

Check out the full episode on how do you teach your students what STEM means:  

 

 

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 this episode on YouTube here:

Episode Summary

If you were to ask your students what the word “STEM” actually means, could they answer you correctly? And if they do know that “STEM” represents Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, do they know what THAT means?

In this episode, I’ll be sharing practical and easy ways you can explain what STEM means to your students that doesn’t take a lot of time, but will still build a foundation for all your STEM lessons to come!

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

(0:00) How do you teach your students what the word STEM actually means? In this podcast episode, (0:06) I’m going to give you some tips and lesson ideas of how you can do this with your students and (0:12) it doesn’t have to take a whole lot of time. In the end, hopefully your students understand (0:17) that STEM is an actual subject and not just the stem on a plant. When I first stepped into my (0:25) K through five STEM role at the school I was teaching at, I had just left the regular classroom.

(0:32) So I taught second grade for two years, third grade for four years. And then I was at a brand (0:38) new to me school with no curriculum. I didn’t know any of the students.

I didn’t know any of (0:44) the teachers. Likewise, they didn’t really have a STEM class. They called it technology.

(0:51) So for everybody in the building, this was new to them. Maybe you’re in a similar position or (0:58) they’ve had STEM before, but you just want to make sure all the kids have an understanding what STEM (1:02) actually means. So here’s what I did.

And also what I still continue to do in my STEM after (1:09) school clubs, because again, a lot of these schools that I teach my clubs at, they don’t have STEM. (1:15) And so I just want to make sure the kids understand what we are doing and how this all connects (1:20) together. So the first and easiest way to get started with this is how do you present this (1:27) in your classroom? I had up on my big whiteboard, there’s a big whiteboard wall, just big cut out (1:34) letters that said S-T-E-M, STEM.

And what I did is underneath those, I created these posters (1:42) that actually show examples of what that word means. So for example, and if you’re watching (1:49) the video, you could see this, but there is a circle that has the word science in it. And then (1:55) there’s different pictures that represent science.

So there’s a balance, there’s the sun, an x-ray, (2:02) weather, animals, just different examples that kids would probably know and understand what science (2:09) is. I did this for every single letter. So there’s one for technology so they can see those examples, (2:16) one for engineering.

If you teach STEAM, I have one for art as well. (2:21) But showing that visual of what those letters mean in STEM, just having it up all year long (2:28) was extremely helpful. Not only did I refer to these at back to school, but I actually referred (2:34) to them all year long.

It’s okay if you don’t go super in depth right now. If you’re continually (2:40) referring to this and what STEM means and how it connects to the learning, then you’re set up (2:47) already. Then I created some slides that I would put on my screen and the kids could see it as (2:53) soon as they walked into the room and sat down at our group meeting area.

Each slide represents, (2:59) again, each letter of STEM. So there is a slide that goes along for science, technology, (3:04) engineering, and math. And there are empty circles that you can fill in.

I’ve also done this with (3:10) kids where they can actually fill out these pages or slides that I’m talking about where they could (3:15) fill them out digitally, or they could draw their responses. But if you want to even save some time, (3:21) I fill them out myself with my own examples. So back to that science example for that science (3:27) slide.

There are different things about science that I love and enjoy in my real life. On my (3:34) science slides, I have butterflies, I have rocks and minerals, I have space, and I have sea lions, (3:41) which I tell kids are like wet puppies of the ocean. They’re one of my favorite animals.

(3:45) So these things are on the slide. There’s visual representations of them. I even have a picture (3:51) of me.

I said, these are my favorite things. And just as a quick warm up before we get into (3:56) anything that day, I share with the kids something like this. Oh my goodness, everybody, these are (4:01) all the things about science that I enjoy.

And in STEM, in this class, S stands for science. (4:09) And these are all of my favorite things that I love about science. Thumbs up if you enjoy (4:15) butterflies.

Oh my goodness, we have some friends in here like the same thing. I like butterflies (4:21) because I think they’re beautiful. They’re so important to our earth and they help with (4:26) pollination.

And then I keep going through each of those things and explaining really quick, (4:31) takes about five minutes. And they really like those connections. And it’s a fun way, (4:36) especially when you see a lot of kids, you see all the kids in the school.

It’s a fun way to (4:41) share those real world things and help them see that you’re a real person too. And the last way (4:47) I like to share about what STEM actually means is showing a quick video clip of actual definition (4:54) of the word STEM. And in fact, I know it’s really hard to find these videos that are quick (5:01) and are appropriate for elementary age students.

So I just went ahead and created some for you. (5:07) They’re there for free all over on my YouTube channel, Naomi Meredith. And there is a video (5:13) that gives you an overview in a couple minutes of what STEM is.

And then if you want to go again, (5:19) in depth of every letter, the same day, multiple days, there is a video that goes along with (5:25) every letter. And there is one for art. And I do mention STEAM in the STEM video.

So if you think, (5:32) oh, you only have STEM, I have STEAM as well in all of these resources that I’m talking about. (5:37) So again, being explicit about what STEM is can be really helpful. You can do other activities (5:43) about it if you want.

But if you’re just looking for a quick introduction and making it meaningful (5:48) for kids before you do any of the other back to school stuff, those are my top tips for helping (5:54) you get started. If you’re interested in any of those resources, those printables, those posters, (6:00) those slides, you can grab them in the show notes for this episode. You can check this out in my (6:06) TPT shop, Teachers Pay Teachers shop, Naomi Meredith, and those are all there ready to go.

(6:11) If you have some other strategies of how to introduce the word STEM to your students, (6:15) let me know. Send me a DM my way on Instagram at Naomi Meredith or put them in the comments. (6:21) If you’re watching the YouTube version, I would love to hear your ideas.

Overview of how I teach kids what STEM means:

What slides do I use when I teach the word STEM?

I need kid-friendly videos that teach kids what STEM means!

 

What is STEM?

What is Science?

What is Technology?

What is Engineering?

What is Art?

Coming soon!

What is Math?

 

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a K-5 STEM educator and business owner in Colorado supporting elementary teachers world-wide navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there. She has over a decade of experience teaching, 5 years teaching elementary STEM, along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM Certificate.

She offers a variety of resources 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!

Exploring 3D Modeling & Design with SelfCAD: Guest Interview with Kara Houston [ep.198]

Exploring 3D Modeling & Design with SelfCAD: Guest Interview with Kara Houston [ep.198]

Check out the full episode on modeling and design with SelfCAD:  

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

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

Episode Summary

We are back at it with some fun interviews this summer! I took a little break from interviewing, but missed it, and I had so much fun with who I talked with for today’s interview. 

I chatted with Kara Houston, who is a proud member of SelfCAD. If you haven’t heard of SelfCAD before, it is a cloud-based CAD modeling (or computer-aided design) that allows students to model, sculpt, slice, and print online. You might know this most for 3D printing as you get started, but they have other forms of creation inside the platform that you should check out. 

Kara is passionate about what she does, and she loves that through her job, she can have a part in the future of STEM by bringing their ideas to life. 

This episode will help give you ideas on various ways you can start implementing 3D modeling in your classroom! 

Resources Mentioned:

Watch the video version of this interview here:

 

Episode Transcript: 

(0:00) Welcome to the Elementary STEM Coach Podcast. I’m your host, Naomi Meredith, a former classroom (0:06) teacher turned K-5 STEM teacher and coach. With over a decade of experience teaching (0:11) and a master’s degree in STEM leadership, I’m here to coach you throughout the year (0:15) to help you gain back more time to create innovative experiences for your students.

(0:20) We are back at it with some fun interviews for the summer, and I am so excited for you to hear (0:27) from the fun guests that I have lined up for you. I took a little break from interviewing, (0:32) and I definitely missed it, and so it was so much fun talking with the guest that I’m going to be (0:38) introducing you to. She was so sweet, so warm, and so passionate about what she does, and she was (0:44) such a fun guest.

I chatted with Kara Houston, who is a proud member at the company, Selfcad. (0:52) If you haven’t heard of Selfcad before, they specialize in their cloud-based software for (0:56) CAD modeling or computer-aided design. You might know this best in your elementary STEM experience (1:03) for a platform that does 3D modeling, but they also specialize in other ways that you can create (1:09) inside of this platform, along with the 3D modeling.

So definitely check them out because (1:14) we talk about it within this episode, but poke around on their website. Try it with your students (1:19) because there’s a lot of different ways that students can create that are really important (1:24) for them to learn, and things that they’re probably already wondering about trying for (1:28) themselves. Kara is so passionate about what she does.

You can see it in her face if you’re (1:34) watching the video version. You can hear it in her voice and help others bring their ideas to life. (1:39) I am so excited for you to listen to this interview and get you excited to teach 3D (1:46) modeling to your students.

This is something both Kara and I are passionate about ourselves, (1:50) so we had a lot of fun chatting because we know how powerful that this type of creating can be (1:56) with kids. Even if you’re not an expert, none of us are born knowing how to do this. I wasn’t either, (2:02) but I do mention this in this episode that 3D modeling is actually one of my most favorite (2:07) things to teach.

I even have my 3D printers running right now. Maybe you hear it in the (2:12) background, but I think you’re really going to enjoy this interview. Soak it all in and (2:17) take some notes because there’s some good gems inside of here.

Well, thank you so much, Kara, (2:22) for being here today. I’m so excited to chat with you. Before I hit record, I was telling you I (2:28) haven’t done interviews in a little bit.

I just took a little break from interviews. No one’s (2:33) really asked where the interviews have gone, but I think they’re really excited for this. (2:38) This will come out this summer, so teachers will have a bit more time to listen in and (2:43) learn new things.

Thanks so much for being here. That’s awesome. Yeah, I am so happy to be here, (2:50) and I love that.

There’s always good to have some ideas in the summer to keep us all going. (2:55) Yes, I agree. It’s so good to just dive on in and have that mental space where (3:03) you feel like you can learn new things because the school year can get super, super busy.

(3:09) Right, yeah. Before we jump so deep into what we’re talking about today, (3:16) how did you get into 3D printing and interested in 3D printing? How did that interest start for you? (3:25) Okay, so for me, I’m a mom first, like probably a lot of your listeners. I was just juggling (3:32) motherhood and my other careers, and a friend of mine said, hey, this company needs some help.

(3:37) Would you like to? And as soon as I started getting involved with SelfCAD, I was so interested (3:41) just for their mission to give kids, empower kids with these tools and help young girls have access (3:49) to tools that they might not have been introduced to before. I took my daughter, I think the first (3:53) week I worked there, I took her to a STEM event where she met astronauts and engineers and (3:58) scientists, and I just thought this is so powerful. This is really cool.

It’s so cool. Did you have a (4:05) 3D printer before? How do you ever like played around with them yourself? Or was that kind of (4:11) just something you just like their mission? You’re like, let’s jump on in and learn as we go. (4:16) Yeah, I did not even have a 3D printer at that point.

I was just very, very interested in their (4:23) mission. And every person that I’ve worked with was so passionate. They were beyond the moon.

And (4:28) so that was really easy to just glide right in. And then I went from part time to full time to, (4:33) you know, working with nonprofits, and it just grew. And it was really beautiful.

(4:37) That’s really cool. What does your daughter think about like 3D printing? Like now that you have (4:42) like, firsthand experience and like had no more behind the scenes? Like what does she think about (4:47) all of it? (4:49) So interested. She’s so inspired.

She likes to create things like earrings, jewelry, (4:54) things like that. Definitely the fashion caught her eye. And yeah, she’s, she’s really inspired.

(5:00) I love how you say the fashion part. So I got 3D printer. Well, okay, so I had them in my classroom.

(5:06) And there’s some other podcast episodes I have about 3D printers. And then so for my I started a (5:12) new after school club, a 3D printing club. And I was long term subbing at the time and the school (5:18) didn’t have a 3D printer.

They still don’t. So I use mine for it. And I had the printer in the (5:24) classroom.

And I also was like, you know what, I should make some jewelry. And it was around (5:29) Valentine’s Day. So I designed these little candy hearts for earrings that I made them for my (5:35) friends.

And my girlfriends like loved them. And they was like wearing them to school and everything. (5:40) So it’s pretty cool.

Like I know, I like obviously 3D printings for everybody. But (5:45) I like how you connected. Like, I mean, it is a way to create jewelry and fashion.

And there’s (5:51) lots of ways to get girls excited. But that’s just a really cool example. I’m glad that you brought (5:56) that up.

Yeah, absolutely. And sometimes when I talk to junior hires, they also are using this (6:02) stuff in like sneaker design. So you’ll see people light up their ideas like, oh, I would love to (6:06) design a sneaker, you know.

So I mean, it’s just really cool the different industries that are (6:11) they’re using and incorporating and really relying on the 3D spatial design modeling process. (6:17) Yeah, I agree with them with that. So kind of going more into you mentioned a little bit, (6:23) but why do you think it is important for certain students to learn how to create 3D designs, (6:30) whether it gets printed or not? Or you’re just doing all the modeling on the computer? Like, (6:34) why is that important? Well, you think I think kids are naturally curious and creative.

So this (6:41) is real, just like putting the tools in their hands for what’s already going on in their mind. (6:46) I want to create something, but also giving them when they’re really young, that spatial (6:50) awareness. So really, how else can you understand a concept of a sphere, (6:54) as opposed to just a circle until you’re looking at it and you’re rotating it.

So when they’re (6:59) really young, they might not have to do a strict curriculum, but getting playful and getting to (7:04) see the shapes like enlarged or shrieking is just it’s really magical to see kids interact with it. (7:12) I agree. It does bring your geometry to life when I’m teaching 3D modeling.

And the kids are (7:19) actually way more adaptable when they see it than we think. It’s not as overwhelming. I think for (7:24) adults, we’re like, oh, it’s super overwhelming.

I don’t understand it. But it’s just like (7:29) building with blocks. And when I would teach it, I have these foam blocks that I will squish down (7:35) and kind of show them how things stack in the real world.

And so saying, oh, here’s what you (7:40) can do in a platform, same type of concept. It’s almost like using digital clay or digital blocks, (7:47) like you can’t physically touch it with your hands. But the kids grasp onto it really, (7:52) really quickly.

Would you say the same thing from what you’ve seen? (7:56) Yeah, absolutely. And they just light up getting to create stuff. It’s really (8:01) cool way to design something.

And then we also see when they get older, then reverse engineer. (8:06) So these middle schoolers can bring in a picture of an object, we can upload it, (8:11) and then we can play around with like critical thinking. Or how could we improve this object? (8:16) Or what if we change the texture? And then they, you know, their little creator minds, (8:21) innovators come out.

I love seeing that. You mentioned it a little bit, but is it the (8:26) same platform that you use with all kids like K through eight? Or is there like different variations (8:32) of what you have the kids design in? Who I work with is self CAD. And we are definitely (8:38) professional grade, but designed to ride with the student all the way from third grade.

Really, (8:43) we like to start out third grade. We talked about kindergarten, and there’s definitely stuff to do (8:47) younger too. But when we’re really implementing a full on program, I’d say third grade all the (8:51) way up until their career.

And so getting them to have the same software instead of jumping around (8:58) Tinkercad, AutoCAD, you know, this is like they can grow a portfolio. So that’s why I’m really (9:02) passionate about it. I saw that they saw the need, there’s something that this gap needs to be (9:08) filled.

Like what can carry kids through? What can they grow it? So our company has a lot of (9:13) interactive tutorials. So they can, you know, right off the bat, just not fail, I like to say, (9:19) because they’re gonna walk you through it. And you’re gonna have all this knowledge, like, (9:24) and it’ll walk you through step by step.

That’s really helpful, too, because I think it’s hard (9:29) from a teacher, or if you’re a parent wanting to do this with your kids, like understanding (9:35) what platform to choose. And there’s so many options out there. And especially when you’re (9:40) teaching STEM, just across the board, you typically might not have as much experience yourself.

So (9:46) there’s probably a lot of teachers and parents out there who might be even be on the fence starting (9:51) this. And we know that it’s really beneficial. Are there any careers? Like, do you have any (9:57) career connections when it comes to like this modeling and creating online? Because we know (10:03) it’s important for kids, they’re excited.

This platform especially can carry on with them. But (10:09) connecting into what careers there might be? Have you seen anything with that? (10:13) Yes. And I love to talk about that, too, because we’re seeing it being used in way more than just (10:18) architecture.

But we’re seeing like the CAD software being used in designing, like I mentioned (10:24) earlier, the sneakers or fashion. It’s in health sciences. So when we talk about you want to see (10:29) the spine, and how can we put a stint in the spine? Or how can we work on the heart and the actual (10:35) shape of the heart is pretty intricate when you get into like the 3D world inside of the heart (10:40) and the arteries.

So when you talk about health sciences, that’s really so you might want to go (10:44) into a form of medicine, but it might be using like the software and using to create some type (10:52) of problem like solving a problem. So there’s different ways to be in medical field or in (10:57) fashion. That’s not necessarily what they might have been told.

So that is what I love connecting (11:02) those dots you I really think of this type of software self CAD as a life skill. You can call (11:08) for your own life if you want to redesign your bedroom. Like, okay, I’m gonna redesign.

What would (11:13) this chair look like? Like that? No, I agree. And it’s like, there it’s thinking about, okay, well, (11:20) how can I create that space or create that model where you can’t always do that with cardboard? (11:27) You can you can start that but it does give more options. And I think when you design digitally (11:32) like that, it’s so much easier to make mistakes and fix them because it’s endless.

And that was (11:41) something that is especially with my 3d printing club kids where I see them every week. They would (11:47) get frustrated at first and just knowing, hey, this is on an unlimited space. So if you mess up, (11:54) we can try it again or think about it in a different way.

Or when I would give them feedback (11:59) on their designs, we can easily go back and fix it. Or sometimes I would even and not everything (12:05) like you would print but the things that I would print, sometimes I would print them with mistakes (12:10) because I wanted them to see what had happened and why it didn’t work. So there are just like (12:16) those opportunities where, like STEM in general, there’s so many avenues and things to try.

But it (12:22) is with that 3d modeling, like it has a lot of different options that you can’t do in other (12:29) types of projects. And some kids will really, really connect with that in ways that like you (12:34) said, with the health sciences and the engineering or the fashion where you might not always have (12:39) those materials or ways to do that with other types of things. Yes, I love that.

I love what (12:46) you said that that club you have sounds so cool. Like when you think about, okay, you got to build (12:50) something each time you use materials, it costs money. But when you’re just, you know, and self (12:57) CAD is a cloud based.

So you know, you’ve got all kinds of options to just save and have all (13:02) build up a whole portfolio. Yeah, that’s super helpful. Because I even like parents will, (13:07) because I it sounds like with self CAD, you can 3d print, but you can also just do other types (13:12) of modeling.

Are there templates to use? You said there’s tutorials, but are there things that, (13:18) oh, you could try this avenue or try this template? Are there things that make it really stand out? (13:25) There is a whole library of tutorials and templates and lesson plans. And then whenever (13:30) we do work with the school, we actually we free training for the teachers and things like that. (13:35) So there, there’s monthly challenges, I believe they also do some kids get excited to participate (13:40) in those.

It’s just it’s being part of this whole community of people. So yeah, there’s a lot. (13:46) That’s really cool.

And even if like, let’s say, they wanted to a teacher wanted to focus on the (13:52) 3d printing side, could they still get into self CAD even if they don’t have 3d printers, (13:57) because I think a lot of teachers get wary of that they say, Oh, this is what I hear, (14:04) at least from teachers, I don’t have money for a 3d printer, my school can’t afford it. (14:08) We have too many kids, our printers broke, I can’t do the design. And I tell them they still can (14:18) would you guys say the same thing? Yes, you said so much there.

So they totally can design I mean, (14:25) part of I mean, a big part of our programs is the design and the design process. So you don’t (14:30) have to have a printer in the room, you can do these lessons, you want to show the layers of (14:34) the earth for these kids, and just have them look at it and design it and they can label it on there. (14:39) And they don’t ever have to print it.

But just getting to be able to conceptualize the space of (14:45) that is really, is really interesting for them and more hands on than just okay, here’s a picture (14:50) and I’m labeling a picture of paper, they’re actually moving it around and then labeling it. (14:56) So no, they do not definitely don’t need to actually print it. And I understand the concern (15:01) with it taking time.

But I do like to say that of course, kids like to print it. So (15:05) and the thing about the thing that self ads really trying to do is to help schools. So we (15:11) actually help schools apply for grants and technology grants.

I like to say it’s never (15:16) a closed door. If you still want a 3d printer, we are going to find a way that’s called we (15:21) actually donate them ourselves. Or we we help apply, we help the school apply for a tech grant.

(15:27) And of course, there’s a lot of great grants out there for STEM initiatives. So that’s something (15:33) if they’re a title in schools all over the place, we are working with them and we are trying so I (15:37) hope that they will reach out to us if they are if there’s somebody that wants a 3d printer but (15:41) can’t because if the desire is there, I’m ready to meet you halfway. Yeah, and that’s I agree with (15:46) STEM.

Typically, it’s a great space with those great opportunities. And you don’t have to be a (15:52) STEM teacher to apply for those like at all. Like I know a lot of programs, at least in my friends (15:58) in the area that are getting caught.

But that is an opportunity where after school programs, (16:03) there’s those options, you are a classroom teacher, and wanting to implement this. Parents, (16:10) maybe there’s options with that, too. You never know.

But I agree with you. Because (16:15) I, in my opinion, I mean, I have two printers going on right now. I don’t know if you can hear (16:19) them.

I have one of like right going right here. I’m actually making key chains. Yeah, my club.

(16:28) But a lot of it, honestly, is it can be the management when you’re an elementary teacher, (16:32) because I mean, you have your kids, you can teach them how to manage. But that’s a whole other thing. (16:37) Like you said, you can do all of the designing and the printing parts.

Great. But you can, (16:43) the kids are still going to be able to do all of the skills and keep practicing. And (16:47) it sounds like self CAD, like you even said it can grow with them.

So there’s endless (16:52) types of projects to do. Endless. It’s just wild.

And the tutorials that we have are so cool. (17:00) They’re so interactive. It’s just not like, you know, when I when I was in school, how things (17:05) you just click to the next page, but everything here is like highlighted where you go next.

(17:09) It’s just set up for you to succeed. They’re going to help you succeed. And then I do want (17:13) to say when they get to middle school, they can do industry based certifications.

And we love that (17:19) like a virtual badge and helps encourage them and give them the confidence to keep going. You know, (17:25) what are some of the industry badges that they can get? There’s two, it’s a professional one (17:31) and an actual self CAD one that they get once they’re reached. I believe it’s eighth grade.

(17:36) Oh, that’s cool. Very cool. Yeah.

We love we love to share that with educators because (17:41) yeah, that’s just another thing in their pocket. Another thing they can share when they go on to (17:46) whatever they go on to if they’re continuing education or they’re going right into a field. (17:50) Yeah.

I feel like coding, especially 3D design and even video editing, like all the (17:56) video behind the scenes are skills that can be under, I don’t know, under built up sometimes in (18:04) the elementary space, but they’re so needed because we see middle school and high schoolers (18:08) doing like elementary kids can do this too. I’ve done it. I’ve done all of the above with them (18:12) and I can confirm it can be done and shouldn’t be overlooked.

Absolutely. So speaking of those (18:21) projects, you talked about the badges, but are there, and you’ve popped in some really fun (18:25) projects. So thinking about those grade level bands, so like that elementary band, you said (18:30) mostly third through fifth, and then maybe it’s middle school and high school.

Are there certain (18:35) projects that stand out to you inside of the platform or even just ones that you’ve seen that (18:40) are really cool that have been done? So when, well, I do want to say when you’re talking (18:46) kinder to second, one thing that they really have loved doing is creating a cookie cutter. (18:51) So they get their 2D shape and then you’re, you know, expanding it to make the 3D cookie cutter, (18:56) and then they get to do a cookie cutter. So I think that’s cute.

It’s so fun. Of course you (19:00) could do it at one of the holidays. I love to see that one.

And then when we see, you know, (19:08) when kids get into science and they’re labeling the parts of the flower, that’s a really cool one (19:12) that they can do all the different, the petals and the in and out. Kids, like, I know you did (19:18) the, you were saying the key chains. All the kids love to do their name key chains.

It just is so (19:23) personal for them. And then they have a souvenir of their, you know, their name. We’ve seen high (19:30) school kids create, or middle schoolers do these pencil toppers, and then they have to, you know, (19:35) pencil stands.

And then we try to really get the engineering brain going where it’s like (19:40) problem solving. So that’s like the reverse engineering of getting an object and how can (19:45) you make it better? Or this one didn’t work, so what’s the next step? How long does it typically (19:49) take for projects to be created by kids? Are they usually semester long, or have they been like (19:55) really quick, like a couple day activities? There is all different types, but definitely I think a (20:01) lot of them are shorter. A couple days and they’ve created something, or they’ve labeled something.

(20:06) The teacher can also create something, and then the kids draw on it, or color it, or change it, (20:12) or it can go the other way that the kids actually have full range. Hey, can you create a set from (20:16) this time in history? So I mean, curricular engagement, you know, we’re seeing it in math, (20:22) and in science, and in biology, and it, you know, so yeah, they can actually build a set, (20:26) or a mixed reality of something. Yeah, cool.

It kind of reminds me, and I know it’s still around (20:32) with like augmented reality stuff, like I know the goggles are like, you still have them, (20:39) it’s, they get expensive to have in schools, but I just like remember doing some of that AR stuff (20:43) with students, and like they could touch it, and play with it, but it’s almost, it’s like (20:49) the same thing, but without the goggles, and they’re creating those things that maybe could (20:54) even be in augmented reality, that AR stuff. Yes, absolutely. So when we write STEM grants, (21:01) we include the AR, the VR goggles, and we do include curriculum for that kind of stuff, too.

So (21:08) kids can take a, an area, and they can add like, almost like a video game, like fruits, (21:14) or different things into the space. Yeah, making it really, it’s really fun stuff, animation. (21:19) Cool.

Oh, that’s so cool. So you could do that all in self CAD, and then use it with the goggles? (21:25) Yes. That’s awesome.

I mean, so yeah, any school out there that wants to apply for a STEM grant, (21:33) like, please contact us, because we love to see, or the summer camps. Let me think of, (21:37) there’s afterschool programs, there’s the summer camps, and you, like you said, you do not have to (21:42) be a STEM teacher. We do like you to be an established school.

Also, you don’t have to (21:46) have funding, like you can be any type of teacher that has the interest, that the interest is there, (21:51) and there’s two teachers to do the summer camp, or to do the afterschool, then we’re there. We’re (21:56) ready to train you, and we’re ready to, you know, go forward with that. And you know, you’re seeing (22:00) lots of cool, like you mentioned, there’s, there’s STEM for girls clubs, there’s coding clubs, (22:04) there’s robotics clubs, all these cool clubs are starting to get built, and then we want to give (22:07) them, you know, the curriculum to do more things.

What else can we do now, you know? I agree, and (22:13) it’s a great way with clubs. I’ve always said this about clubs. If you don’t know how to do (22:18) the thing, if you don’t know anything about 3D modeling, it’s actually great to do in a club, (22:24) because you only have a handful of kids, 25 kids, and they’re pretty forgiving.

For the most part, (22:30) those kids actually want to be there, and they’re super into it, so they’re going to find things (22:34) that you never even had thought about you’d be teaching. And I knew about 3D design to do my 3D (22:41) painting club, but my kids are so passionate and intense about it, that I’ve actually had to plan (22:47) more projects, because they’re actually pretty quick at stuff, and then I’m actually going to do (22:52) like a more advanced one next school year, but it’s pretty a great, great way if you’re a teacher and (22:59) want to get into this, or let’s say you’re a classroom teacher, and you want to be a STEM (23:04) teacher, run a STEM 3D modeling club, have that in your belt, and then you’ll just feel more confident (23:11) if you do become a STEM teacher, teaching more kids, because it’s, it’s one of my most favorite (23:17) things to teach. It’s like low-key one of my most favorite things.

It’s actually really clean. (23:23) I like that. It’s very clean, but it’s, I like how the kids are creating with technology and making (23:33) it meaningful, and really using it in a constructive way, and not just sitting there passively watching (23:38) videos or whatever.

Like you said, the tutorials are interactive, but they’re creating in meaningful (23:44) ways that could lead into who knows what for their jobs. Yeah, and it’s giving them the confidence to (23:50) also create stuff for their own. Like what ideas do you have? How do you want to make this shape, (23:55) or how do you want to, you know, change something in your world? It’s so giving them like, here, (23:59) you have power.

You’re, you have this whole world to create something, you know, and I, it’s really (24:03) cool for them, but I love that you’re doing that. I love after-school clubs. I’m like, (24:07) you join as many as you want to because, you know, it’s like access to things that you’re (24:12) passionate about.

It is. It is so, it’s fun. It’s really fun.

It’s a really cool way to interact (24:20) with kids that’s like academic, but not entirely, and they just see another side of kids. It’s (24:25) really, really sweet. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

I can tell you really love what you do. I just said it (24:32) like oozes from you, and I love it. Thank you.

I must, I think that should have been my middle name, (24:39) but it wasn’t really a thing when I was little, so anything else you want to share if teachers (24:45) are on the fence about getting stutter, anything else that they should know, anything you want to (24:50) share with them? I would say definitely just, if you’re even on the fence, just check out (24:55) selfcad.com and just take a look. Just play, and I think you’ll be, I think you’ll right off the bat (25:00) be intrigued, but I also, I don’t want anyone to be discouraged. I don’t care if you’re Title I. (25:04) I don’t care if you’re rural.

We’re working with like some places in Africa where they don’t have (25:08) internet, where they’re going to use the internet. They’re downloading our stuff, and then they’re (25:12) taking it back home, and so I mean there should be a closed door, and if you probably have students (25:17) that are interested, so yeah, and the tutorials are going to be there. The training is there.

(25:23) Support is there. It’s not like, here’s a CAD software. I mean, what I hear from teachers, (25:27) unfortunately, is like, we have a 3D printer, but I’m not sure what to do, or we don’t have, (25:33) they don’t have the guidance of the tools that they need to be able to empower the students, (25:37) so it’s not really fair.

They have the printer, but a lot of them don’t have the printer, too, (25:41) but like I said, there’s no reason that you can’t do this. It is for everyone. It’s professional (25:45) grade, but it is like, it’s just made to help you learn and make, help you create.

(25:52) I 100% agree with that. Like, don’t let the 3D printer you have on be a paperweight. (26:01) Like, kids, if you say 3D printing, all the kids are going to want to do it.

(26:04) I promise you, 1,000%. I’ve taught hundreds and hundreds of kids, and all of them, when they hear (26:12) the word 3D printer, they get so excited. Yeah.

I mean, think about, I mean, for me, (26:18) when I was growing up, I would have loved to see my stuff brought to life, and that’s why you get, (26:23) kids do love getting involved in those ones where they are in charge of making something, (26:27) you know, not just like being told what to make, but they’re getting to get their hearts out there. (26:33) Well, I am so excited about this platform, and I’m excited to dive in myself, since I am (26:38) continuing my 3D printing and 3D modeling journey. I did get approved for, to do two more clubs, (26:46) so like a 1.0, 2.0, so I’m really excited to play around with this with my students, (26:51) because I know that they want an extra challenge, and I’m excited.

I like learning new platforms (26:56) and seeing what’s out there, and this is definitely one that I’m going to explore (27:01) and add to my own STEM toolbox, so I am so glad that you popped in today and told us all about (27:07) it. So important for us to hear about all of these cool tools that are helpful for kids. (27:13) Thank you so much for having me.

This was really cool. It’s so fun. (27:17) Good.

Thank you. Well, thank you so much, and I can’t, I’m so glad that we have this connection. (27:22) Yes, me too.

You feel free to reach out anytime with anything. (27:26) And if other teachers want to reach out to you, where can they find you? (27:29) So selfguide.com, or they can find me on LinkedIn. I’m always happy to connect on (27:33) LinkedIn, Kara Houston.

And please check out selfguide.com. I think you’re going to just fall (27:38) in love. Well, thank you so much again, Kara, for coming in, and can’t wait to hear how teachers are (27:45) using this in their classrooms. My pleasure.

This is really fun. I loved connecting. This was cool.

(27:51) Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode of the Elementary STEM Coach Podcast. (27:56) I would love to connect with you over on Instagram at Naomi Meredith underscore, (28:01) or send me an email to elementarystemcoachpodcast at gmail.com. Also make sure to check out my (28:07) website, Naomi Meredith.com to see all the show notes from today’s episode and shop my K-5 STEM (28:13) resources. Any questions you have, needs for resources or ideas for episodes, get in touch.

(28:18) I’ll talk to you soon.

 

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More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a K-5 STEM educator and business owner in Colorado supporting elementary teachers world-wide navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there. She has over a decade of experience teaching, 5 years teaching elementary STEM, along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM Certificate.

She offers a variety of resources 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!