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end of year science activities

3 End of Year Science Activities & STEM Challenges [ep.159]

3 End of Year Science Activities & STEM Challenges [ep.159]

end of year science activities

Check out the full episode on 3 End of Year Science Activities & STEM Challeges:  

 

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Episode Summary

It’s the end of the school year, which means it can be a crazy and overwhelming time in your STEM classroom. Even with the kids excited about summer break, you can still keep them engaged and learning in your STEM classroom. In today’s episode, I’m sharing 3 end of year science activities that you can easily implement in your classroom. Even if your school year has ended, these are great activities to use if you’re teaching summer camp or have your own kids home with you for the summer. 

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • 3 end of year science activities for your STEM classroom
  • Tips for easily implementing these STEM activities
  • Resources to make your end of year science activities easy to implement

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

The end of the school year can be crazy and overwhelming in any type of classroom. What are some STEM and science activities that you can do to keep kids engaged and still learning? I'm sharing with you lessons that are easy to prep and that your students will definitely enjoy. And if you are already done with school and you have kids of your own or you are gonna be teaching some summer camp opportunities, these also work well for summer learning. Okay. So, on to the activities. What are some fun things that you can still do at this crazy time of year? I know, like, I've been on both sides. So I was a classroom teacher for 6 years, and then k through 5 STEM. So, I understand the different ways that kids can respond in different spaces.


Naomi Meredith [00:00:54]:

But even as a classroom teacher, doing those hands on things actually are really, really good for kids, and they absolutely love it. And it's a great way to harness their energy and do something really productive. So, what are some kinds of things that you can plan for? First of all, think about some Makerspace challenges. And if you're in the classroom, like, nope. No Makerspace. I can't do it. Think really small. You can use things that you already have in your classroom.


Naomi Meredith [00:01:23]:

You can ask your kids for donations and maybe collect some things at home. You would be surprised how quickly things add up in your own home when it comes to cardboard or different cardboard tubes. They add up really, really fast. Another way I really liked collecting materials that added up very quickly as I put a box in our teacher's lounge, especially when you have no time to cook, you have no energy. There are so many things happening in school and also out of school at this time that freezer meals are a great staple. And so I would put a box in the teacher's lounge, and I wrote a little sign, like, put your empty boxes in here. I'll collect them. And those freezer meal boxes are perfect for building with, because kids can use their regular scissors to cut.


Naomi Meredith [00:02:13]:

And they are small, manageable size, and you didn't really have to do much, send another letter home or anything. This is also a really good way for kids to use up their school supplies before taking them home. So, when you are planning a Makerspace challenge, you can keep it very simple. They don't have to be overly complicated. One way to do this is to look at the standards that you have and the standards that lend themselves perfectly for building. So look for keywords that say create a model, demonstrate, and show the process. And it's okay if this is our review time of science concepts, or maybe there's something you did teach, but it wasn't very hands-on. There is so much to learn about science and look at it in a different way.


Naomi Meredith [00:03:03]:

I still taught with all of the standards in my STEM classroom, even though I knew the kids were learning it in their classroom, but they knew they weren't doing it in STEM ways. So don't feel like, oh, we already did it. No. There's so much to learn about science. Who knows if kids grasped it the first time? Do it again in a new way. You can also do this on the flip side, so we have that nonfiction way. Think about STEM and stories. This is a really great way where kids to build and solve a problem in the story or create an alternate ending.


Naomi Meredith [00:03:35]:

They can create a new solution. One way I know this isn't summer, but this is one that came off the top of my head. But think about the story of the gingerbread man. A traditional story where the gingerbread man goes in the water, and the wolf is like, oh, I'll, or the fox will help you. I'll help you. And, sadly, the gingerbread man didn't exist. So what if the gingerbread man was a little bit smart, had some engineering skills, and students could build a boat to help the gingerbread man get across? So, just a quick example there, pretty, pretty fun. Another way that you can do this Makerspace is I actually did this at the end of the year.


Naomi Meredith [00:04:16]:

I purposely tried it out brand new at the end of the year because I wanted to do Makerspace, and it was a great success. I did a whole STEMUSEMENT PARK theme, so every grade level was exploring force and motion, and had a different Makerspace challenge of a different area of the park, and they were building to solve that problem. It was amazing. Kids were engaged. It was a great way to clean out my supplies and get it all restocked and cleaned out and ready to go for the next year. So, I'm telling you, Makerspace is so much fun at the end of the year. Another way that you can keep kids engaged during this busy time is to take them outside. Yes, to play.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:00]:

We know that. We want to enjoy the air, fresh air. Here in Colorado, our weather is so crazy in the spring, it's hit or miss. But there is so much science outside. Maybe you do something, they have a nature journal where they're making observations, and you go out at the same time every day and see if there are things that they notice. And it could even be tracking the weather. I recently just got a bird feeder at my house and, that could be something, too. You could build a bird feeder in Makerspace.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:30]:

Bonus lesson for you. I just got a bird feeder at my house, and I actually had to move the bird feeder because in the first location, all the squirrels thought it was their own buffet, and they were fighting over the food. So I had to move it where the squirrels can't get it. And I got so excited when I've got my first two birds in my little feeder, and I could even I'm really trying to figure out what kind of birds they are. I need that look a little bit closer. So you could do the same thing with your kids. Also, along with that, if you're making observations, you can explore shadows and bring some chalk out there. Again, go out at different times of day and have kids trace each other, or maybe you have an object that they have to find the shadow and notice where how the shadow changes at different types of day, kinda like a sundial.


Naomi Meredith [00:06:20]:

You could notice bugs safely. Maybe, depending on where you live, you might know where to look for. Something that I've done I do this actually at the beginning of the year, but it would work very well at the end of the year. It's having a whole STEM survival camp theme where part of their building challenges, they actually have to go outside and find their materials. So you can even think about combining that Makerspace idea. Is there a way can they get materials from the outdoors to build their projects? And lastly, another way to keep students engaged, but you also would like a calm transition activity that is still learning. I did this all the time when I taught 3rd grade. Is and this is also really good too.


Naomi Meredith [00:07:03]:

If you come back from a field trip, it's not as stimulating as a show. But podcasts for kids are really, really great and a good use of having them practice their listening comprehension. You probably are doing read alouds in your classroom already, and podcasts are very similar, but even they can have more audio elements where it's kinda like watching a show, but you're listening and really comprehending what is happening. A great way to get started with a podcast is to have students draw what they visualize. They can do this on paper. I actually like to do this on Seesaw. It's free to get started. This is not an ad.


Naomi Meredith [00:07:45]:

I just love using it. But I would link in Seesaw 3 different episodes that were related to weather. That's what we were studying. Students got to choose their episode and then draw what they were visualizing. They could turn in multiple pages as they listened, but it was really, really cool and helped them think about the weather in a different way. You can also have guided comprehension questions that are related to the episode. So maybe you already pre listened to it. You can come up with some questions you guys are answering along the way.


Naomi Meredith [00:08:16]:

And then if it's your first time too with podcast, it is something to help students learn how to listen. And so you can even break up the podcast into chunks if it's their first time, so you could listen to a little bit each day. My favorite ones to use with kids are science-based, is brains on, super fun, tumble science, similar, similar vibes, different people. And then, I'm very biased, but my podcast for kids the STEM Career Quest podcast, where I interview people in STEM careers. So as a recap, the 3 ways that we talked about ways to keep kids engaged is trying out Makerspace challenges, taking your kids outside by making it a learning experience, and trying out podcasts. If you really want something low prep and you were really interested in that podcast idea, for my STEM Career Quest podcast, I've been really focusing on it from the beginning to make it very educational. And so, for every single episode, there are listening comprehension guides that are specific to that episode. So there are career quests where kids actually have to listen for the answer, and then I reveal the answers at the end.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:32]:

There are some fun facts about the topic. There are there is a video and audio version, so you can choose your own adventure. There are, slides of the video version that where it is broken up into those chunks, so you don't have to keep track of where you are. You can listen to or watch that segment to really go through that process throughout the week. Also, these are all inside my STEM Career Quest club. You also get a paired comprehension guide or paired stem activities. Yes, you get comprehension guides, but paired stem activities that go along with each episode so you can make those connections. A new feature that we just added is on demand virtual field trips.


Naomi Meredith [00:10:14]:

So it's an hour-long experience where you get to have me in your classroom watch at any time. There are guided activities that are differentiated and leveled that you can print out, and it's a visual interactive experience where they're not sitting, but there's an activity to go along with it. If this sounds perfect for you, you can find out more about the club at my website, naomimeridith.com. Click on the little tab that says clubs and then STEM Career Quest Club. It is all laid out for you, and it's always linked in the episode show notes for every single episode. Thank you so much for joining me. I hope this gives you some inspiration and some fun ideas to make the end of the year not so overwhelming. You can always send me a DM on Instagram.


Naomi Meredith [00:10:58]:

You can find me at Naomi Meredith_. Mention my website, Naomi Meredith.com, and you can find all the links to the things. But I would love to hear from you if you have any questions, and enjoy the rest of your school year.

 

end of year science activities

 

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More About your host, Naomi Meredith

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

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

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

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

professional development for STEM teachers

Ideas for Professional Development for STEM Teachers 2024 [ep.158]

Ideas for Professional Development for STEM Teachers 2024 [ep.158]

professional development for STEM teachers

Check out the full episode on Ideas for Professional Development for STEM Teachers 2024:  

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

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

Episode Summary

Have you been wondering what types of STEM professional development you should be participating in? What are the best STEM professional development opportunities available? In today’s episode, I’m sharing ideas for professional development for STEM teachers in 2024. The resources and ideas I’m breaking down will cover three categories of professional development types, giving you lots of options.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • 2024 in person conferences and virtual summits for professional development for STEM teachers
  • Additional resources available for professional development for STEM teachers
  • Tips for getting the most out of these professional development opportunities

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

As a STEM teacher, what types of professional development should you be looking for? And, honestly, what is actually out there that will be helpful? In today's episode, I'm going to be sharing with you some resources and different ideas to help you with your professional development as a STEM teacher for 2024. 


Listener Message [00:00:56]:

Hi, Naomi. This is Evelyn. I was emailing back and forth with you not too long ago, just the other day. And I was wondering if you would have any insight on what the best professional development for STEM is, in terms of teachers just like you who are teaching pre-k through 5th to attend. I'm very new to STEM, just like you, and I would love to do some paid professional development that my school is actually willing to pay for. And so I'm researching right now, but I was wondering what it is that you would recommend.


Naomi Meredith [00:01:30]:

Thank you so much for submitting your audio question. I appreciate this so much. I love it when you guys ask me questions like this or when it's an audio message because they do actually pop up in my email, and it is just so fun to listen to your guys' voices. Because I am here in my home office, my little dog Frederick is staring at me. And so it's just so different when I can hear your voice and interact with you. So thank you so much. If you wanna record a message like this, if you have a question for me, you can do that from your phone. Just head on over to naomimeridith.com/voice.


Naomi Meredith [00:02:11]:

When I was teaching in a school so I teach them in lots of different ways. But when I was in a school, and I moved from being a classroom teacher for 6 years and into the k through 5 STEM space, I had a whole different appreciation for specials teachers when it came to professional development. And, really, a huge thing with professional development is it is targeted towards classroom teachers, which makes sense. That's the majority of the staff where they're working in their homeroom and working on all of those standards and learning goals, which, as a STEM teacher, you should be doing too, but in your own different way. But it often was really frustrating because none of the professional development was things that I wanted to learn about in STEM specifically. Like, is there something that will help me plan a STEM lesson that is engaging for the time that I have with students? What is the new technology out there I should be learning about? What are some topics that are important in STEM to make sure that my lessons are relevant and modern? Who are some other STEM teachers that I can connect with and learn from since I'm the only one in the building? You might have similar experiences as I did, and so I am coming at you with a list of things that you can do in 2024 starting this summer, and feel prepared to go into your next school year for whatever adventures you have in STEM. For this podcast episode, I have things broken up into 3 categories. For these categories and the things that I mentioned, everything is going to be linked in the show notes for you.


Naomi Meredith [00:04:01]:

So feel free to take notes, but also you can head over to those where things are clickable and easy for you to find. So, let's jump in. The first set of professional development opportunities to consider is conferences. And I don't know if you have seen the episode of Abbott Elementary. My teacher, Honey, and I love watching that show. But on one of the episodes, Janine and I forget her good bud that she really is friends with. She and the other guy, they are they go to a teacher conference, and they are so excited. They're making a list of all of the things that they want to go see, and they're super pumped up about all the things about the conference, the swag bags, and talking with other teachers.


Naomi Meredith [00:04:50]:

They are all about it. And then there's a couple of other teachers at their school as well who are more seasoned which is fine, but they're really not about the conferences. And that really is me. I love going to conferences. I love talking to people and connecting. And my teacher, Honey, not so much. So and he teaches Spanish, so he wouldn't be going to a STEM conference with me anyway. And so, if you are able to do something in person, I am going to mention some really cool conferences to keep an eye out for if you're able to go, but also check to see if there are local things as well.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:26]:

For this episode, I couldn't list every single conference opportunity that is out there in every single state. But if you are able to do something in person, I highly recommend it because the virtual stuff is really great, which I am gonna talk about, and I love the use of technology. Hence, this podcast, I am so grateful for technology, but there's something different about being in person and chatting with people and having those conversations and the body language and their voice interaction. Conference to conference to keep your eye out for, this is in Colorado. It's from June 19th through 21st in 2024. It is Steve Spangler's Science Conference. You probably have heard of Steve Spangler. He's actually a local, I guess, local semi-celebrity here in Colorado, and he's on our news all the time.


Naomi Meredith [00:06:27]:

I haven't met him yet, but he does a lot of cool things locally with kids. But he's actually hosting a conference that is hands-on and interactive and fun for teachers, where it has some more of that conference, but also workshop type style where you actually get to try out some things to do with kids. So that's here in Colorado. If you haven't been, check it out. But that also leads into the next conference I'm going to talk about that's also in Colorado. So you can actually stay. They go back to VACC, so stay for Steve's and then come to the other one. I will not be at Steve's conference, but that's something that is definitely up my alley.


Naomi Meredith [00:07:05]:

But I will be at this next one, and the next one is ISTE, which is a huge national conference. This is actually ISTE. They have it in different places, but it was in Denver another time before. And I was teaching 3rd grade at the time. I remember this. I went down with one of my good friends I taught with, actually, Becca, who you've heard on this podcast. We went down to the conference together. We were able to go, and it was such a pivotal moment for me that this conference really sparked so much in me to what technology and innovation and hands-on learning means with kids and something I found I was really passionate about and wanted to learn more.


Naomi Meredith [00:07:51]:

And so there's just so many cool things, soaked up all this different information, and it's really cool looking back when I attended ST at the time and where I'm at now where, yes, I get to be at sessions and still continue to learn, but I'm really excited to talk to people. You may or may not know this, Mommy. I love to chat with people. It's, like, one of my faves. So, I love to chat, and I'm so excited to go to this. I will be there all the days. And the board that I'm on for INEDCO Innovative Education Colorado, we typically put on a conference every summer as well. But because of ISTE, we are actually partnering with ISTE and supporting them with other things with the conference.


Naomi Meredith [00:08:36]:

Not a whole lot, but some items that we are involved in. And one of those is we are running playground sessions. So, if you go to ISTE and you look up playgrounds, I actually went toward the space a couple of weeks ago. It's like it's a newer build in this convention center, but if you go find the playgrounds, there's regional, there's other types of playgrounds. But if you look for the local playgrounds that are Colorado based, it's in this huge room. I might be hanging out over there or asking somebody with an INEDCO shirt. They'll know. They can text me.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:12]:

If you wanna meet, I would love to meet you. So, if you end up going, please let me know. Some of you have actually reached out to me on Instagram and asked if I'm going and if I'm presenting. So yes and no on the presenting part. I will be presenting some playground sessions, so they are more interactive, you get a chat with me, so not like a go, sit, and listen to type of thing. However, we were all told on the board that we all needed to have a couple of presentations in our back pocket if anything were to happen. So I could be doing, like, a pop up presentation. So keep an eye out.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:49]:

I definitely am active on social media. Message me on there. But this is just an amazing conference. It's all things innovation, not just technology. It has evolved over the years, but what does this type of learning look like in schools? What should we be talking about? A big thing I know is that there are a lot of sessions about our AI. So, keep an eye out. I would love to chat. Like I said, this is a great conference and so much fun.


Naomi Meredith [00:10:17]:

And Denver is a lot is a blast. It's actually at a really cool location, and there's a big bear looking into the building. So you'll have a lot of fun. Alright. If you wanna kick continue to book up your summer, here's another one shortly after ISTE, but you gotta make your way to Florida. That is a long flight from Colorado, and it is the Spaceport Area Conference. And so all things space, oh my gosh. I would love to go to this, but I can't fit in that many conferences.


Naomi Meredith [00:10:44]:

I wish I could. But it's at the Kennedy Space Center, and it's all things space. And this just sounds so amazing. And it is really important to see these things in real life. And even as a teacher, you have these experiences, especially if you're in a location that is doing such important work like space, you can take those experiences back to your students. So those are some fun ideas to get you started. Definitely look up again things that are local for you, because it is a game changer when you get to be in person with other people who are passionate about the things that you are doing. Likewise, there are a bunch of virtual summits that come out during the spring and into the summer.


Naomi Meredith [00:11:28]:

And it's really good to mix these into because this type of learning, you can definitely do on the go and in your own time. One thing I like to do with virtual summits, because typically they're prerecorded and there are some live elements, is if I, register for these types of summits, I like to watch the sessions, like, when I'm on a cardio machine. So that way, I'm still getting a workout in but also learning. That is a huge hack that I definitely have done. And if I'm not finished or wanna listen to another one, when I'm done showering, and I'm getting ready, blow dry my hair, I will have some earbuds in and tune in to that session. So if you're like, I don't have time to learn. I don't have time to learn. That it was it's a huge game changer.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:13]:

I do this all the time still. So if you're looking for ways to fit in those conferences and it's like, oh, it's one more thing, combine it with something else that you're already doing. So, some virtual summits, there's a bunch out there. One that came out today, at the time of this podcast recording, just in time for teacher appreciation week, is the Spring International STEAM Summit by Wonder Workshop. This summit is absolutely free. I actually was our keynote speaker last year, which was a super fun experience. The fun thing, too, I was actually at home, but it was live, so that was very different. I couldn't see everybody's faces.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:51]:

So maybe one day, I will be doing a keynote in front of a bunch of people live. We shall see. You heard it here on the podcast. But it's really cool. You don't have to have Dash the robot to be able to attend. There are a lot of sessions about that. I will be speaking about Wondermark workshop-themed stations that you can do, as well also why you would do STEM stations. But there are some other sessions as well that other people are presenting about that are all things STEM or STEAM.


Naomi Meredith [00:13:20]:

So really fun to check it out. There's a smaller list of presenters, which is okay because you probably can listen to all of them within a week or 2. So, definitely check it out. The live call kicks off tonight. It will be recorded. Make sure to register because there are some incentives and some prizes. Also, this is a time when they like to announce a lot of cool things that are up and coming, so make sure to find me there. Another summit that is a fun one with similar vibes, some are about the product, some aren't, is Seesaw Connect.


Naomi Meredith [00:13:55]:

Again, make sure to register. It says that spots are filling up where not everyone will be able to attend, which is new this year, so make sure you sign up. But it is free as well. And I'm also presenting at this one all about STEM Music Park, one of my favorite units to teach. I think I say that all the time that it's my favorite unit to teach because they are. But this one's really cool too. Again, it is prerecorded, the same kinda thing with some cool incentives, different ways to learn about STEM, and even ways to implement Seesaw in your classroom. This was a tool that I used all the time as a classroom teacher and then used it consistently and all the time when I taught STEM.


Naomi Meredith [00:14:36]:

So, if you want to learn more about what Seesaw is, this would be a great introduction to that. I have had some people wondering, well, how do I even connect this together? And so, just a really cool conference as well. That one isn't until August, so you have some time. Oh, and it's a summit, not a conference. And then another one that truly is on the go that is all podcast style, and I love that some of these summits are doing this where it's audio only, there's no video whatsoever, is this back to school audio summit. When I get more information, and maybe even by the time this episode comes out, I will have the links. But this one's really cool where it's a lot of different things about education, for elementary and and things that, again, can get you pumped up for the next school year. I am actually talking about things that are STEM-related that actually work for classroom teachers or homeschool parents as well.


Naomi Meredith [00:15:31]:

And during this summit, there are actually new things that come out each month. So things will come out in May, June, July. I think it's actually June, July, August. June, July, and August, new topics will be coming out in this audio summit. I'm not sure if it's free or paid. If it is paid, it's not very much. I'm so sorry I'm vague on the details, because I don't have all of them yet. But I am presenting 3 different things that can help you with your prep during the summer.


Naomi Meredith [00:15:59]:

And mine are about STEM, so, make sure to check those out. And the last set of things when it comes to professional development resources are things that I create for you. This podcast is called The Elementary STEM Coach for a reason, and I have those lesson ideas for you ways to help support you in your classroom. I create professional development. And so there's a lot of different options that are a lot like, more involved, less involved, whatever you're looking for. First of all, is this podcast, but make sure that you use the time you listen to this podcast each week. Turn in those hours. And you don't need to go through them, like, oh my gosh.


Naomi Meredith [00:16:41]:

How many minutes is this episode? What does this apply to? I've already done that work for you. So, I go in and update this spreadsheet. I sort all of my podcast episodes and categories, and I have all of the time stamps for you and a certificate that you can turn in for this professional learning. You're still learning. Hopefully, it's fun. I tell the kids at my skating STEM field trip that I'm not so bad. I'm pretty fun. So hopefully, you'll laugh a little bit with me.


Naomi Meredith [00:17:09]:

I have no idea. But keep track of that time. You can turn that in. I put this together for you, and I want this podcast to be useful. Along with that, a lot of you like to take the time in the summer to read books, where you really feel like you can chill, you can get that reading in, do some longer walks, and listen to audio. And I know that reading is so important in so many ways for fun and for learning. I'm always reading 3 books at one time. I always have a fiction book going for fun, a nonfiction book, whether that is for my business, just like business learning, or for my STEM teacher bookshelf.


Naomi Meredith [00:17:48]:

So I'll switch off between reading and audio for those two options, but I always have 3 going on at once. I don't watch a whole lot of TV by myself. I prefer books. I'm such a nerd. But in the STEM teacher bookshelf it's super low-key where we've modified the structure a bit where there is a Facebook group where we'll chat about some topics, some updates, some questions to answer maybe. And then, instead of a live call, because I know you're busy and we all live in different time zones, there are 2 private podcast episodes that come out each month. They are raw unedited. You get to hear all the things.


Naomi Meredith [00:18:24]:

If my dog barks, he barks, and we're that's where we're at. But at the beginning of the month, you get a private podcast episode where I talk about the book, why the book was chosen, and things to look for in your comprehension guide that I create for every book. And then at the end of the month, I will recap anything that happened in the Facebook group, some things to look forward to, and it resets from there. So you get to listen and learn on the go. Low key, I don't want it to be stressful. I really do try to choose books for the summer that have audio options when possible. So this springtime, there is a lot of audio, because if you're busy or cleaning your classroom, this is a great time to listen to books and get that learning in. And then this summer, I'm very, very thoughtful about the books and why I choose them for certain times, and you get to hear about why I chose the books for that time of month.


Naomi Meredith [00:19:17]:

So fun, low key membership. Would love to see you there. Also, if you're looking for very targeted learning and you wanna get something done, something prepped, you've been googling, you're like, I don't know what to do. I have some on-demand workshops. At the time, they were live, but you actually get to hear back the recordings. You can watch or listen. And I have different workshops to target different things that you were hoping to create. One that is very, very popular well, they're actually all really popular in their own way based on what you're looking for.


Naomi Meredith [00:19:51]:

A lot of you have mentioned I wanna do a school-wide news club. I might not wanna start at midyear. Where do I get started? Get this all prepped now, and I give you every single template and every single new thing you need in my school-wide virtual news workshop. In 2 hours, you will set up your whole news from start to finish. And I met with a teacher, and I'm saying this off the cuff, and you know who you are because I met with you on Zoom, and she did this workshop and implemented the news at her school. And then her students actually showcased their news at an awards thing in their district about technology. And the kids actually presented to me over Zoom their presentation and how they got started with their news and how it's going at their school. And it was so sweet.


Naomi Meredith [00:20:43]:

They even gave me a shout out. Like, that is so cute. But they were so proud of themselves, and I was proud of them, and they were I was not even in their classroom. I was over Zoom. So this is so, so amazing. So, a lot of you have reached out with emails saying, I implemented this news. It's going really well. So, if you just want everything laid out, I got you covered.


Naomi Meredith [00:21:05]:

Same thing with lesson planning. If you're taking a deep dive into your lessons, I have 2 separate workshops, shops, a k through 2 STEM planning workshop, and a 3 through 5 STEM planning workshop. There is a bundle. You can grab those together. But I do plan differently for each grade level. So, with the people I had live, we collaboratively planned units together, but you actually get to hear the thought process and the thinking out loud, which I think is very valuable. Also, if you're helping to put on a unique STEM event, I have a workshop all about STEM career day, where, again, I give you all the templates, all the emails, and everything you need to do to set up this event where students can see people in real life who are doing amazing things in STEM. And finally, if you are just starting from scratch, you're new to this position, you just found me, or you went through a year or 2, and you just need to really focus on your program and the systems and routines, how can you plan? What are some ways that students can collaborate together? How can I set up my classroom? I have that all for you in my STEM Teacher 101 course, where there is video.


Naomi Meredith [00:22:12]:

Again, audio. I'm very big on having both. But I will walk you through setting up your classroom. What should you look for? What routines do you need to have in place? How do you plan a stem lesson? What should you be doing to set that foundation? So this is really gonna build that foundation up for you, and you can do it in a weekend. It's not anything crazy, but you also have some handouts and some getting started things for you as well. So, as a recap, I gave you a lot of different options when it comes to professional development opportunities as a STEM teacher for 2024. Now, the things that I offer you are always there. But for 2024 we talked about how you can go to conferences in person, some different options for there.


Naomi Meredith [00:22:58]:

Check out some virtual summits that can be really fun, and also all the different things that I have created just for you based on request. Thank you so much again. I know this is a lot of information and resources, but, of course, check out the show notes so you can grab all the links and let me know how and what you end up choosing to support your STEM journey.

professional development for STEM teachers

 

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

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

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

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

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

class schedule examples for elementary STEM

Class Schedule Examples for Elementary STEM [ep.157]

Class Schedule Examples for Elementary STEM [ep.157]

class schedule examples for elementary STEM

Check out the full episode on Class Schedule Examples for Elementary STEM:  

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

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

Episode Summary

Are you looking to update your STEM schedule to coordinate with the other specials teachers in your school? Or is your school in the process of adding a STEM program and trying to figure out the best schedule? If yes, then today’s episode is just for you. I’m sharing class schedule examples for elementary STEM. These examples will give you several ideas for how you can structure your STEM schedule.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Class schedule examples for elementary STEM from my time teaching STEM and other STEM teachers
  • A breakdown of how often and how long students attend STEM 
  • Tips for navigating class schedule changes

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

Are you in the season where you are trying to update your STEM schedule and work it out with all the other specials teachers? Or maybe, on the flip side, your school or district is thinking about having a STEM program and wondering how we could space out the kids. In this episode, we are gonna be talking about different types of class schedule examples for elementary STEM to help you brainstorm and give ideas of what would work best for your school. When I was looking through my episodes and when you guys reached out to me, I really appreciated it when you asked if there was a podcast episode about this. And here and there, in my episodes, I have talked about my schedule in STEM, but I was looking through everything, and I didn't have one specific episode that talked about the different kinds of schedules I have had, and then also what your guys' schedules were. So, I really appreciate those of you who responded back to me on Instagram. Thank you so much for sharing your schedules.


Naomi Meredith [00:01:42]:

There are so many different ones that I've never even heard of, and I will be sharing those today. For this episode, there isn't any video, and I plan that purposely because I'm gonna be sharing a lot from my notes. When I record with video, I look at my notes, but then I look at the cameras at the same time. I stop, look, blah blah blah. And for this one, since I'm talking about a lot of time frames and sharing your responses, there is no video for this one. And it's such a shame because I'm all dressed up, and actually, my makeup looks really good. But before we dive into that really quick, I wanted to share with you that I will be presenting at Wonder Workshop's spring international STEAM summit for 2024. It's absolutely free.


Naomi Meredith [00:02:30]:

And if you're listening to this after the fact, that's totally okay. They usually have the replay somewhere. So make sure to check out their website or check out their Instagram at wonderworkshop, and you can see more about it and how you can register, and that is in the 1st full week of May. So super fun. Just in time for teacher appreciation, I will be presenting about Wonder Workshop Theme Station. So, that was really fun to plan and really incorporate all the different things that you can do with their tools, with the robot, that is my fave, and other things as well. Likewise, it's all about the presentations this month. Been working a lot on those and doing a lot of recording.


Naomi Meredith [00:03:15]:

But inside my STEM Career Quest club, an exclusive club for my ultimate questies, we have our 1st on demand virtual field trip coming up. So, I will be coming at you with an engaging presentation that is for your students, and this is something that they don't just sit and get. I will actually be asking them questions. There are interactive documents or worksheets. I hate saying worksheets because it's actually activities that go along with the presentation where I made 3 different levels for each activity. So while they're interacting with me, even though it is on demand, they will be doing a lot, and you actually will be pausing to complete the things, and we go over the answers and explore. So this month the on demand presentation is all about bugs, and I have some special never before seen clips with the bug chicks. When I recorded with them, we actually explored some bugs together with their microscope.


Naomi Meredith [00:04:15]:

So when you're in the club, you always have access to that. It's so perfect for the end of the year. I know a lot of you talk about life cycles and outdoor exploration at this time of year in the spring, so this is a great addition. If you need sub plans, it's me teaching your students. So this has been really fun to put together because I do this for you, but then for that other podcast and all that content, it's me teaching kids, which I also absolutely love. So those will both be linked in the show notes and excited to see you in both of those places. Alright. So, what can those different schedules look like? And when you are in the elementary space, what does it actually look like in terms of time frames? As I said, I know this can vary from school to school, but in my 5 years of teaching k through 5 STEM, I had different schedules.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:14]:

And I'm also gonna share with you what my schedule was like for specials when I actually was a classroom teacher. Alright. So, my 1st year teaching k through 5 STEM was very interesting. For the 1st semester, I only taught 4 days a week, and I actually didn't work Mondays. And it all worked out. I'm telling you, the schedule is so interesting. I only worked 4 days a week, and students had STEM on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I had the same 6 classes, k through 5 in a row.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:56]:

So Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I saw the same exact kids. And we, at the time at my school, had a class called assets, which was all about character development and being kind and making good, social emotional decisions for yourself and for others. So those same kids that I had Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, they had assets Monday and Tuesday. So I told you I had Mondays off. I didn't have those kids on Tuesdays, and that was set up for me to co-teach with the teachers in my building to implement STEM and technology. So, we'll go back to the co-teaching model. So we'll get back to that. So Tuesdays was that open time.


Naomi Meredith [00:06:41]:

For their specials time, if the kids were in assets and stem, that was the same week. And then the other 3 grade levels, so we had 4 of each class. So 4 3rd grades, 4 4th grades, all of that. The other kids would have art for the week, PE for the week, music for the week. So I know it's super lucky that I saw the same kids in a row, but it was kind of hard that 1st year seeing them only 3 days a week because I was just getting started and figuring everything out. I did see the classes, 1st grade through 5th grade, for 45 minutes. So they would be 45 minutes. I would get about 5 minutes in between each class to transition, and I would do 3 classes in the morning, would have lunch, and then have 3 in the afternoon.


Naomi Meredith [00:07:36]:

For kindergarten at the time that year, so this is in 2018, kindergarten was only 20 minutes because they were half day. So, from what I remember, I actually had 4 in the morning, now that I'm saying this out loud. 4 in the morning, 4 in the afternoon, because we had the morning kindergarten come and then the afternoon kindergarten come. So 20 minutes was really, really fast. It was really good for kindergarten to have 20 minutes for that beginning of the year. That actually was enough time. But after winter break, it was way too fast. We couldn't get anything done.


Naomi Meredith [00:08:20]:

It was such a waste of time for everybody. So I thought it would be cool if we never did this. Eventually, our school went to full-time kindergarten, so my schedule changed, and I'll talk about that too. But I thought it'd be cool if it were still 45 minutes for kindergarten, and they would switch specials at that halfway point. So maybe they came to STEM for 20 minutes, and then they went to art for 20 minutes. So they could break up that stamina just for the 1st semester. And I have heard of schools and friends who taught who used to do this just to get the kids used to what specials is, because, you know, with kindergarten, they're like, where's my teacher? Who are you? Why are we here? I'm tired. So that was very interesting.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:02]:

So 45 minutes overall is a great amount of time. It does move quickly. If this is your 1st year or 2 teaching STEM, it moves by really fast, but it still works out. Then I had so that had that 3 days a week schedule. So Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I had those same kids. On Tuesdays, I would co-teach. Then, in the 2nd semester, things changed, and on Mondays, I actually taught GT Science. So for some reason, we had a lot of kids identified with gifted and talented in science.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:37]:

So I did a lot of project based learning with a group of 3rd graders, 4th graders, and 5th graders on Mondays, and that was about 45 minutes to an hour on Mondays. And then the other times, I would use to do some technology troubleshooting because I was the technology person. Or I would flip flop some of that with my Tuesdays where I would meet with, classroom teachers to do some co planning or maybe I would pop in their room that day. So my set times on Mondays, when it lined up with their science times in class, were with those 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders separately. And then it was more flexible during the Monday Tuesday what worked best on meeting with the classroom teachers and what they needed. After COVID, things changed in our budgets, and that asset class, didn't exist anymore, but we still needed the kids to be in specials for a full week. So my last 2 years teaching STEM is when I went to 5 days a week, and that is when we had full day kindergarten, and everybody was 45 minutes. So that is when I had, everybody for 45 minutes.


Naomi Meredith [00:10:49]:

It started at I had my planned time first thing, so I didn't talk about that. That was for the whole 5 years. Plan time was always first thing in the morning, and so we had 45 minutes for plan time every morning for my 5 years. That was so amazing. I loved it in the mornings. 45 minutes, and then 5th grade started right at 8:45, had them for 45 minutes. There was a 5 minute transition, then I had 4th grade. I had a 10 minute transition by this point.


Naomi Meredith [00:11:17]:

Then I had 3rd grade for 45 minutes. Then I had my lunchtime, which I feel so bad for saying this, but I had a 45 minute lunch. So it just worked out. We had a 45 minute lunch, and I did not have to do any duties. I did not have to watch kids during this time. It was my lunchtime. So I had lunch, and then right at 12, so it was 11:15 to 12, was our lunch, specials teachers. Then 1st grade came in for 45 minutes, had a 10 minute break.


Naomi Meredith [00:11:50]:

Our transition is not really a break. Let's go to the bathroom. 10 minutes, and then kindergarten came in for 45 minutes, and then I ended the day well, 10 minute transition, ended the day with 2nd grade. Then that freed up some time. If we had after school duties, we could get to those on time, set up for after school clubs since me and my teammates all had after school clubs. So that was my schedule for the last 2 years. Back to that year or 2, it was a couple years. It was 3 years.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:20]:

Let's be honest. It was 3 years. COVID was a weird year. My schedule is different. But the years that I had the kids 3 days a week, there was a year where I was getting paid through a grant on Mondays. I didn't end up having GT Science for my last 2 years. I in the 3 days a week. On Mondays, I had 8 classes a day.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:43]:

I do not recommend having 8 classes a day. That was horrible. It was 35 minutes with 2 minute transitions between classes and a 30 minute lunch. It was so stressful. I was so sweaty. It was so, so fast. Teachers liked that bonus extra plan time, so that left I was teaching 8 classes a day on Mondays, co teaching on Tuesdays, and then that Wednesday through Friday schedule teaching STEM as a specials. It was insane, and I had talked to my principal, like, this is not good.


Naomi Meredith [00:13:18]:

I don't recommend it. If that's where your principal's thinking of doing, oh, you can do it. Just 35 minutes. You get nothing done. It's horrible. The behavior, it's just you have no patience after 8 classes. There's no way. And it would be 2 grade levels.


Naomi Meredith [00:13:31]:

So my worst days were when I had kindergarten, all 4 in a row, back to back to back, and then 5th grade, back to back to back. No. That's not true. It was 1st grade. You guys know how I feel about 1st graders and 5th graders. They're, like, the same. And I talked to my principal. I'm like, I can't I cannot do 8 classes a day.


Naomi Meredith [00:13:52]:

So we ended up splitting it where I had 4 on Mondays, 4 on Tuesdays, and then I would fill in the time with co teaching and technology troubleshooting. So very, very interesting, all the different schedules. I did mention co teaching, and so this was a model that I was doing. I built it in my schedule, talked to classroom teachers whether I was planning with them or I was teaching with them, all those things. I do have an episode with my friend, Becca McMillan, and she talks about her co teaching experience. And I do have an episode coming out this summer. I'm going to do a whole series of where STEM is in all sorts of places. And I'm gonna record one episode dedicated to co teaching.


Naomi Meredith [00:14:35]:

So I did map out my episodes. I do have that coming up this summer. When I was a classroom teacher, different school, STEM was actually not in the rotation ever. The kids never regularly went to STEM. STEM was actually a 100% co teaching, And we didn't have as many things. STEM was kind of new then, so we did do some coding and robotics. We did a lot more technology integration, but when this is when I was a classroom teacher when I taught 3rd grade, we would meet with our STEM technology teacher every trimester. We would sit down with her for a half day planning as a grade level, plan a unit thoughtfully, came up with the lessons, what are the students gonna be doing, and then we figure out the time she would be coming in and teaching that with our students.


Naomi Meredith [00:15:22]:

So that was really effective when it came to the planning side, where that was actually really respected and how that was set up. So that was really cool too. She would be in our room for about an hour, and it was whenever that worked best. So maybe we moved reading that day or, whatever was coming up. So that was a really cool model also. Alright. To your guys' schedules, this is what you guys told me, and so many different schedules. So thank you again so much for sharing.


Naomi Meredith [00:15:53]:

I think this is really helpful for people to hear. I'm gonna post these on the show notes. So for every episode, there are show notes. They go linked to my website. So I took screenshots, and so I will post those on the show notes so you can see what people say. So in no particular order, leapy 829 told me that her stem schedule is a 6 day cycle. Each day, it's a different grade. Then it's 40 minute periods, either 5 or 6 classes.


Naomi Meredith [00:16:29]:

So it sounds like on Mondays, it's all Tuesday. On Tuesday, it's all 3rd grade. On Wednesday, it's all 4th grade. That's what that sounds like to me for 40 minutes. So that's interesting. It would change things up for your planning. At missus_selee says, every class, once, every 2 weeks. And she has 1st through 5th grade for an hour and then little, so that could be kindergarten and or pre k, for a half an hour.


Naomi Meredith [00:16:59]:

So half an hour can be good. So every class once every 2 weeks. So, they have stem twice a month. At jackeline510 says, one thing I love about my schedule is I see the same grade all day, and she sent me a picture. I was able to take a screenshot. So while I'm looking at this, it looks like her plan time actually changes based on the day, which is so interesting because mine, I could count on. And it looks like her lunchtime changes every day too. So her prep, different every single day.


Naomi Meredith [00:17:41]:

It looks like she has a 40 minute prep consistently. And so if she is teaching kindergarten, she has kindergarten all day. And she also has open lab time. So I'm wondering if teachers get to check out their lab, which is pretty cool. And then it looks like she gets kids for 40 minutes. So it looks like she sees the whole school in 1 week, and then it starts all over again. So that would be a lot to keep track of. She has everything color coded, so I will post that picture.


Naomi Meredith [00:18:13]:

Atcaitlin_flynn19 says that her classes are 45 minutes. She sees k through 5 every 6 days in a rotation, and then she has middle school classes every day. So it sounds like from what I'm getting, having the having the same 5 classes in a row is very, very rare. I was talking to Sarah for a bit at miss geeky teacher and I heard I message a lot about other things too. So hope I get to meet you in person, Sarah. Whenever you listen to this, tell me in the DMs when you heard it. But she sent me a picture too. She sent me an image that, I will also post in the show notes.


Naomi Meredith [00:18:54]:

She has also same kinda thing, a 6 day rotation. So k through 5, so one every day, it's a different group. 50 minutes per class, so that's a cool at least you get that much time, and she only sees them once every 6 school days. Okay. So her is hers is very color coordinated for the schedule. And, you you know, when you look at other people's schedules, you're like, wait. What is the coding? So they have a a, b, c, d, e, and f group. And it looks like she sees one of each grade.


Naomi Meredith [00:19:30]:

So she'll see a different 1st grade class on Monday, a different one on Tuesday, different one on Wednesday. Same thing. So if, like, you're in the c group, she'll see all the c groups on Monday, and then she'll see all the c groups on Tuesday. Pretty sure I'm reading that correctly. So she'll always teach k through 5 what it looks like, but it's a different group every day. So I know there are a ton of other schedules out there. My personal preference is if you can see them multiple days in a row that you can do those longer projects. But if you can't either, that really can adjust your teaching where you have quick one day lessons.


Naomi Meredith [00:20:12]:

Maybe there is a related theme for the month, but maybe the project doesn't carry on. So I hope this really helps you when you are thinking about the schedule and how that can align with everything and what can work best for your school. Maybe it is a mixture of co teaching and they have specials. I do notice, like, with these trends, 40 to 50 minutes seems to be the best time frame. 30 minutes, like I said, can be good for the littles, 30 to 35 minutes. But I would not recommend for the older kids because, really, it's not enough time for the transitions, for the teachers on both sides, the classroom teacher who's giving them to you and for you. Likewise, if you are needing support with anything else, I do have all the episodes organized for free into playlist. So if there is a specific topic you really want to hear more about, maybe it's just robotics and coding, maybe you just wanna hear about systems and routines, I regularly go through and update and sort those, so it's pretty cool where you get that link, and then it pops up into your podcast player and sorts all of them, based on those categories, which is pretty cool.


Naomi Meredith [00:21:26]:

So same exact podcast, same thing for free, just sorted into categories, and would love to help with your prep. It also goes with a spreadsheet where you can keep track of the hours. If you need to turn in any hours for professional development, I've done that for you. And you can grab that all at Naomi meredith.com/podcastplaylist. Thank you so much again. I hope this helps with your planning. Thank you to those who reached out with this question. Now I have an episode for you, and thank you to the teachers who gave me their schedules.


Naomi Meredith [00:21:59]:

I appreciate seeing all that insight. Thank you so much, and I'll see you in the next episode.

class schedule examples for elementary STEM

class schedule examples for elementary STEM

class schedule examples for elementary STEM

class schedule examples for elementary STEM

class schedule examples for elementary STEM

class schedule examples for elementary STEM

class schedule examples for elementary STEM

class schedule examples for elementary STEM

 

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

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

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

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

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

robotics and coding for kids

Tips for Managing Robotics and Coding for Kids [STEM Project & Behavior Management Series] [ep.156]

Tips for Managing Robotics and Coding for Kids [STEM Project & Behavior Management Series] [ep.156]

robotics and coding for kids

Check out the full episode on Tips for Managing Robotics and Coding for Kids [STEM Project & Behavior Management Series]:  

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

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

Episode Summary

Coding and robotics are some of the most popular lessons in the elementary STEM space. It’s no surprise that there are so many different coding and robotics tools available. With all of these tools available, how do you manage them all in your STEM classroom? What are the best strategies for behavior management? What types of lessons should you implement? In today’s episode, we are diving into all aspects of robotics and coding for kids. I share the best systems, behavior management strategies, and lessons for coding and robotics in your STEM classroom.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Systems and behavior management techniques for teaching robotics and coding for kids
  • Why you shouldn’t only focus on coding and robotics in your STEM classroom
  • Robotics and coding lesson ideas

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

Coding and robotics are some of the most popular lessons in the elementary STEM space. But with so many different tools out there, how do you manage them all in the classroom? Likewise, what types of behavior management and routines need to be put into place to ensure that kids are being successful? And along with that, what are some great lessons to get started with? We'll be answering all these questions and more in today's episode. Even when kids are so excited about lessons and tools like coding and robotics, you still need to keep in mind and don't assume that kids already know how to use this technology. Yes.


Naomi Meredith [00:01:19]:

Kids are pretty comfortable using technology, but I have learned over the years working with kids when it comes to academic technology, it still isn't automatic in terms of how to do all the intricate things with coding and robotics. They will grasp the coding pretty easily, but it is all of the ways to access the platform and some of the problem-solving that really trips kids up. So I'm gonna be sharing with you some systems and behavior management techniques that are really gonna help you. And then the lesson ideas, there are so many and actually a lot of resources I've put together over the course of the years to point you in that direction. When I was planning this episode, I was definitely going back and forth. Should I do just a coding episode and just a robotics episode? And when I was mapping out the episodes and the outlines, there were so many similarities between the 2, and you might even be doing both at the same time. I decided to put them in the same episode. So, there's a lot of overlap between these resources and how you would use them in your classroom.


Naomi Meredith [00:02:40]:

When I did coding, I did specific computer coding during the hour of code, and that was in the month of December. So, all of December, I would do hour of code. You do not have to do this, but a big thing with this too, think about the time of year, December, you're tired. You really have no energy to plan a super intense lesson, the weather is a little dreary, and you could have snow days, delayed starts, or whatever if you live in a snowy place. And this was a great time. It was midyear. The kids were excited to code, and then this is something that I could refer back to in other lessons. And it also set us up for success in robotics that we would do coming back from winter break.


Naomi Meredith [00:03:28]:

So that is just my preference in terms of using coding and robotics as big units but fit these in, whatever makes sense. Also, really think about it, are you only just doing coding and robotics? Coding and robotics are so important in STEM, but I have seen a lot of times where classrooms that's all they do. And just so you know, not every kid likes it. Not every kid likes 3D printing. Not every kid likes Makerspace. But you really need to try to balance everything out. And if you're saying, oh, well, we only do coding and robotics, then your class is a coding and robotics class. It's not fully STEM.


Naomi Meredith [00:04:11]:

So, just keep that in mind. It is a component of STEM, but it's not the only way to teach STEM. So let's get into those systems that you should have in place. So there are specific things for each of these units you wanna do. For robots, if you're able to have a designated charging station. You might need to take some time, like 30 minutes after school, to create a little station where you plug in all the devices and have them ready to go. My favorite way to plug in multiple devices like robots is I invested in these plugs that have multiple USB ports in them, and then you can put all the chargers into that port. It depends on the robot.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:01]:

Some come with charging bricks to plug them in, but we know in classrooms unless you have a brand new classroom that's super remodeled, and even still, plugs are hard to come by. So, if you just invest in one of those USB charging bricks, that actually helps a ton. And then as you're cleaning up your robot station, you can keep the plugs plugged into that brick, and then you just pull it out when you're ready. I actually wouldn't keep up my robots plugged in all year because I didn't do robotics year round. This was also to preserve the battery life of my robots. I also didn't want my robots out in the open all the time. I know kids would mess with them because they were so cute, especially Dash, the robot. The kids would always turn their heads, even as many times as I would tell them to not, they still would.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:53]:

So I actually would put them away when we were I knew for sure we were done with the unit. Also, depending on the robot, some robots need to be named physically, so you need to write on the robot their actual name. If it's a fun name, great. If it's a number, great. And then also in the app that it's connecting to. Like I said, it depends on the robot, so just check out your robot if that's something you need to do. If it is something that you name in the app, it typically will keep its name, and then that should also be an expectation with kids. We do not change the names of the robots.


Naomi Meredith [00:06:30]:

Here and there, kids will do it, so you would need to say explicitly, do not change the names. When it comes to coding, I didn't have any laptops in my classroom or Chromebooks. When my room was remodeled, it was a computer lab, but then it got remodeled where they took the computers away, and then the school was 1:1 with devices. And so I made it a habit where in STEM, my 2nd through 5th graders would bring devices to STEM anyway, and that was just a great digital citizenship routine that we always had all year. And then when we got into coding, I had students bring in their headphones. And if they didn't have headphones, they could borrow some of mine in the classroom. I would hang up my headphones year round in those clear shoe pocket holders, and it was really nice because of depending on where you hang it on your wall, your oldest kids can grab it from the taller sections, and then your youngest students can access the ones lower. So those were really helpful just to have year round.


Naomi Meredith [00:07:37]:

And, also in my role, I was the school wide tech person, so people knew that's where my headphones were. If they were in a bind and needed to grab headphones, they could grab headphones and bring them back. There were some times when we did testing, we would just take the whole pocket organizer off the wall and put it in an area of the building where testing was going on. So that's just a nice organizing hack. Also, I really recommend having headphone splitters. They're extremely helpful. I had some older ones in my room that I knew were so old but worked great. And they only split into 2, so 2 people could be listening on the same device at the same time.


Naomi Meredith [00:08:21]:

You can definitely order different ones off of Amazon where they have multiple ports to split. Like, you could do a listening station. Really, you only need up to 2 or 3, in my opinion, but they're really helpful when you get into coding, and we'll talk about why you would want kids to share a device. Also, think about in your classroom, do you have an area that focuses on key coding vocabulary? Again, you could keep this up year round or just hang it up as needed. I had very limited wall space, so I would only hang up specific vocabulary when we were using it for that unit. So when we were doing coding and robotics, everybody at that time was doing coding and robotics, so then it was really easy just to keep that up, and for coding for the first unit, robotics the next, and just adding in a couple of things. You might also wanna think about some posters that show the different robots that you're using, and then those robot posters could also show, oh, on this part of the robot is a sensor, or this part is the power button. That can be really, really helpful.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:31]:

I do have some robot posters in my TPT shop for a lot of the common robots in the elementary stem space. If there are some you want to see, write a message on there or just send me a message on Instagram. Like the last episode in episode 155 where I talked about your robot recommendations, there are robots that I haven't heard of, so I can definitely do some research and possibly make some posters for those. Also, something that's really helpful is if there is a robot that's connecting to a platform, having those steps to log in and how to connect to the robot, having those readily available and hanging up is a great resource to have. Even if you print out some and you hand them to students, that's really helpful, too so that they can be independent and go through those steps. Also, if there are any class codes that are needed, write those up, whether it's class specific or just for your whole entire grade level. That's really great too. Most of the coding platforms have a very specific vocabulary that relates to their type of code, whether it's just a coding website or even coding with robots.


Naomi Meredith [00:10:44]:

So check out the websites for the platforms that they're using. A lot of times, they have resources already. For example, when I did Bitsbox, which is a coding platform that uses a form of JavaScript where the kids are typing their code, There are specific codes that create different images on their screen, and I had some posters I would hang up during this time that would show them that vocabulary and the codes and how to write it. So that was really, really helpful. I also know that Wonder Workshop has the codes from their platform Blockly, where they are print and go. So you can use them for a vocabulary wall and talk about what each of the different colors mean in that platform. And then you can also add it in with some coding unplugged. I didn't know where to put this part, but when you have robots that move forward in a specific length so let's say your b bot moves 30 centimeters in one forward move, consider creating a grid for these types of robots.


Naomi Meredith [00:11:51]:

This will help students visually see where their robot is going and where they need to code their robot. I do have quite a few of those grids in my TpT shop as well, and you can actually add in images, on top of that, which is really helpful. Those are really, really popular in there. So it's print and go. You can create whatever size grid you want. But creating a grid, I know you can purchase them too. That can be helpful. But if you're on a budget, you can definitely create your own.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:20]:

Also, with your systems, think about how you are going to share the coding platform, whether it's coding only or coding with robotics. Are you going to share with students a coding choice board that they need to access? Are you gonna leave the website in their learning management system? This is also really great for days you are gone. So think about your system of how you're gonna share the website they need to log in to. Okay. So, let's get into that behavior management. So, with robots in general, for the most part, pretty much the same. I always have their code on the floor. The only robot I would let them code on the table is Ozobots because they are super tiny, and they fit inside the palm of your hand.


Naomi Meredith [00:13:09]:

So those ones don't go fast enough where it matters that they need to be on the floor. But for every other robot, I have students code on the floor. I also would remind them to code their robot like a robot. Don't drive it like a car, meaning you can't touch your robot and push it back and forth, back and forth. That really messes up the motors. So make sure to remind students of that when they're carrying their robot to a new place, holding their robot with 2 hands, and then you also might have specific rules for each robot, again, that are in those posters that'll be really helpful for you. For coding, not as many rules, but there are some to help with behavior management. I would make students with their devices leave it flat on the table.


Naomi Meredith [00:13:56]:

I wouldn't let students move and code around the room because I wanted to make sure they were staying on task and staying on the website that I assigned them to. So it might seem kind of strict. It has to stay on the table. However, that way, I could see their screens are up, and they are doing what they're supposed to do. Same thing with iPads. If I had my younger students coding with an app on iPads, those had to stay at the table. They were not allowed to wander around the room with the iPad. Also, they need to make sure that they only have the tab or the app open for what they are working on.


Naomi Meredith [00:14:32]:

This is good habits to teach your kids that if you're finished with a task, close out the tab. You might see kids with 50 tabs open. They're like, why is my computer slow? Well, your cool math games in the background is making your computer slow. It's still running. It's still open. Your computer is still thinking about it. So that's just a really good habit to teach your kids, and, that way, they aren't flipping back and forth and doing other things. You know how it is.


Naomi Meredith [00:15:05]:

For my coding and robotics, I actually have very, very similar rules. And I talked about this in one of the LEGO episodes, but, I will have the roles of a driver and navigator and then robot wrangler, which is for robots. But you have a driver and a navigator, and this is called paired programming. This is a real thing that computer programmers use, And the driver is the one who is controlling the device, so they are the one clicking the mouse. They are the one touching the keys. It doesn't mean that they're actually thoughtfully thinking about all the work. Everybody else can pay attention and contribute to the code. And then the navigator is like that wingman.


Naomi Meredith [00:15:50]:

It's like checking things over, is helping out, and talking through it. So one person is literally controlling the device, the other is helping with that brain power, maybe of 2 navigators. And then once you get into that robotic side, you have those 2 roles, and then you have a robot wrangler. And that person is in charge of the robot, where they're not coding the robot. They need to make sure the robot is set up where it needs to be. It's in its starting position. Is it facing forward? Then when they run the code, they have to go get the robot and then bring it back to where it needs to go. This sounds like a silly task, but trust me, this will help so much, so kids aren't fighting over it.


Naomi Meredith [00:16:35]:

For this type of role, I might have kids switch about halfway through. So setting a timer on your screen is going to help with this because the kids can't always gauge, and then I would lose track of time myself. And so setting a timer that when the timer goes off, you are going to switch up your roles. Some groups wanted to do it day by day. And, again, just like when I mentioned with Allego, as long as the groups are agreeing and they think it's fair, then let them figure that out. But most kids will need that specific, you will switch at this time because you're teaching them how to collaborate well and being able to perform these different roles. Even if it isn't their favorite, they get a chance. Also, when it comes to your behavior management, make sure you show kids how to clean up at the end.


Naomi Meredith [00:17:26]:

Where do you want them to put their devices? Do you want them to plug in their devices? How do they save their work and close out their tabs so that their computer is running as efficiently as possible? Where do they line up at the end to make sure that everything is cleaned up and where it should be? So, that's really gonna help with that behavior management and making sure they stay on task. One big thing, this is what those little Ozobots I was mentioning. I would make sure that you count how many robots you start class with and how many you end with. I have had instances where students would try to take them, and they didn't know I was counting. And their class tried to leave, and I said no. We can't leave. We are missing a robot. And I ended up finding it, and, actually, the student tried to take the robot twice.


Naomi Meredith [00:18:22]:

That's a whole other thing. And I knew exactly who it was, and, you know, we had some we had some consequences. Mean Miss Meredith had to come out, but definitely count those smaller robots. It might seem silly, but trust me from experience, I sadly had to deal with that. Alright. Now on to the lesson ideas and materials. Coming up soon, if you're listening to this episode close to when it's being released, the Spring International STEAM Summit hosted by Wonder Workshop is going to take place in May, and they just announced that it is live to register. It's a free virtual Steam summit, and I'm actually going to have a session all about Wonder Workshop themed STEM stations that you can do in your classroom.


Naomi Meredith [00:19:18]:

So these stations actually are gonna be mixing in coding with the robots and also doing some digital work as well. So it is really along with this theme and works out perfectly. When I was map mapping this out, actually, I didn't think about how this would all align. So make sure you find me over there. Super fun. I love, doing their summit. I actually did their keynote last year, which I believe is episode 100, if you wanna go back and listen to that. For the lesson ideas and materials, this is gonna be a little bit different than the other episodes in this series because I've talked about robotics and coding a lot in different ways and just really wanted to focus on those systems and behavior management.


Naomi Meredith [00:20:03]:

This is all gonna be linked in the show notes for you. So, if you're worried, where can I find this? I can't remember. This is gonna help you out in time. In the last episode, episode 155, I talked about the robots that you have used in your classroom. So, thank you so much for messaging me and responding to me on Instagram. So you tell me about the robots you use and then how it's going. From there, in episode 43, I actually talk about my robot recommendations and the experience of different robots that I've used in my classroom what has worked well, and then some other improvements. In episode 99, I talk about cross-curricular lesson ideas that you can do with robotics.


Naomi Meredith [00:20:48]:

So just different ways where you're not just coding some random tasks, you're really integrating this content together. For coding only specific lesson ideas, I talk about Hour of Code, which, again, this can just be how you use coding platforms, I talk about coding specific lessons that you can do in episodes 38 and 136. So there are a ton of different ways that you can use coding and robotics. I talk about them in a lot of different avenues, so make sure to check that out. And, also, a little trick on my website, it might be easier if you're on a computer. On my website, naomimeredith.com, there's a little search bar, and you can search for any keywords on my website. And I actually search up my own website all the time. So, when I was writing out this outline, I was searching up robots.


Naomi Meredith [00:21:45]:

So if you just type in robots in my own search on my website, you can find every podcast episode and every blog post that I have done about robots. And, yes, there are blog posts on there. Same thing with coding. You can find all of that in all the other topics that I talk about. So this is extremely helpful. So, definitely check out that feature. I think that's a nice little hack how to navigate all of my resources, and make sure that I have something about it. And if I don't, let me know because that gives me inspiration for even more episodes.


Naomi Meredith [00:22:22]:

So as a recap in this episode about coding and robotics, we first talked about the systems to set up in your classroom. Next, we talked about different ways to handle behavior, and then I gave you a list of ways to navigate those lesson ideas. Again, definitely use that search on my website, and then I do have those episodes that are specific to coding and robotics grouped together in my free podcast playlist. So if you go to namiberedith.com/ podcast playlist, I categorize all my episodes. So if you just want episodes to play in order just about coding and robotics, those will all be there for you completely free, the same exact podcast as this one. It's just organized in a nice way so that you can get the content that you are looking for. Thank you so much again. I appreciate all of you.


Naomi Meredith [00:23:19]:

Thank you so much for reaching out and letting me know what you need and what you're searching for. I am never at a loss for podcast ideas. You guys are so awesome. Keep up the great work, and I will see you in the next episode.

robotics and coding for kids

 

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More About your host, Naomi Meredith

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

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

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

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

Which Robots for Kids Should I Buy? [STEM Project & Behavior Management Series] [ep.155]

Which Robots for Kids Should I Buy? [STEM Project & Behavior Management Series] [ep.155]

robots for kids

Check out the full episode on Which Robots for Kids Should I Buy?:  

 

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Episode Summary

Have you been wondering which robots for kids you should buy for your STEM classroom? If yes, then today’s episode is for you! I recently asked over on Instagram what robots you are using in their classrooms and what challenges you are currently facing when it comes to robots for kids. I’m sharing those responses and other tips and strategies for incorporating robots for kids into your STEM classroom.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Teacher recommendations for robots for kids
  • An overview of each of the robots
  • Tips for getting funding for robots for your classroom

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

Which robots should I buy for my classroom? I asked all of you over on my Instagram at Naomi Meredith your opinion and what robots you buy for your students and the ones that you have experience with. I am sharing with you your responses as to what has worked well in your classroom and also what have been some sticking points for you. There are some robots that you guys told me about that I haven't used before. So this was a very exciting episode to put together and get all of your opinions and expertise. 


Naomi Meredith [00:01:11]:

I have done an episode like this before. It was kind of like a bonus episode, and I had asked over on my Instagram about the 3D printers that you have used and your recommendations and things that have worked well and what haven't. And that is a really cool episode because I had experience with only a couple of different types of printers. But knowing there are so many out there, I wouldn't have been able to experience them all. And so that is actually an episode I share with teachers all the time when they're asking that question just to hear other people's perspectives. So, that will be linked in the show notes for you because I think that is super valuable, and I wanted to create a similar experience here for this episode as it relates to your experiences with different robots. Also, back in episode 43, I gave my specific robot recommendations and why I suggested those, so my experience and what robots that I had access to. Out of all of those, and you can hear about all the different kinds, in my personal opinion, Dash by Wonder Workshop is my absolute favorite.


Naomi Meredith [00:02:25]:

There are a lot of runners up, but that's my preference for robots. To me, that is the most versatile user friendly robot. It can be used k through 8. It has a driving mode that is good for introducing this robot to younger students, but then you can get into that block-based coding that looks a lot like Scratch. And then a lot of people don't know this about Dash, but if you have any of the paid tiers of your Make Wonder program, there is actually JavaScript coding and more advanced block-based coding. So, that is a cool experience that you can bring to Dash when your kids need more of a challenge. And they also have in those paid tiers, it is a virtual Dash, so it actually interacts with the code just like the physical Dash, and students can take their learning home with their virtual dash or just have another option. So that's pretty fun as well.


Naomi Meredith [00:03:22]:

Something to keep your eye out for is their international steam summit that is coming up for Wonder Workshop for the springtime. So, there are things all things dash there, but also some really cool but also other really cool presenters and presentations that are all STEM based. So keep an eye out. I usually speak every year. I did submit a proposal, so fingers crossed I get chosen. But, it was fun. Last year, I did a presentation. I also got to be their keynote speaker, which was super, super cool.


Naomi Meredith [00:03:56]:

And I'm pretty sure I played that keynote here on this podcast. It might have been episode 99 or a100, which was pretty exciting. Alright. So in terms of robot recommendations, what are all of you using out there? And I thought this was really cool. I had so much fun talking to all of you on Instagram. So, thank you to those who responded. This was really fun to hear because there were a lot of commonalities with the types of robots that other teachers are using in their classrooms, and then also some newer ones on the market and their opinions. When you teach them, you often don't get that opportunity to observe and check out other classrooms and see what is being done and what works well and what doesn't.


Naomi Meredith [00:04:47]:

And so this was really, really exciting, to get this information and also share it with all of you. When I was talking to Christy B. Lewis, she uses primarily Dash the Robot, like I had just mentioned, but their district will not fund the paid version of Make Wonder, but using the freebies, which is definitely a great place to start with their freebies as well and totally understand, every district has different possibilities when it comes to funding and, what they want to fund and not. So, there are some really awesome things that they have for you to get started. When I was talking to her more, she also used these other little robots. They're called Root robots. And I was messaging with her, and I said, oh my gosh. Those look like little Roombas. And we were looking more into it, and we're pretty sure they are made by the same company, which, honestly, I don't think that's a dumb idea at all.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:51]:

When you think about our robot vacuums, there are those that are being coded. There is code in these robot vacuums. And so, why not make a kid version for kids to experience and understand how this piece of technology works in your home? I don't think they vacuum up anything, but it was pretty cute. They're like little baby Roombas, so she likes them. She said they've been pretty fun. Andrea_zimmermanstem. I was talking with her, and, she uses some different robots in her classroom. She uses the tail bot, t a l e, and the Vinci bot.


Naomi Meredith [00:06:34]:

And then Lego Spike and Vex Go are also robot options. And if you're thinking, wait, LEGO, I thought, was just building? I did have episodes recently all about LEGO Education, and some of the kids' students will build and code their creations. So, technically, it is a robot. I was asking her more about Marty the robot because I hadn't seen that. And so she sent me a picture of Marty, the robot, and in my opinion, I thought Marty looked like the robot. Like, if you ask students to draw me a picture of a robot, this is what it would look like. She said that when you are coding Marty, the robot it's using a remote control, and then the Marty blocks look a lot like Scratch Junior. If you're not familiar with Scratch Jr, that is strictly coding.


Naomi Meredith [00:07:33]:

It doesn't connect to any devices. There is a way to get it on Chromebooks. I think it might be in the Chrome Web Store. I'm not a 100%. I have seen Scratch Junior on Chromebooks, and then I've also used it on iPads. It is a free app. It's awesome. It definitely is very relevant for your youngest learners.


Naomi Meredith [00:07:58]:

So, that was interesting to hear about her experience using this Marty robot and that the code, it seems like, is made for younger students. I was talking with Amber Likes Books and Cats on Instagram, and she uses b bots and Scratch. I might also be mentioning coding platforms here and there since that was the question I asked. B-bots are those little robots that look like a little bumblebee. They are comparable to the code and go mouse. They do the same exact thing. If you are able to spend a little bit more, I do recommend getting the b bots. They are more hefty, heavier duty.


Naomi Meredith [00:08:42]:

They will last longer than your Code and Go mice. So if you're able to do it, do it. They are rechargeable. Code and Go mice use batteries that you do have to interchange. Now, if you get rechargeable batteries, that would work really well. But I recommend the bee bots. That is my preference since they will last you a lot longer. She also uses Sphero, but she also mentioned that they don't follow the code lines as well as they age.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:13]:

And I noticed that too with some of the Sphero that I had. I love Sphero, the ball robot, but as they got older, mine also had an issue with connecting to devices for a long time. They would disconnect quite often, and then the battery life died pretty quickly over time. There were also a couple of other teachers who used Spiro in their classroom. We have miss Geeky Tech, Sarah, who uses Spiro, and then also leapy829 uses Spiro. She also has the Sphero Indy, which I have heard really good things about that for little kids. It looks like a little car, and then there are these colorful squares that each color makes the robot do a certain or different action. So kids are moving these squares around on the floor, and the robot will move around and is looking for those squares to perform the action.


Naomi Meredith [00:10:09]:

So they look really, really fun, and I've heard really fun things about them from teachers who have used them. I also know that Miss Geeky Teach uses Dash. She just wrote a grant through DonorsChoose and got a ton of those funded for her classroom. So, again, if you are hoping, after listening to this episode, you kinda have an idea of what kind of robots you might want to try, DonorsChoose is a great option for that. I did speak with somebody who works for DonorsChoose, which we'll link in the show notes where she talks a little bit more about DonorsChoose, what their mission is, and some ways to help you get your projects funded, which was a really, really cool interview. Bree Smith 13 uses a lot of the similar items that we talked about, Sphero and Dash. For coding platforms, she also uses Codable and Codespark, which don't connect to robots but just some other coding platforms. And then she also uses Ozobots.


Naomi Meredith [00:11:11]:

Hopefully, I think you can buy Ozobots for a while. You couldn't, purchase them, but I think they're back in stock where Ozobots are pretty cool. They're these tiny, tiny little robots. They are, they can fit in the palm of your hand, and they read color patterns. So a lot like the indie where it's looking for colors and it will perform the action, Ozobot will do the same thing, but the colors are colored with a marker. And so those are pretty fun. I use this for quite a bit of time with my 2nd and third graders. A big tip with those is to make sure you count them before your class leaves for the day.


Naomi Meredith [00:11:54]:

I did have a student try to take them more than once, and so that was a practice that I put into place with the Ozobots because I wanted to make sure they didn't go anywhere because they are not cheap. For how little they are, they are not cheap at all. Back to Miss Geeky Teach. She also has the VEX 123 in her classroom, and she was saying that students use a coder where they slide in the code and then they hit play, and then it will run. She said that she has used the VEX 123 from kindergarten all the way to 5th grade, and they're actually really easy to use. And they come with a lot of pre done curriculum, which is easier to jump into. So, if you need more experience when it comes to curriculum, it sounds like this is a good starting place, which can be a sticking point sometimes. Also, she does love Dash and Spiro, but, also, when you don't have access to the curriculum, that can be tricky to get started.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:58]:

So definitely, for any robots, check out their websites. More and more robotics companies are trying to provide resources for you to get started because it is a newer thing, especially in the elementary space, and you wanna make sure that kids are being successful. So definitely check that out, but, when you are getting started with any of your robotics. I definitely have some resources for you to get started with robots, and continuously thinking about that for you as well. If you are hoping to dive in more about coding and robotics, what all of this entails in your STEM space, and what are some different things you can do around this topic, I do have a free podcast playlist that is all about coding and robotics, and I have my entire podcast categorized into categories. So same exact show that you're getting here, but I have all the episodes organized, so you don't have to go pick and choose and find all of the episodes that are related to coding and robotics. I have that all done for you absolutely free. So, it has all of the episodes listed in a spreadsheet.


Naomi Meredith [00:14:14]:

And then what's really cool is there's a special link for each of the playlists where you add it to your podcast player. And as soon as I organize the episode into that category, it pops up on your phone so those specific episodes for that category are already there for you. You can grab this free coding and robotics podcast playlist, oh, and all of the other free playlists over at Naomi Meredith.com/podcastplaylist. You just create a free little account. It's all there for you, and easy for you to find the topics that you wanna learn more about. Thank you so much again for following along, and thank you to everybody who was chatting with me over on Instagram. I love hearing what you're doing in your classrooms and being willing to share your experiences and what is working well and why what isn't working well because that's a reality of teaching. Right? So, thank you so much for sharing all that info with me.


Naomi Meredith [00:15:15]:

I definitely learned a lot of new things. Hearing what is going on in your classroom is super helpful for other teachers out there who want to add more robots in their space or don't have any at all and are looking for where to get started. Thank you so much again, and I will chat with all of you soon.

robots for kids

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

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

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

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

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

solar eclipse lessons for elementary students

3 Easy Solar Eclipse Lessons for Elementary Students [ep.154]

3 Easy Solar Eclipse Lessons for Elementary Students [ep.4]

solar eclipse lessons for elementary students

Check out the full episode on 3 Easy Solar Eclipse Lessons for Elementary Students:  

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

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

Episode Summary

Looking for fun and creative ways to teach your students about the solar eclipse? In today’s episode, I’m sharing three easy solar eclipse lessons for elementary students. These lessons are engaging and an excellent way to explore this celestial event with your students.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • 3 solar eclipse lessons for elementary students
  • The inspiration for each lesson
  • A brief overview of each lesson

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

What are some quick STEM activities that you can do with your students to teach them all about solar eclipses? In this quick episode, I'm gonna be sharing with you 3 ideas that you can get started with. The first way you can help students understand what a solar eclipse is, is to have them create a model. Sadly, we aren't friends with Miss Frizzle, and we can't go on a magic school bus with her to check out the solar system. So the next best thing is for students to create a model and understand what is happening with the moon, earth, and sun.


Naomi Meredith [00:01:09]:

With your model, make sure that the moon is able to move in between the sun and the Earth and can demonstrate those different types of solar eclipses. I've been really excited learning more about solar and lunar eclipses, So I actually created a model that you can use with your students that comes with all of the printables, the directions are written and printed for you to not stress about it. And it's a really cool way for not only students to learn about how solar eclipses work, but within the same model, they actually can explore what a lunar eclipse is and what that actually looks like. So this activity is teaching them even more than what you would expect. The second way you can teach your students about solar eclipses is by adding an element of robotics. There was a really cool activity posted on Wonder Workshop's social media and their blog where they had a sun, moon, and Earth and created a way for Dash the robot, their all-star robot, to demonstrate the process of what a solar eclipse is. This does take some engineering of where to place the sun and the earth in the appropriate spots, and also how to code dash the robot to show the solar eclipse. But this is a really cool activity, and it looked really low prep.


Naomi Meredith [00:02:41]:

The third way you can teach students about solar eclipses is if you are in a place where you can view the solar eclipse, make sure you have those safety glasses. Another way that you can view a solar eclipse is by making your own solar eclipse viewer. I collaborated with We Are Teachers and actually had the chance to engineer a way that you can look at a solar eclipse safely by using a shoebox. There is a full video and blog post all about this, and just like everything else I just mentioned, I will link that for you in the show notes. As a recap, here are the 3 STEM activities that you can use with your students to teach them more about solar eclipses. First, create a movable model to show them what is happening with an eclipse. Next, add an element of coding and robotics, such as Dash the Robot. And 3rd, create a different version of a solar eclipse viewer, maybe one with a shoebox.


Naomi Meredith [00:03:49]:

Are you gonna try these things with your students? Let me know. Send me a message or add a comment, and can't wait for you to learn all about solar eclipses with your students.


solar eclipse lessons for elementary students

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

 

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

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

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

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

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

lessons for LEGO bricks

What are lessons for LEGO bricks I can teach? [STEM Project & Behavior Management Series] [ep.153]

What are lessons for LEGO bricks I can teach? [STEM Project & Behavior Management Series] [ep.153]

lessons for LEGO bricks

Check out the full episode on What are lessons for LEGO bricks I can teach?:  

 

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

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

Episode Summary

Wondering what lessons for LEGO bricks you can implement in your classroom? What LEGO kits are the best for the grade levels you teach? What are the best strategies for managing behaviors during these lessons? I’m answering these questions and more in today’s episode! This is part two of the LEGO episodes, so make sure you go and listen to part one if you haven’t already.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Behavior management strategies to use when implementing lessons for LEGO bricks
  • Examples of these behavior management strategies in action
  • The types of lessons for LEGO bricks you should implement and the LEGO education kits you should use for each lesson

Resources Mentioned:

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

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

What are some lessons that you can use when teaching with LEGO bricks? What types of LEGO education kits should you buy? And what do you do when it comes to behavior management? This is part 2 of our LEGO episodes, and we are gonna be answering all those questions in today's episode. In the last episode, I shared with you all of the systems to set up in your classroom when it comes to using LEGO bricks. It was so funny when I was planning this episode, the systems episode, I was talking so much that I needed to break it up into 2 parts. I really didn't wanna overwhelm you with information, and part of it is because I haven't done LEGO episodes before.


Naomi Meredith [00:01:29]:

So I wanna make sure you get all of the information so that it makes sense and is exactly what you are looking for. So, thanks for hanging out with me for this part 2. I will say I did record part 1 and part 2 back to back, but in your time, you are getting it weeks apart. So thank you for being patient and ready for part 2. Alright. So behavior management is really important when you are teaching with LEGO bricks. When I was working for the LEGO After School Club, this was so important to me because I had seen it in my own classroom, and the person that I was working for actually didn't think behavior management was that important. It wasn't a priority.


Naomi Meredith [00:02:19]:

It was a very interesting conversation. Also, I was working for someone who had never taught before, but behavior management really is a big part of having kids be successful when using LEGO bricks. Think about your classroom setting. Not every kid likes to build with LEGO bricks. They don't. There are some kids who might not have ever built with LEGO bricks before. You need to have some systems in place and some rules in place so that it can go smoothly. There are also kids who are so obsessed with LEGO bricks that they are going to want to dominate the entire build, and they will also have a hard time collaborating.


Naomi Meredith [00:03:03]:

I learned this all the hard way, but I learned very quickly that having specific roles in their group is actually a game changer when you are using LEGO bricks. I was watching someone when I was in this LEGO after-school club who did not have roles, and it was absolute chaos. There were some kids who would just sit there and not do anything, and then there were kids who were dominating the whole time. And it brought me back to when I first used, like, LEGO Education Kids in my classroom. I had the same situation happen. But I don't want that to happen to you. So, how do you give kids roles when they're building with LEGO bricks? I like to group students in groups of 2 or 3. No more than that.


Naomi Meredith [00:03:47]:

If it's a group of 4, it just is too much, and there isn't enough for kids to do. So I will group them in groups of 2 or 3, and they have 3 specific roles. And you have a builder, a finder, and a director. And very self explanatory, but the builder will build the build. The finder is going to find the pieces. So when you look at a LEGO build that has directions, it will show you what pieces you need and how many. So they are in charge of finding the pieces. And then the director is in charge of the building directions.


Naomi Meredith [00:04:25]:

And in the last episode, I talked about how I would like to assign the builds using a digital platform like Seesaw. Or maybe you are using a LEGO Education Kit that already has an app, and the directions switch every 1 to 2 pages. They can decide in their group. There are some groups that will switch every single page because they need explicit directions. But then there are other groups who they're more laid back, and they're okay with switching every 2 pages, or some groups might even just keep their same roles for the entire day, and everybody is okay. It's really important to have these roles. Most groups need them. Some really, really need them.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:17]:

Some specific kids really need those explicit rules, and they might even move spots. I have seen that before. It's actually really cute. Not very efficient, but they actually might move spots when it's their turn to do their job. This helps so much. There is less fighting. It does help even out the experience, And I tell them nobody is a master builder in here. We are all learning how to collaborate and do our best job.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:46]:

So it's okay if you've built a lot of LEGOs, but you're not gonna build the whole thing by yourself. That's not what we do here. So these jobs are really, really helpful. If you are getting into a LEGO build, that is actually along with just robotics and how I do coding, which we'll talk about in other episodes as well. I do have that planned, but as I record, things grow and change, but that isn't my plan in this series. When they get to the coding part, if that is something your LEGO education kits use, there is a driver, a navigator, and a robot Wrangler. This is called paired programming. So you can actually talk about this with your kids.


Naomi Meredith [00:06:34]:

But the driver is the one who is going to be driving the actual device, the computer, and putting the code up on the screen. It doesn't mean they have to know how to code. Everybody can help and be involved and talk about the code. They're just the ones touching the computer. The navigator checks the code to make sure that everything is where it should be and everything's connected before they press play. The robot wrangler is in charge of the robot, and they have to make sure the robot is set up before the code is going. And then they have to go get the robot if it ends up somewhere if it's a moving robot. If you do have robots that roll, some of the builds might do that.


Naomi Meredith [00:07:18]:

I recommend having the robot on the floor. Do not put them on the tables. Sometimes the kids will make them go really fast. They'll fall off. Their build goes everywhere. There are pieces all over the floor. They're crying. They're yelling.


Naomi Meredith [00:07:30]:

They're screaming. Put the robot on the floor. Back to the building piece, I didn't mention this, but there will be times when kids can't find a piece. The newer the kits, the fewer problems you have. The more kids you have using kits, the more pieces go missing. So I do put these roles in place where if you can't find a piece, what are you going to do? I give them those strategies of what to do when you can't find a piece. And you might think, oh, I don't need to do this. You do.


Naomi Meredith [00:08:01]:

Because they're gonna ask you the same thing. I can't find it. So let me tell you what I tell them and then something about that. Here are the strategies I tell kids if they cannot find a piece. 1st is to look in the big part of the bin. If you haven't seen a LEGO education kit before, they come in these big bins, and there's usually some sort of tray on top that can be removed and actually placed inside of the lid so it doesn't slide around. But there's a bottom part, and sometimes some pieces end up down there. So kids need to look.


Naomi Meredith [00:08:37]:

Did you check in the big part of the bin? The next one is to ask another group. Sometimes, another group might accidentally have their piece. They might just have one extra, and so they need to ask another group politely. The other groups can say yes. The other groups can say no, but they are allowed to ask, not take. Also, another strategy if they can't find a piece is to check the spare parts shelf. And in the last episode, I talked to you all about the spare parts shelf and how I get that all organized. If the kids try all three strategies, all 3, they have to try all 3, and they still can't find the piece, they have to problem-solve and use a related piece that can complete the task.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:25]:

I would give kids this example when I was remodeling my townhome. I use this example a lot. But when I was remodeling my townhome, and if I tried all these strategies, then I still couldn't do something. I had to figure it out. I couldn't go whine to my parents and say, figure it out for me. And I also would tell the kids, do you see on here do any of these say, go whine at Miss Meredith and tell her you can't find a piece? And they're all, no. I'm like, exactly. So it doesn't say go tell Miss Meredith I can't find it.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:57]:

I probably can't find it either. If you did all these things as a group and you still can't find it, I probably can't find it. And that really helps too with their independence. I didn't have kids following me around the class like a baby duck. I said I'm not your mommy. You're not my baby ducks, that they weren't following me and telling me they can't find a piece. Sometimes when I was talking with them, I might know where one is. But overall, kids knew not to ask me where a piece was, I probably couldn't find it.


Naomi Meredith [00:10:27]:

When you're building with the LEGO bricks, and let's say you do have the opportunity for kids to continue their builds day after day, What I would have them do is write their names on a sticky note, put the sticky note on the top of their lid, put their build on top of it, and then any extra pieces go inside. And then I had some shelves in my classroom where they could put all their builds. It will look a little bit messy, but whatever. It all worked out okay. When I had my LEGO after-school clubs, kids actually had to take apart their builds every single day because I was taking the kits to a new school every day. And so they did have to deconstruct. I did not give them roles in that. They just had to all help out and make sure everything was where it needed to go.


Naomi Meredith [00:11:12]:

When we had the big Duplo blocks, and I did mention this in the last episode, they had to take apart their builds because they were quick challenges and more creative challenges. They did have to take them apart and then sort them by color. One thing you can add in, if you wanna do this once a week or if you have different kids every day, is I would have the kids I did this in my LEGO after-school club because they got really good at building because they're doing it every week. I actually had the kids check a color. So in LEGO Education Kits, the newer kits are sorted by color, and so each day had a different color that they were responsible for. So my Monday group had to go through the blues and make sure all the blues were there to check all the numbers, put back any extras, and make sure they got the spares that they were missing. Tuesday was responsible for the black pieces. Wednesday was responsible for the green.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:10]:

So that was a really great way to make sure the inventory was pretty good in the kits, and overall, they had most of the pieces. So I wasn't sitting at home and going through them. So that's a great strategy. You can do that once a month, or maybe if you have kids, like, maybe you're not using LEGO education kits, then maybe you have some kids who come in from recess and help you organize throughout the week. Again, so you're not doing it, and kids actually are really fast at it and enjoy the process. Alright. In terms of lessons, what kinds of lessons should you use and what kits to buy? So these are gonna gonna go back and forth. If you are thinking about LEGO Education Kits specifically, you can actually get started on their website, you can see the different types of kits they have available, and you can actually browse through the lessons that are already there.


Naomi Meredith [00:13:03]:

There's not a whole time, but there is enough where it will give you questions to think about. There are videos to show them in action. Some of the kits have related science activities that can go with them, and then you can also again find those PDF versions of the builds in case you need to print any or use them to assign digitally like I did in Seesaw. I'm gonna go through the different types of kits that I used, and I ended up using the lessons that went with these kits. I didn't really create my own when it came to, like, LEGO education kits because there were some already good ones out there. And so when it comes to my k through fives time year-long plan, when you see LEGO Education Kits on there, those are not things that I've made up myself. Out of all the things, coding and LEGO Education Kits are the units that I didn't create from scratch because there are already resources out there that were really good. In kindergarten, I had the opportunity to get the STEAM Park Express Kits, and I sorted all the pieces by color, so I talked more about that in part one of this little LEGO episode saga.


Naomi Meredith [00:14:18]:

And I had this sorted by color, and every day was a different challenge. And you can kinda see on the LEGO Education website where they're building a different part of the amusement park. And you talk about different things with simple machines and force and motion. And what's really cute about this, it's more exploratory for your youngest students. There is a picture where kids can replicate what's on the picture. So if it's an amusement park ride, kids can try to find the pieces to build that. There aren't step by step directions. It's more exploratory.


Naomi Meredith [00:14:50]:

Or kids can design their own ride that is related. A lot of kids actually really wanted to build what's on the screen as a starting place, and then they would add on, which was really, really cool. I did, by the end of my 5 years, have enough LEGO education kits where every single grade level had a different kit. I did use older kits, which was really awesome, but you may or may not have that opportunity. So I have heard of people using LEGO kits throughout the year, and so maybe everybody is doing robotics, with different types of robots, but maybe 5th grade is using the LEGO Education Kit. And then maybe you're moving on to 3D printing, and then 4th grade is using a kit. So if you don't have enough, but you wanna still plan thematically, plan thematically, but sometimes one group might be off by a unit just based on the materials that you have. In 1st grade, I used the discontinued LEGO WeDo 1.0 kits.


Naomi Meredith [00:15:50]:

And if you see these before, there's a lot of yellow and red bricks. The actual build plugs into a computer with a USB cord, and then you have to download the software on the device. The software actually still worked. There were a lot of blocks on our computers at my school, so I couldn't go and download them on all the devices, but the builds were actually still really good. In 2nd grade, I did a simple machine kit. Those are also discontinued, and they actually moved by using simple machines. So there wasn't any coding involved. This kit was actually really good, and I love the connections with simple machines.


Naomi Meredith [00:16:29]:

We would talk about a different simple machine every day. So this one is a really fun one, and they started adding on and creating other things while they were building. So I wish they still had that kit because I really liked that one. In 3rd grade, we did the LEGO WeDo 2.0, which has the popular Milo, the science rover. That's usually one of the first builds that you do. There are a lot of blue and green pieces, and it's that skinny blue case. What's really interesting is LEGO actually took away the app, and then people got upset, and then they put the app back. But as far as I have read, the app is going to be discontinued completely front in August 2024.


Naomi Meredith [00:17:25]:

You are able to connect your We Dos to Scratch. So that's really awesome where you have that option where you can do that type of block based coding, and it is a little more challenging in a good way. The coding is very, very simple for the WeDo 2 point o's, but the kits are awesome. There are limited challenges. So if you do need more challenges, I did write, different versions of kinds of builds that you can use with LEGO WeDo 2.0. I have in my membership the STEM teacher bookshelf as a bonus. All of the builds, and there are some others I need to add, but different bonus builds that you can use with WeDo 2.0, and also some easier challenges for your younger students and some harder challenges for your older students. So, I'll link that in the show notes.


Naomi Meredith [00:18:12]:

It's a bonus, $9 a month. If you don't wanna do all the reading in the book bookshelf but just join for the LEGO WeDo challenges, that's a great option. In 4th grade, I had the BricQ Motion Prime. There are 2 different BricQ Kits. I had the older one. This one was really cool because it was about force and motion when it comes to sports. And it was a lot of winter sports, not all winter sports, but it was super cool because, again, these fields didn't move with coding. They moved with different types of motion in sports.


Naomi Meredith [00:18:46]:

And there are some cool little experiments to try with all of them that are on their website. For the younger kids, I have had friends in my district when I worked there who have this kit, but it's the BridQ Essential Kit, Motion Essential, And that kit is really awesome, too. Again, they move by different sports, so different than the older kids, and a lot of fun there. So those 2 kits are cheaper because there aren't any electronics for that. There's not they're not considered robotics because there isn't any coding involved, but it is fun to mix it up. And, if you're looking for a place to start for kits, those are great because you might be able to afford those a lot easier. For my 5th graders and for my LEGO after-school club, I use the LEGO spike essential kits, which come in those big yellow buckets, and coding is involved. I did more challenging projects with my 5th graders, but when I did this as a LEGO after-school club, K-5 could definitely do the challenges.


Naomi Meredith [00:19:49]:

If you pick more of the simple challenges, even for the older kids, it works great. You can just do one-day challenges. If you really only have different kids every day, you can build, take apart, build, take apart every day. If you have older students, like 6, 7, and 8, the LEGO SPIKE Prime Kits are really great for that one. There are more of the LEGO Technic pieces and more complicated coding, which is really great. Also, LEGO SPIKE Essential has more icon block coding and more of the traditional, like scratch coding, and you can switch between the 2. I do know with the other kit, it's a little more complicated in a good way. So if you're trying to decide between which kit is which, the spike essential is for elementary, and the spike prime is for the older, like, beyond elementary. Now if you are somebody like, I cannot afford LEGO education kits, that is something that's not going to be happening, That is okay.


Naomi Meredith [00:20:50]:

You can still use those mixed bricks. That is definitely a possibility. And a big thing I like to tell teachers is when you are planning with mixed bricks of LEGOs, you actually plan it just like a makerspace lesson. Your medium is just LEGO bricks and not recycled materials. So think about that when you're planning your lessons. Lessons. You can definitely do very similar things. You can also think about stem and stories lessons where you are building to solve the problem that is related to the book.


Naomi Meredith [00:21:24]:

I have a bunch of lessons for you to get started separate from my k through 5 STEM year-long plan, but different lessons that you can use to get started, and those are actually really great for sub plans. Also, if you wanna do a stem station with lit mix LEGO bricks, I have some engineer inspiration boards that are thematic for different holidays throughout the year or different months, and kids can see those items, choose what they wanna build, and build how they wanna represent it with the LEGO bricks. So that's a great challenge to keep the building purposeful. It's not exactly a free build, but they have a small challenge they have to solve and then represent it with their bricks. Along with that, you can also try some task cards, and that is a new line that I'm coming up with. I have a really fun one that I did that really connects well with my STEM career quest podcast for kids, and it's all about insects and spiders because my first guest interview was with entomologists, scientists who study bugs, and each of the task cards is how to build and represent something. One of my favorite ones, because I had just learned about this, is an insect hotel where it is actually a safe place for natural insects in your garden or backyard to have a home, and it's to help really help pollinators and really help the life cycle of bugs. So students can learn more about an insect hotel and how to build that.


Naomi Meredith [00:22:52]:

But that's just one of 20 challenges that are in those cards. So LEGOs are a great way to build these small challenges, but also they can take them apart at the end. They could take a picture in Seesaw. But just a really great way to have those reusable items if LEGO education kits are not a possibility, or maybe they are, and you just want to use those in a different way. In this episode, we talked about behavior management when it comes to using LEGO bricks in your classroom and different types of kits and lessons that you can focus on. If you haven't already, go and check out part 1 where I talk more about the systems and routines in relation to LEGO bricks in your classroom. But I appreciate you being here on this journey. If you love the jobs that I was talking about and hear you're like, oh my gosh.


Naomi Meredith [00:23:47]:

Those are amazing. They are amazing. Let me tell you. They're a game changer. I have all of those roles inside of my STEM teacher 101 course, where I talk about different jobs and why they're important when working on STEM projects, not just LEGO bricks, but those posters are in there for you. They're actually not in my shop at the time of this recording, but they're in there for you. They're ready to go, kid friendly color and black and white, and you can use them when you use LEGO bricks in your classroom. Thank you so much for being here, and I will see you in the next episode.

lessons for LEGO bricks

 

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

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

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

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

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

teach kids with LEGOS

What Systems Do You Need When You Teach Kids with LEGOS? [STEM Project & Behavior Management Series] [ep.152]

What Systems Do You Need When You Teach Kids with LEGOS? [STEM Project & Behavior Management Series] [ep.152]

teach kids with LEGOS

Check out the full episode on What Systems Do You Need When You Teach Kids with LEGOS?:  

 

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

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

Episode Summary

Tired of your students having a free for all when using the LEGO bricks in your classroom? If so, today’s episode is for you. In this episode, I’m sharing systems and routines you can put in place when it’s time to teach kids with LEGOS in your STEM classroom. This episode is part one of a two part series on LEGO bricks. Make sure you check out next week’s episode to hear part two!

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Systems and routines to use to teach kids with LEGOS
  • Why systems and routines are need when teaching kids with LEGOS
  • Tips for managing and organizing the different types of LEGOS

Resources Mentioned:

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

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

When you are using LEGO bricks in your classroom, is it a free for all, or do you have systems in place to keep it controlled chaos? In this episode, I am going to be sharing with you the systems and routines that I like to use when using LEGO bricks in a STEM space. I am so excited about this episode, all about LEGO bricks, that this is going to be broken up into 2 parts. In this first part of this 2 part series, I am going to be talking about the systems to put in place, whether you are using LEGO education kits or mixed buckets of bricks in your classroom. In the second episode of this 2 part series, we are going to be then talking about the behavior management strategies and also the different types of lessons and kits that you can use.


Naomi Meredith [00:01:31]:

I have to admit something. When I was looking through all of my episodes and working on this series, I realized I don't have a dedicated LEGO brick lesson. We are over 150 episodes in, and I haven't done a whole episode about LEGO. And I am so sorry about that. In my opinion, teaching with LEGO bricks is one of the easiest things to teach STEM, especially if you have LEGO Education Kits. They're pretty self-explanatory in terms of all the other STEM kits or things you might use, and I think that might be why I didn't record an episode yet or I didn't get a whole lot of questions about LEGO bricks yet, but I have gotten some questions. So, I apologize for not recording this sooner, but here we are. It's going to be okay. I had a lot of fun planning this episode for you, looking through my camera roll, and getting ideas.


Naomi Meredith [00:02:38]:

When I taught with LEGO Education Kits, I actually saved them towards the end of the school year and during state testing time. There are a couple of reasons for this. 1st, in my role, when I was a k through 5 STEM teacher, yes, I was a STEM teacher, but I was also our school technology point person and also did some co-teaching off and on during the years. When it was state testing time, I actually got pulled for a big chunk of those weeks to support teachers when it came to technology needs and also makeup testing. For about 2 to 3 weeks, I actually had to have a substitute in my classroom full-time so I could support our administration during this time. So, in turn, I would save my LEGO education lessons during state testing because I knew this was something that a substitute could do, and with my systems and routines, it would actually work really, really well. Side note: my substitute that I had would actually say how organized I was, and I met his wife at an education conference. She is a teacher in our district, and she was saying, oh, yeah.


Naomi Meredith [00:04:00]:

My husband substituted for this STEM teacher. She was super, super organized. He loved being there, and we came to the conclusion. It was actually my classroom. He was talking about me and the wife hadn't ever met before. So it was such a small world, so funny, and good to know that he had a good experience in my classroom because of the systems and routines that I am going to talk to you about. I do know that LEGO education kits can be really expensive, and I'm gonna talk about the different kits that I have used. Some are retired, some are current, and it is a really good investment staple STEM products that I absolutely love because they can be used over and over again.


Naomi Meredith [00:04:49]:

And I will say LEGO Education Kits, for the most part, have great longevity you can get a lot of use out of them. If you don't have the funds or you know you won't ever have the funds and you only have mixed LEGO bricks, that is okay. I'm also going to be talking about that in this episode. Likewise, I am gonna talk about some LEGO Education Kits that use Duplo blocks, those bigger blocks, because I did get to try that out with my kindergarten classes. So, if you do teach pre-k or kindergarten, I have some good options for you, too. I also recently did a short-term contract where I was teaching LEGO Education Kits in after-school programs for our company, and I started to train some people as well in how to use these kits with students with people who had never taught children before. I will say the systems that I used in my k through 5 STEM classroom are the same ones that I used in an after-school program. So maybe that's you.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:56]:

Maybe you have the chance to do LEGO with an after school program. These tips and tricks are gonna work in all these situations. Alright. So, let's get into those systems when you are using LEGO bricks in your classroom. Side note: I keep saying LEGO bricks because, for a short time, I was a LEGO ambassador, and they did say that LEGO, you usually don't say LEGO by itself. You add on something. There was a reason for it. There was a name for it too.


Naomi Meredith [00:06:29]:

And it's actually not LEGOs. It's LEGO like fish is 1 fish or mini fish. LEGO is 1 brick or mini brick. But they did say you have to add something at the end, so it's LEGO bricks. So, I might say LEGO Education Kits are LEGO bricks. If I mess up, I'm so sorry, but there's a reason why I'm saying it like that. So, first of all, you are sharing the actual builds with students. And if you are buying a kit, you will often get the paper versions of the builds.


Naomi Meredith [00:07:02]:

For me, I didn't like the clutter. I didn't like how the books were flimsy paper. So whenever I would get brand new kits in my class, I actually recycled all of them. I know that you can use them offline, but they just really bothered me and the pages would tear, and I just didn't like storing them. What I did instead is I actually grabbed the PDF version of the build, which all of them can be found for free, open access on the LEGO Education website. I would download all of those and make them seesaw activities that I could share with students. If I wanted them to build something specific on one day, I could have it scheduled to go out on certain days, or I had all of them available for students, and they could pick and choose what they wanted to build. What was really cool was when students were finished with their build, they could take a picture or take a video of their work because they couldn't take their builds home, of course, and so they could take it home by taking a picture or taking a video.


Naomi Meredith [00:08:09]:

Also, with some of the builds, there was a paired science activity, which is on their website, and I'm gonna talk more about that in the lesson plans. But that is how I would streamline the builds, and so this is actually part of their roles, which I'm also gonna talk about. But so that you know, that was just something I really like to set up. Some of the LEGO Education Kits actually have an app that goes with them. It depends on the kit that you're purchasing and the building directions are already in the app. So, depending on the kit you have, check it out. It was really helpful. And again, when I had a substitute, I did this for all of my students from first through 5th grade.


Naomi Meredith [00:08:50]:

All of the building directions were in Seesaw. And what I actually did is when kids would sign into Seesaw if we had to use the iPads because they couldn't use their laptops because they were used for testing. I had all of the QR codes to their Seesaw class up on the whiteboard. I had them organized by grade level, so they were there for the week. The substitute knew they were going to be there, and it was all set up. I also had a section in my classroom that was for LEGO spare parts. And for the LEGO Education Kits, certain parts repeat and are used for all of the kits, and a lot of the newer kits actually come with spare parts already. So I had a section that was the spare parts shelf, and all of the spare parts were organized by exactly what piece they were.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:41]:

I did have some students help me out with this at the end of the school year, all of the years, but we had them organized in these little containers that are for crafting items or small beads. And it was really nice because they're see-through on both sides. You can see what piece you need. And if they were found on the ground, kids could quickly organize them. I know it sounds really tedious. I don't do this for my mixed LEGO bricks, but it was really helpful because if they were missing a piece, they could easily find it and then get back to work. I will link the exact little containers that I got in the show notes. They were easy to store.


Naomi Meredith [00:10:20]:

I did have to show kids how to open them. You open the latch-up. I would say, what would happen if you open it the other way? And they're all, oh, no. It would fall. I'm like, exactly. So make sure you open it the right way. None of them actually fell because they remembered my face and what I would tell them when we were introducing the kits. If you do need to buy other parts that aren't found in the extras that LEGO supplies you, or maybe you have an older kit. You need a specific piece, all of the LEGO Education Kits either in the kit or you can look online, every LEGO brick has a specific part number.


Naomi Meredith [00:10:59]:

You can go on to the website Brickowl, and you can actually purchase individual pieces that you are missing in bulk. So they are really cheap. They're, like, a few cents. You wanna try to purchase from 1 seller because you do have to pay for shipping per person you buy from. It is a legit website. It doesn't look super fancy, but it actually is legit because sometimes I had to go in and purchase things for my classroom or my LEGO after-school club, so that's a great resource as well. If you are using a LEGO education kit that uses the big Duplo blocks, the big ones. They come in these ginormous boxes, and when they get delivered to your school, everyone's like, what did you buy? I'm like, they're just a few kits of big LEGO bricks.


Naomi Meredith [00:11:49]:

What I ended up doing to help streamline how kids would use them. For my youngest learners, I had my green fabric cube boxes that I was obsessed with. I use it for so many different things, including mini green screens, so that's why they were green. When we weren't recording on a green screen, I actually had them all against a wall. I had about 20 of them, and I sorted all of the kits by color. Again, this sounds tedious at first, but it was really helpful because, at the end of class, students would take apart their builds and sort them back in the colors, which is actually a great skill for our youngest kids anyway. There also are some pretty pieces like little kitty cats in the kit that I had or little flowers that I sorted into ziplock bags and kept to the side, and they were only allowed to use those when the build required it. I also did that for my kids for my LEGO after-school clubs because kids get distracted by them. And, yes, I am all about creativity and expressing yourself, but kids get distracted, and they actually are the most stolen pieces.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:59]:

So I just keep them to the side. They are pulled out when needed, and then we have to put them back at the end of class. If you only have mixed LEGO bricks in your classroom, they are just all mixed up. They're basic pieces. You can order these off Amazon. They often will come in these big giant buckets that look like a giant LEGO. I would keep them in that giant LEGO because they're actually super cute, and they're pretty sturdy and easy for kids to carry. When kids were putting these big buckets away, I made them slide them on the floor because if they were feeling brave and wanted to carry the bucket by themselves, that usually didn't go well.


Naomi Meredith [00:13:41]:

And I swear I would have somebody spill a bucket of those LEGOs on the floor once a week. So I recommend having a broom and a dustpan, sweep up those LEGO bricks, and dump them in. If there are other things in there, oh, well, it's a way quicker way to clean them up. Likewise, it is a lot easier having the mixed buckets of LEGOs on the floor. And depending on your tables, it might be hard for kids to reach across and share. I had tile floor, I drew with a chalk marker different little LEGO bricks on the floor, and those were spread out around the room. And so those are the places that they had to put those mixed buckets of LEGOs. Toward the end of my last year, I got a small grant from our PTO.


Naomi Meredith [00:14:33]:

I was able to purchase some big baseplates. Those are the big ones that kids can build on. Some baseplates that were sticky and hung them up on my wall to have a LEGO wall. For my preference, I actually made the base plates match the color of the wall. So, I had a green wall and a blue wall that were used for recording. The reason why I matched them is so that if somebody were to use that wall for a green screen or blue screen, it wouldn't take away the space of the wall. It could still be an area they could record in front of, and it actually blended in a lot better. But you can make it whatever style you want.


Naomi Meredith [00:15:13]:

That was just a preference for me. The plates on the wall ended up being a part of a stem station or a free building choice at the end of the year. I didn't use them that often, but they were pretty cool to have. Now that you have all of those systems put in place tune in to the second part of this 2 part series. I'm gonna be talking about the behavior management tips that work really well and also the different types of lessons and kits that you can purchase for your classroom. I know you wanted it all in 1. I did, too, but I really wanna make sure that I am not overwhelming you with ideas and also helping you be set up for success. So I will see you in the next episode where we will be talking about those two things.

teach kids with LEGOS

 

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More About your host, Naomi Meredith

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

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

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

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

3d printing be used in school

How Can 3D Printing Be Used in School? [STEM Project & Behavior Management Series] [ep.151]

How Can 3D Printing Be Used in Schools? [STEM Project & Behavior Management  Series] [ep.151]

3d printing be used in school

Check out the full episode on How Can 3D Printing Be Used in Schools? [STEM Project & Behavior Management Series]:  

 

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Episode Summary

Have you been wondering the best way 3D printing can be used in schools? It can be overwhelming thinking about all that goes into planning and implementing a 3D print lesson. In today’s episode, I’m breaking down how 3D printing can be implemented in your STEM classroom. I share the best systems to set up for 3D printing, how to manage behaviors, 3D printing lessons, and so much more.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Ways 3D printing can be used in schools
  • Systems to set up for 3D printing
  • Tips and strategies for behavior management
  • 3D printing lesson ideas

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

You got a new set of 3D printers, but you're not quite sure how to get started. Who is managing all of these 3D prints? What should students make? How many kids should work on a project? We are going to be answering all of those questions and more in today's episode. If you are listening to this episode about 3D printers and you are about to turn it off because you do not have 3D printers, don't shut off this episode. You can still do 3D print projects without a 3D printer.


Naomi Meredith [00:01:08]:

I am going to explain that, but bear with me. It this episode is still for you whether or not you still have a printer. All of the creating of 3D prints is still exactly the same whether or not you have 3D printers, and that's gonna make sense in a little bit. When I first got my 3D printers when I was a k through 5 STEM teacher, they were delivered literally a week before the COVID shutdown. I was so excited opening up these 3D printers. I had an older one in my classroom that didn't work. It wouldn't even read current 3D print files, and you would try to put the files on a flash drive. They couldn't even convert to the right file format.


Naomi Meredith [00:01:55]:

The printer was loud. The extruder, the part that the plastic comes out of wouldn't even work. And it was older, and it was good at its time, but it didn't work for me anymore. So, I got those 3D printers delivered. They're the MakerBot Sketch Classroom, and I'm not sponsored by MakerBot, but I really love these 3D printers for an elementary space because they was literally take them out of the box and you are ready to go. So I got these 3D printers delivered right before the COVID shutdown and didn't know that was going to be the thing. And so when we were told to go home and we weren't going to come back, I actually brought the 3D printers home with me. And, no, I didn't keep them.


Naomi Meredith [00:02:42]:

I brought them back, but I had purchased these 3D printers and didn't have any experience with 3D printing. And I thought, well, this might be a great time to learn. Students can still create a project. I can print it and deliver it, which is something that I did end up doing. And then I also was working with a few of the parents in my school community who were in health care, and we were 3D printing some ear savers. So they're pretty cool. It was a print file that was sent to me that where you put it on the back of your head and then your mask, loops would loop over the back, and then, it would really help for people who are wearing a mask all day. So I learned really quickly how to use these 3D printers and how to use the software during this time because, well, we had time, and I actually created a bunch of video tutorials for the platform that I like to use for students called Tinkercad.


Naomi Meredith [00:03:40]:

And those tutorials are still available up on my YouTube channel. They are still relevant and really helpful, and I'm also gonna explain how I actually use those when I teach 3D print lessons. From there, I have printed thousands of prints and have learned the tips and tricks of when it comes to teaching these lessons with students and making sure that the prints are successful. And this is from nobody training me by myself. And I'm all about being efficient and doing things that would work best. So, I'm gonna talk about in this episode the systems you wanna set up for your 3D printing, some behavior management tricks, and some ideas for some lessons. When it comes to the systems for your 3D printing, you wanna get started on your 3D print lessons pretty early on, most likely in the second semester. And the reason for that is, by now, the students are used to your classroom and your teaching style and all of that, and, also, it's gonna take you a long time to print.


Naomi Meredith [00:04:46]:

The biggest thing and the biggest headache, I would say, which it's not that bad, if you don't have if you don't have assistance, horrible. But the biggest thing is managing all the prints and staying on top of it. And I learned that very quickly because I wanted everybody to 3D print. I don't think it should be until the older grades where students are 3D printing. I think they should be designing and developing those skills as soon as kindergarten. And so what I did is while I pad the 3D printers at school, so when we actually did this in class, I realized there were a bunch of common questions that students would ask me. They would ask me, what is printing right now? Whose class are you printing? How long is this going to take? When are you gonna print my class? So I came up with some posters in a system and process that will not only help answer the students' questions when they're looking at the 3D printers, but also help me stay on track of whose projects were done and all of that. And so I actually have these all for free for you.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:53]:

You can print them out. There are pictures to show you how I use them in my classroom, and I kept my printers out in a space where students could look at the project's printing because it's really important too to nourish that curiosity and have kids get excited about what 3D printing is and how this is another type of printer that we can have to create things in a 3D world. What's really cool too, if you're intimidated about 3D printing, it's really not as hard as you think. And I had it in my head, this misconception, that 3D printing is overly complicated. And all it really is and I took a class in with a bunch of kids about 3D printing, because I wanted to hear other adults teach kids about it. But they said it's just like a hot glue gun extruding that plastic, and it's just going in layers and layers and layers, like icing a cake. And so what it's doing is when you create that file, when you create that 3D image on the computer, the program will slice it. You might have heard of that.


Naomi Meredith [00:06:59]:

It's gonna cut it up into layers. So when the printer reads that file, it's reading those layers and going in that pattern. That's all it's doing. It's not that complicated. And if you ever play around with a 3D pen, it's literally a hot glue gun, but it's a pen. And you wanna stack the layers on top of each other to make it a 3D shape. So when you create that 3D print station, put it in an area that kids can see so they can understand what is happening. Maybe they get to see their print in action, but I would write down the class names of who it is.


Naomi Meredith [00:07:35]:

I would say, who's this printing, what project they are working on. And so that would really help answer those questions. Of course, I would answer them too, but they learn soon enough that I had all that information right there for them. Also, create a space where you can put the finished 3D prints because you're just going to be staying on track of these for a long time. This was actually part of my morning routine for half of the year. Once I got settled in the day, I would line up all my prints for the day. And then throughout class, I would keep track of if it got finished, or the students would tell me it was finished because that is the hardest part about 3D printing is as a teacher staying on top of it, making sure things are printed, making sure whose print is who, and keeping it organized in your class. Once you have that little 3D print station set up, you wanna think about how do you want to save their prints.


Naomi Meredith [00:08:31]:

How are you going to collect their finished projects? The platform that I like to use with 2nd grade through 6th grade is called Tinkercad. It is a free software to use, completely free, and they have improved it over the years where there actually is a teacher component where you can set up a class a lot like Google Classroom and have all of your students print in one place. If you do have Google accounts and set it up that way, it's really cool because as students are designing with you over the years, they get to see all of the projects that they have created. You don't have to have Google accounts to get started, but it's a great asset if you do, and it's really easy to see all of their projects. So, thinking about how you want to collect those prints, I have my students name the file in a specific way. I have them name their files, so there's a way you can rename it just like a Google Doc or something like that, where I have students name the file with their first name, last initial, and then a dash or a slash and their teacher's name. Because when you are keeping track of all of these prints, they're all gonna kinda start looking the same over time. And so that's going to keep things really organized when you start downloading these print files that you know whose it is.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:56]:

My 3D printers actually would say on the screen the file name, so that was really nice as well. And then in the software that would take the files, so you download them off Tinkercad, you put it in the software that talks to your 3D printer so you don't print it directly from Tinkercad, so don't be worried. Oh, they create it. They're gonna send it to the printer. It doesn't work like that. Once I had it in the software that talks to my printers, I could even see the names of who printed. So if I forgot, oh, whose print is this, I could go back into that platform and double check. And then if I needed to reprint something, I knew whose it was.


Naomi Meredith [00:10:36]:

In terms of organizing the finished prints, I had little boxes on top of my 3D printers and had ziplock bags where I would just write the names of the student, had the bag on top of the printer, and when it was finished, I'd put it in the bag, and then I had a big bag for each classroom. So like I said, it's a lot of management for a teacher. My free 3D printing station setup is gonna help you a ton. For my younger students, I like to use it's free on the computer and a paid app on a tablet, but Doodle 3D Transform, where students actually draw their 3D print design. And the cool thing about this app is that when students are drawing on one side in 2D, simultaneously in real time, they see their design in 3D. So it's helping them understand, oh, this image I'm making on the computer is flat, but when it gets printed, it's going to have all of these elements. So it's a really good way to help students understand what is happening. I would typically use this with younger students, kindergarten and 1st grade, or even students who are older who need more support, this is a great option as well.


Naomi Meredith [00:11:49]:

The designing doesn't take as long. You don't need to create accounts. And so what I would do is when I'm introducing this platform, I would show the students how the platform works. We would make something for fun, try out all the buttons, and see how it goes. And then when we got to the designing, whether it was whole group, we did the designing for our project, or if I pulled small groups for this, then I would save their print file, the same system, first name, last initial, teacher name, and then I would airdrop it from the Ipads to my computer, or you could do something similar like email it to yourself just to get it off of that device. If you are a teacher who doesn't even have 3D printers, you don't even need to set up the 3D print station or set up those systems and processes, but you can actually still do all of the lessons. You would do everything exactly the same, and you would teach it as if you did have 3D printers. Maybe their print won't get designed.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:52]:

Maybe they have access to a 3D printer or the public library, or maybe you know you're gonna get a 3D printer later on, or maybe your district has one to borrow. I had that situation before before I got my new ones. And so you can still teach these lessons exactly the same. You don't have to have 3D printers to teach a 3D print lesson. And so if you feel like you're missing out, oh, we just can't do this, you still can. Everything's gonna stay the same. They just aren't gonna see what it looks like printed out. That's it.


Naomi Meredith [00:13:26]:

And that's all on you and the teacher anyway. I know some teachers maybe in middle school might have students manage this process, But to be honest, I was in my classroom all day, and the students would rotate every week. It was just easier if I did it and stayed on top of it. In terms of behavior management with your 3D printing, it might not get as crazy as a Makerspace lesson might be. I usually have students work by themselves or in a group of 2. I don't do bigger than that. And if they are in a group of 2, I have them collaborate on the same computer. I do know in Tinkercad, you can actually share a file and collaborate on the same file at the same time like a Google Doc, but I prefer that they actually are looking on the same screen so that they are interacting and talking about their project if they choose to work together.


Naomi Meredith [00:14:15]:

For 3D printing, I actually didn't mind students creating on their own. Yes, I know that means that there's a lot more prints to print, but I wanted all of my students to have the experience of designing. It's a little bit with Makerspace because you can pass the objects around, someone might be gathering materials, someone might be doing some research, So it just is different with the material sense. But with 3D printing, I wanted students to figure out, okay, here's how you zoom in and out. Here's how you add new pieces. And especially since I had students 3D printing from kindergarten, I wanted them to grow in their skills year after year. So that's why I didn't mind them designing on their own, but they would collaborate and talk to each other and help each other out because they were using the same platform. Also, sometimes I had students who actually collaborated in the planning process of what their project was, and they were creating the same exact thing on their own devices, but they were talking to each other.


Naomi Meredith [00:15:19]:

So they had the same invention, but they created it on their own so they could both learn the Tinkercad, and so I would start my 1st day of building that background knowledge and gathering information and planning their designs a lot like you would with a Makerspace lesson. The next day, I would have students finish up those plans, and then the last 10 minutes, we would set up their accounts in Tinkercad for 2nd through 5th grade. This would take a little bit of a while because they had to click through some options, add in the teacher code, which also is a really important skill with technology is reading the prompts. What is the computer asking me? Can we follow directions in order? And so we would get them all connected, and then the last little bit, I would show them some things about the platform and how it works like an overview. Now thinking about your position, you probably teach a lot of classes in the day, and that can get really tiring on you teaching those same basics over and over and over again. And so I recommend screen recording yourself and playing your video of you showing those things. That's what I did. I already have the videos.


Naomi Meredith [00:16:36]:

You can show mine. That's fine. We will embed the playlist for you in the show notes. But it was so funny. I would show these videos. It's me talking. It's the whole thing. I'm showing them exactly what I would show them in person, just because I knew I was gonna show this to, what, 5 classes, 4 classes for a month.


Naomi Meredith [00:16:59]:

It's the same thing over and over again, and I wouldn't miss anything. And they were absolutely quiet, and they're super engaged. So a nice little hack. It's still me teaching. I'm just making sure I don't miss anything. Then on days 3 through 5, so I had students 5 days in a row. They had the time to work on their projects, but in the beginning, we would still do a little bit of background knowledge, so building upon why we're doing the project. And then also I'd show them another tutorial video.


Naomi Meredith [00:17:28]:

I did not expect my students to know everything about the 3D print platform, and they might still not know even at the end of the week. They might have figured out the things that I'm showing in the video before I even show it, and that's fine. I couldn't teach them everything in one day. So instead of and this is a growth mindset thing too. Instead of the kids coming up to me and whining, I don't know how to do blah blah blah, or I don't know how to stack a shape. I'm like, oh, well, this is a great opportunity to click around and try something. That will be our lesson tomorrow, but maybe you can figure it out before tomorrow. And some kids might even hear the conversation across the room and say, I already know how to do that.


Naomi Meredith [00:18:11]:

Let me show you. And so I would show I would teach that mini lesson just like you would as a classroom teacher. Some kids might know some of the things before you teach it, but it's okay for them to hear it in a different way. Throughout the week, I would show them or teach them little segments that would help their design. So by Friday, they were good to go and knew some basics about the platform. Before they could be finished, I did have students physically check with me their actual design. They could not be done with their design until we physically talked about it together. Now, you might say, oh my gosh.


Naomi Meredith [00:18:46]:

This is so exhausting. Why would you even do that? Well, if you don't do that, first of all, if they need to make changes, they're not going to understand why they need to make changes if you just go and do it by yourself. And so it's a good learning experience where, hey, you need to do this in your project so it will print. And in all of my 3D print lessons in my TPT shop, I actually have a checklist of what students have to do in their design to make sure, yes, you follow the project rules, but, also, are you actually completing your project in a way it's actually going to print? Because there are things in 3D printers you have to do in order for it to print or it's not gonna work. And so I would talk with every single kid 1 on 1. I would go to their computer. We would talk about their design, I would scroll through. I actually took a wireless mouse with me with the USB port.


Naomi Meredith [00:19:40]:

I'd plug it into their computer, I would scroll around on their computer, check out their design, look at it, make sure they followed the directions, and then, if they were good to go, great. They could close out and be done, or oops, you need to go fix this. Now some of you also might be thinking, this is a thing with 3D printing. Do I ever reprint prints? And it depends. If there was a student who I know was working and trying their best in class and there might be something in their design that didn't go as planned, the next time I see them or I might even catch them in their classroom, I might let them know, hey. This part of your 3D design didn't work. Can you fix this and I will reprint this for you? And I would just keep track of who it was and what class they're in, and then I would reprint it because I was printing for months, so it was no big deal. Still, sometimes, and you know, and you've seen this, you have some kids who are off task.


Naomi Meredith [00:20:38]:

They create something in their 3D print, and you've talked to them about it, they still use all of the random shape, it's it has nothing to do what you're working on, I might not even print it. And that really is a learning experience. We've talked about it. I had gave you a chance to fix it, and you still didn't follow directions. So when it comes to the day that I am passing out those 3D prints and they don't have something, that's their own fault. And that might sound a little bit harsh, but you can only do what you can do. And a few kids don't follow directions. It is what it is.


Naomi Meredith [00:21:15]:

You've tried. Like, this is a two way street, and so they will learn. Oh, well, next time if I want something printed, I better try. So that can definitely happen. Just kinda gauge the experience. For the most part, kids would know if they don't do what they're supposed to do, I'm not gonna print it. They learn that pretty fast about me. I am very a strict nice kind of teacher.


Naomi Meredith [00:21:37]:

I will give you lots of chances, but, also, you gotta do the work, and if you don't, that's your problem. So, but for the most part, everything worked out. Here and there, you also might have students who are absent. I'm, well, hey. Sorry. Hopefully, you're here next year. We're not gonna do this project. We have to move on, and that's how it goes.


Naomi Meredith [00:21:55]:

Now when it comes to lesson ideas, also a systems thing, a couple of questions. I would even have kids ask me this, or I've seen this in classrooms, which I don't understand, is would I print random designs? Oh, I found this really cool 3D print. Can you print it for me? No. I would not. I am not a free source 3D printer. I'm not gonna go print random things you found on the Internet just because you want a little plastic toy. I would say that is not my philosophy of a 3D printer. We are going to design what we print.


Naomi Meredith [00:22:27]:

This is another way of creating something just like you would in a makerspace project. We are creating our prototype through printing it. And so, no, I am not printing out random things that I find on the Internet. So along with that, what I what could kids print whatever they wanted? No. That's why I would physically check with what they have. And, honestly, it this was always a question for kids who are new in the building. Other kids are like, no. She's not gonna do that.


Naomi Meredith [00:22:52]:

But our lessons were so purposeful that the kids are really excited about what they were creating, and all of the lessons were tied to standards and building to solve the problem. So I do have some lessons when it comes to 3D printing to help you get started. I do have an episode more about 3D printing, a few of that I'll link in the show notes. And also all of the 3D printing lessons, there is a free playlist that you can grab. But in terms of the lessons, they're all connected to standards that are appropriate for their grade levels and help solving those issues and problems. So in kindergarten, they create a key chain to help take care of the earth. 1st grade, we talk about animal traits, their babies and their adults, how they are similar and different. In 2nd grade, they create a custom birdhouse, and this helps them learn the cuss the shapes in Tinkercad and how it works.


Naomi Meredith [00:23:40]:

In 3rd grade, we talk about life cycles, and they have to create a model of the life cycle of a living thing. In 4th grade, they create a hollow design. It is empty on the inside, and they create a nightlight that actually will sit on top of a lit up circuit that they make outside of 3D printing. And in 5th grade, they have to create an invention that will help protect Earth's resources. If you're looking for a shorter challenge or something, like, oh, I don't have as much time, the birdhouse challenge is a really good one to get started. It is the quickest project because it doesn't take as much detail because it is more of a starter project. So if you're a little bit short on time, definitely check that one out. As a recap, we talked about the ways in 3D printing to set up your systems, how to manage behavior during this time, and then also some lesson ideas.


Naomi Meredith [00:24:36]:

Don't forget, everything is linked for you in the show notes, and you can also get a free podcast playlist where I have all of the 3D printing lessons organized and all of the episodes in my podcast organized in topics. So if you want to learn more about specific things, that is completely free for you. It's the same exact show you're hearing here, but organized into those categories so to help target what you need. You can find that in the show notes, or you can head on over to namie meredith.com/podcast playlist.

3D Printing Video Tutorial Playlist:

Free Podcast Playlist with other episodes about 3D Printing:


3d printing be used in school

 

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

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

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

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

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

makerspace ideas for elementary

Makespace Ideas for Elementary [STEM Project & Behavior Management Series] [ep.150]

Makerspace Ideas for Elementary [STEM Project & Behavior Management Series] [ep.150]

makerspace ideas for elementary

Check out the full episode on Makerspace Ideas for Elementary:  

 

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Episode Summary

Have you been wanting to implement a Makerspace in your classroom but aren’t sure where to begin? From figuring out what types of systems to set up to creating routines and behavior management, it can be a lot trying to figure out how to get started. In today’s episode, I’m breaking down Makerspace ideas for elementary classrooms, including setting up systems and routines, behavior management, and lesson ideas.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Systems for setting up your Makerspace
  • Behavior management for a Makerspace
  • Makerspace lesson ideas for elementary

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

You are excited about getting started with your Makerspace projects, but how do you really begin? What types of systems, routines, behavior management, and meaningful lessons should you try? We are going to answer all of those questions about Makerspace in today's episode. The first time I did a Makerspace lesson in my K-5 STEM classroom, I was so excited. I had all of the supplies set up. Everything was labeled with pictures and words.


Naomi Meredith [00:01:09]:

All of the markers and crayons were sorted by color. I felt extremely prepared and so excited about what we were going to work on together. With my schedule, I had 5th grade first in the day, which was great. Okay. Cool. I have the oldest kids, so I can always test those things out. And if it messes up, then the older kids can just go along with it with me. We did our projects, and at the end of the 45 minutes, I was out of supplies.


Naomi Meredith [00:01:42]:

It was an absolute free-for-all. My behavior management was fine, but when it came to the actual supplies, I didn't think through that step. I thought that in a Makerspace, kids could do whatever they wanted. They get as much supplies as they want. They can make these ginormous projects, and it would be fine. Well, I didn't even know where to put their projects. There was nowhere to put them. I was looking at what they were creating.


Naomi Meredith [00:02:09]:

They were never going to be done. It was way too open-ended. And so I really had to modify things for the rest of the week because, like I said, I was pretty much out of everything, especially tape. And so, through my really bad experience, I have figured it out and how it went for the next few years in my STEM classroom and also transitioning into the STEM programs that I teach out in my community. Even though you are having kids be creative, you still have to have rules in place, and it is not limiting their creativity whatsoever. In fact, when things are really open-ended, that can be really overwhelming for kids and adults. You know how it feels when you walk into a craft store and see all of the supplies everywhere, and you are getting 5,000,000,000 ideas on types of projects that you should start? It kinda feels like that. If you give free rein to all of your Makerspace supplies, your kids might be getting too many ideas and might not even finish the project you want them to do.


Naomi Meredith [00:03:27]:

So it's okay to narrow it down, and I'm gonna share with you those tips and tricks in your Makerspace that are really going to streamline things and help you be successful. The 3 big things that we are going to be talking about in today's episode and also in this little mini-series I have planned for you are the systems to do with these types of projects. So today, we're talking about Makerspace, but there are other things we're going to be talking about, so systems. Then we're gonna be talking about behavior management, and this is also going to help with that motivation piece as well. And then, at the end, I'm gonna give you some lesson plan ideas. When it comes to the systems in your Makerspace, I have a whole method to the madness now. If you scroll back to episodes 5 and 6 of this podcast, I talk about exactly how I set up my Makerspace and the whole system that I use in terms of managing. I'm gonna mention that here, but I highly encourage you to go back and check those episodes.


Naomi Meredith [00:04:34]:

I also have a free podcast playlist where all of my episodes that relate to Makerspace are chunked together, so you don't have to pick and choose. I know 56 are right next to each other, but that will be linked in the show notes. The whole podcast playlist, you can get that for free. And all of the other playlists where I have categorized all the episodes in my podcast where you can focus on specific topics. When it comes to the specific materials that you are setting up, I actually kept my Makerspace supplies set up year-round. And this was really helpful because if there were times I needed specific materials for certain projects, maybe they were Makerspace, maybe they weren't. I knew where they were at all times. Now I was really lucky the furniture in my room had wheels. I can move them around if needed.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:29]:

I typically didn't, but I kept all of my supplies out. Everything was labeled with pictures and words to help not only students who were pre-readers but all students. It's really awesome having everything labeled with pictures and words because you can find exactly where everything goes, and it helps the students be really independent. I already created these labels for you, and there's an editable slide you can create your own that matches. So, again, that will also be linked in the show notes. All these resources that I'm talking about will be linked for you to make it nice and easy. I also kept my staple supplies that are in high demand and are needed for all grade levels, my scissors, my crayons, my markers, and even a spot for pencils, all in one location in the classroom. Those were there all of the time, and students knew that they could grab those as needed.


Naomi Meredith [00:06:29]:

All of my markers were color-coded in the paper drawers. If you know what I'm talking about, they're the 3 stacked drawers you pull out. I organized them by color because it looked really nice. It was easier to clean up, and we didn't use markers all the time. I had the same markers for 5 years, and they were ready to go for another 5. Markers weren't used very often in my classroom. With crayons, I tried a lot of different things. I tried individual supply boxes.


Naomi Meredith [00:07:04]:

I tried those supply caddies where you can have crayons and all sorts of things in one. I tried big buckets. So what I found that worked best was that I had small metal buckets that were for crayons. They had the little handle. Those are in Dollar Tree spots all the time. You might even get some for gifts. I know I get those for little gifts all the time. People give those to me with cool things in them.


Naomi Meredith [00:07:31]:

But I use those for crayons, and they were the perfect size because the crayons could stand up nicely, the kids could grab and go, put them at their table, and so it made the sharing a lot easier, and they looked really cute, too. Scissors and glue sticks were in their own bigger plastic buckets, just some plastic buckets that I had when I first started teaching, actually, and then I kept pencils in separate buckets as well. Now you might be thinking, why did you keep this all separate? Okay. So, I did put them all together before. I had the crayons, the pencils, the scissors. They kept getting mixed up. And when I used them with the younger kids, they were so excited that they had scissors and glue sticks all to themselves. And it became a distraction tool, and it really wasn't organized.


Naomi Meredith [00:08:17]:

Kids were throwing trash in there. And so if I catch everything separated for certain projects, especially for the younger students again, if they only needed crayons, I could pull out just the crayons. If we only needed scissors, I could pick out just the scissors. It made cleanup a lot easier when everything was separated. So, think about those staple items that were really helpful, and students actually told me how they liked how organized it was. I asked them, and they said they really liked it. The kids would tell me all the time how organized I was, and that's saying a lot in a STEM classroom where things are happening in projects all the time. Yes, we have projects everywhere, but I'm a very organized person. I'm not very clean, I'm very organized.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:10]:

There is a difference. If you have your Makerspace set up all year, it doesn't mean you are doing Makerspace projects all year. However, I do recommend keeping stock of items year-round. Maybe you ask certain grade levels to help you collect items for a project that is coming up with their grade. You could send out an email to just that grade level. If you need more pipe cleaners, that grade level may help you with pipe cleaners. If you need more thin cardboard, I always use thin cardboard. I didn't use big boxes of cardboard.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:46]:

I'm gonna tell you why in a little bit. But if you need thin cardboard, the teachers' lounge is a treasure trove of thin cardboard. I put in a donation box in the teacher's lounge. I wrote a note: Hey, if you have any thin cardboard from your meals, put them in this box, and it will be full by the end of the week. And so if I were good on the cardboard, I would take the box away. If I was running low, I put the box back, and it was a really great way to collect cardboard that was going to get thrown away anyway. So you have an idea of how to organize your Makerspace. What about the behavior management? Do you feel like your kids are getting a little too wild because they are creating? It might get loud.


Naomi Meredith [00:10:31]:

In all of these lessons, the kids are gonna get loud. I can't tell you that they're not gonna be loud because they are. That's how it goes. I got so used to it. It is what it is. But being loud is different than not doing what you're supposed to do. So make sure there you understand the difference between that and what's happening in your class. When it comes to behavior management, it is about the way your lesson is formatted and the systems and routines of that structure.


Naomi Meredith [00:11:04]:

When students come in for my lessons, and this is true for all of my lessons, and even when I teach after-school clubs, I do not let kids get the supplies right away. That is not happening. I am going to help them with that transition time and teach them mini-lessons that are involved with the engineering design process. Keep it really short, have that background knowledge, tell them anything they need to know about supplies, and most of the time, it is work time. Also, make sure you are leaving time at the end to clean up. A Makerspace project might take longer to clean up than a robotics lesson. Keep that in mind. I would give kids about 10 minutes.


Naomi Meredith [00:11:44]:

I would try 10 minutes to start. And depending That is the overall structure of the lesson, but let's break it down throughout the days. At the beginning of your Makerspace lesson, you probably want kids to imagine different ideas and planning. If your kids are having a hard time planning and coming up with ideas, especially if you have a newer program, you might need to give them more examples. Those examples can be things like things in real life, examples of pictures of things students have built in the past. You might even have to build a few examples to get the ground running. For Makerspace projects, I don't typically teach students you have to do the it this way step by step. Now for an after school program, that might be the case.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:44]:

But in the classroom setting, I do have a challenge I want them to solve, but I'm not gonna show you step by step on how to do it. I might show them step by step in a mini-lesson on how to do a certain strategy. For example, with one of my stem lessons, STEM race cars and STEM amusement park, there is a part in that project where students have to add a wheel and axle on their car and allow it to move. This is pretty tricky, and I would always get a ton of questions on this strategy. So, one of the days during the mini lesson, I just showed the kids how to do that. It didn't mean I was showing them how to build their car. I was just showing them that piece of their car that everybody was going to need, and then the rest was up to them. So those kinds of strategies, just like if you're teaching math, like, we're learning lots of strategies, I would teach them those kinds of things as they would come up.


Naomi Meredith [00:13:40]:

It depends on the lesson, and that was really helpful. When grouping students, this is up to you if you want students to choose their groups or if you assign them for them. I did both. It actually depends on the class. Some groups do a great job choosing their partners, and some don't. If you have classes that get out of control really quick, you might need to keep them in groups of 2. This is really rare. Some might need to be in just in groups of 1.


Naomi Meredith [00:14:11]:

I only had to do that a couple of times, but it happens. And it is really sad, but at the same time, your job is also as the teacher to keep kids safe and help them be successful. And if that's where they're at, that's where they're at. I wanna do more than 4 kids. 3 is my favorite because I feel like everybody can get involved, but no more than 4. It just gets too crazy, and at that point, you should just have, partnerships in anyway. What's also going to help them in that building process is really giving students that time to plan. This is gonna help them in that creation.


Naomi Meredith [00:14:46]:

They may or may not build everything exactly how they drew the picture, but this is going to help them get the ideas out of their brain and have a starting point. And if you do add in Makerspace money, which, again, go back to episodes 5 and 6, I explained that whole process. But if you use that system, that's also going to help students critically think more about what supplies they are using and why they are using them. The more you give specific tasks in these creative projects, kids are gonna stay on task a lot better. If there is a problem they are trying to solve, that's going to help a lot better. So if you are doing roller coasters and you want to time how fast the marble goes through the track and keep track of the time, they're gonna be a lot more motivated to do that project instead of just build a roller coaster, have a good time. If you have those specific challenges they are trying to solve, that's gonna help so much with behavior management, and that is going back to engagement. Are they being engaged in the project? Are they do they have a purpose? And so these things really blend together.


Naomi Meredith [00:15:58]:

You might need to rethink the lessons you're teaching. That sometimes can be a problem when it comes to the behavior management. For some specific supplies, I also have rules set in place. A big one is with tape. And if you follow me on Instagram at Naomi Meredith, underscore, I talk about tape a lot because I think it's actually really funny, and it is a weird thing that STEM teachers have in common. I'm very specific with tape. Tape is not a free-for-all. You get one foot of tape.


Naomi Meredith [00:16:31]:

I wrap it on a popsicle stick. I've also seen people put it on a ruler, and that is all the tape you get. And I do have part of the budget you could buy unlimited tape, but it's, like, more than half of their budget. Most kids don't actually buy that one. And so I'm very specific about the amount of tape. I am not very strict on glue sticks. They're pretty cheap. I am actually trying to get more into glue sponges, and I've always seen it.


Naomi Meredith [00:16:59]:

I've never tried it, but I am actually going to test out glue sponges with some Makerspace clubs that I'm gonna be running in my community. And if you haven't heard of glue sponges, I did ask my husband if he knew, but he teaches high school Spanish. He's like, what are you talking about? So I don't know. I just wanted to see if all teachers knew. But a glue sponge is you just have, like, a sandwich ziplock container, and you put a sponge in there, and you pour liquid glue on top. And when kids are wanting to glue pieces of paper and smaller things, you dab your paper on the sponge, and it gets it all sticky on the back, and then you paste it where you want it. This is an older technique. I've never done it, but I really wanna try it because the one thing that really bothers me about glue sticks is the kids won't put the caps on.


Naomi Meredith [00:17:48]:

And so I'm gonna try it. I'm gonna let you know. Follow me on Instagram. I'll let you know what I think about them in a STEM space, but, I actually don't have any limit on glue. I just didn't that wasn't a battle I wanted to fight. With hot glue guns, depended on the year if I wanted to use hot glue guns. I like to use the lower temperature hot glue guns. One thing with that, sometimes they do get clogged over time, and it could be because you might have the wrong glue sticks.


Naomi Meredith [00:18:19]:

Some of the hot glue gun sticks are made for lower temperature. And so if you have a station for hot glue guns, I would use them 2nd through 5th grade. Make sure that the station is at waist height and they're not on the ground because that can be a little bit of an issue. So I do have specific procedures in place for hot glue guns. I have some posters in my TBT shop you can grab. I think it's Kelly Hogan. She actually has those in her classroom. She put them in frames, which I thought was such a cute idea to hang up posters.


Naomi Meredith [00:18:51]:

So, that is something I might do at a Makerspace, but, again, it depends on my budget, if I have enough money for the hot glue gun sticks, and, honestly, if I want to manage it or not, and it depends on the class. Usually, it's just tape. If I'm feeling nice, we'll do hot glue guns, but it's not very often that we did. When it comes to the projects, I make sure that their projects are smaller, that they can fit in a grocery bag or a gallon size ziplock bag. A few exceptions to some projects like roller coasters, those are gonna be a little bit bigger. But I do make sure their projects are smaller because they're gonna finish them a lot quicker. When you have limited time, you want the projects to be a little bit smaller, that's definitely going to help. And then with that cleanup time, I have seen teachers have specific jobs where you need to do certain things.


Naomi Meredith [00:19:43]:

I don't do that. Again, I didn't like managing all of that, so I would say, okay. Here's all the things you need to do to get cleaned up. When you're cleaned up, you're sitting at your clean table. When everybody was sitting down, I would walk around just to make sure everything's good to go before they could line up. So it kinda maybe looked a little bit chaotic, but everybody is putting things away. Sometimes I would bribe them where whichever table's clean up first, I'll give you a prize, or you get some sort of incentive. So that can really help too just to make sure everybody's doing what they're supposed to do.


Naomi Meredith [00:20:16]:

With those projects, I would have them store them in those grocery bags or Ziploc bags, and I had those big fabric tubs and just binder clips their teacher's name on it, and they would put all of their plans and their projects in that bucket. Then, I had a shelf in my classroom if anything needed to stand up. Those could be sitting on the shelf. At the very, very, very end of the unit, you can have students take a picture or take a video of their work. I loved using Seesaw for this purpose. So everybody gets to take it home, And then maybe one student can bring the project home, and if nobody wanted to bring the project home, I would actually have them destruct the project where any pieces that can be reused would actually go back in the Makerspace and have a new life. If you're wondering about what kinds of lessons you should be teaching, then I have some ideas for you, and they are all standards aligned and things that my students have absolutely loved. I'm just gonna give you a snapshot of all of these, and most of them have a podcast episode where I go more into depth about every single lesson I teach for all the grades.


Naomi Meredith [00:21:22]:

So make sure to check that out, and, again, I have that playlist for you where those lessons are in there as well. One of the most fan favorites from my students and also a lot of you out there have actually written to me and say that yours you and your students really loved it is STEM survival camp. And so all of the challenges utilize things in nature and a little bit of Makerspace supplies to help solve different situations as if they were surviving in the wilderness and what inventions they could create to help solve their problems. So this one is super fun. This one's really great for the beginning of the school year and also the end of the school year or any summer camps that you have coming up. I'm actually gonna be teaching some summer camps coming up here in my community, and STEM survival camp is one of the units that I'm actually gonna be teaching. And so that one is a really fun one. If you listen to episode 4, I tell you all about it.


Naomi Meredith [00:22:21]:

Another hidden treasure, which this one is really fun too, and I feel like it's a little bit more unknown of my lessons. But once you do them, you're gonna be obsessed. And this one is Earth's engineers. So students are taking on different roles, different types of engineers, and different building challenges to help take care of the earth or understand earth's processes. One of the most popular ones is the Rube Goldberg ecosystems where they have to show the chain reaction in that ecosystem. And that one was really, really fun, and it was cool that kids got to learn what a Rube Goldberg machine was. If you wanna hear more about that lesson, go check out episode 135. Another unit that was so funny, I actually stood this at the end of a school year and tested it out the last month of school, and most teachers wouldn't do that, but I was crazy enough and I wanted to try it.


Naomi Meredith [00:23:16]:

And this is another theme called STEMMusement Park, and each grade level has a different challenge and a different part of the amusement park, and they are learning about different forces and motion that go along with their science standards. Now you could actually combine all their projects and have a science night, and they're showcasing all of their lessons. We didn't do that. I thought that would be really cool, but they are all different park designers and have to design that certain section. So that one's a really fun one. And if you don't have a lot of time for these types of challenges, but you still want to implement Makerspace, I do have some one day challenges that work really well. If you have one day with the kids, you need something a little bit more guided and you wanna make those connections, or maybe you're doing STEM after school clubs, these are actually the units that I'm gonna be teaching coming up. And I have more add some changes.


Naomi Meredith [00:24:23]:

And, there are some things I know I want to put in these lessons, but these have all the one day challenges. I have all the supplies listed out and a little bit more guided, but still really fun. As a recap, we talked about those things to help you in your maker space where you can get all the things up and running. We talked about what to do for your systems, ways to handle behavior management, and a snapshot of different lessons that you can teach. As a reminder, I have free podcast playlist where my whole entire podcast is organized into categories. So if you wanna learn specifically about Makerspace and these lessons that I talked about, there is a whole playlist where everything is sorted for you. And it's super cool because once you get the link, then it actually works just like a podcast. So it will pop into your podcast player.


Naomi Meredith [00:25:18]:

And anytime I update that playlist and, sort more episodes, it will pop up at automatically for you. So they're not secret episodes. It's everything in my show, but, again, it's organized into categories, and I even created a spreadsheet where I put all of the timestamps of all the episodes. So if you need to keep track of professional development hours, all of this can count. And so I track that all for you, so you're welcome to make a copy and figure out the time you need. Thank you for being here and hanging out with me, and I'm so excited for this series where we're gonna talk about those systems, behavior, and lesson ideas for different topics in STEM. So make sure you join me in the next episode, where we're going to be talking about 3D printing.

makerspace ideas for elementary

 

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More About your host, Naomi Meredith

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

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

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

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