Category: Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

3 Strategies for Grading with a STEM Project Rubric [ep.133]

Check out the full episode on 3 Strategies for Grading with a STEM Project Rubric:

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

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Episode Summary

Is grading STEM projects a task you don’t enjoy? If so, I can relate. Trying to figure out the best approach for grading STEM projects can feel overwhelming. In today’s episode, I’m sharing three strategies for grading using a STEM project rubric.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

3 strategies for grading with a STEM project rubric
The why behind each strategy
Things to consider and do for successful grading with a STEM project rubric

Resources Mentioned:

STEM Teacher 101 Course

Episode Transcript:

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

Grading STEM projects. I don’t love it; you probably don’t love it, but in reality, this is increasing in popularity the more we gain elementary STEM in our spaces around the world. So, how do you even grade a project like this? In this episode, I will give you some strategies on how to grade a STEM project using a rubric.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:01]:

Before we jump into the episode, I wanted to read another amazing 5-star podcast review from one of you. This is from ParksTeam, and they say, “So helpful. I especially love the 6 part series broken down by grade level. I struggle with finding things appropriate for kindergarten, so this episode was so helpful. Thank you, Naomi.” Thank you so much for your review. Reading these definitely makes my day. I absolutely love that this podcast is making a positive difference in your teaching and, therefore, your students.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:38]:

If you wouldn’t mind taking a moment and heading on over to Apple Podcasts and writing a 5-star review, that would mean the absolute world to me. It costs nothing and helps other teachers like you find this podcast. Over in my Instagram DMs at Naomi Meredith_ I got a message from 1 of you, and you wrote me saying, “Hi Naomi, just found your podcast and loved it. I tried to see if you already talked about this, but my STEAM is struggling with grading. Do you have an episode on how you do grading in your room?” This is an excellent question, and I have actually received similar questions from a lot of you out there over in my Instagram DMs and also by way of email. And it is an important concept to consider. Now, spoiler alert, I technically didn’t have to grade and give grades when I was a K through 5 STEM teacher. I know that sounds absolutely insane, and you might be saying what, that’s not fair.

Naomi Meredith [00:02:47]:

I know it kinda wasn’t fair because the PE, art, and music teachers did have to give grades, and I did not. I was told because there aren’t any STEM standards in Colorado that, I wasn’t required to give grades, so I didn’t. But I always thought about it if they ever changed their minds or they ever said when grading times came around, I had a plan in mind if that was something that I needed to do. And have no fear, this isn’t a fluffy episode where I just pulled something out of thin air. This is literally exactly how I would grade projects. When I taught in the classroom, I would grade projects like this. And I also was on committees to grade things using rubrics and also to design them for these types of things. I did a lot of project-based learning when I was a classroom teacher, so I would be using that experience if I ever were to grade.

Naomi Meredith [00:03:43]:

So don’t write me off saying you don’t know what you’re talking about. I do, and this is exactly how I would grade a STEM project and really any hands-on project. First, you want to make your STEM projects standards-based. Now, when you’re thinking about backwards design and planning your lessons, you should be looking at the standards anyway because this will make it a lot harder to grade if your lessons aren’t standards-based, to begin with. You do wanna keep this in mind, which is why in my entire K through 5 STEM year long plan of lessons, they are all rooted in NGSS standards along with an integration of common core literacy and math standards and the ISTE standards for students. All of my projects that I do k through 5 are revolved around this. And if it ever came down to grading, I wouldn’t be stressed or stopped because I knew my lessons were standard space even when we were doing something with robots, even when we were doing something with Makerspace or coding.

Naomi Meredith [00:04:50]:

It all connected together. So you need to go and start there. I do have some episodes that talk all about how to plan a stem lesson. So those will be linked in the show notes if you need some help with that, but you need to start there. You need to have your lessons be standards-based because what are you gonna grade them on? Now, maybe your school grades on character traits like collaboration and critical thinking. Amazing. Awesome. There actually are some common core standards in speaking and listening that talk about explaining ideas and working together as a group.

Naomi Meredith [00:05:24]:

But if you’re gonna have to really grade, think about your lessons. You might need to start there with the grading piece. If you’re just doing surface-level activities where they’re just playing with robots for the day. You might need to rethink what you’re doing with your kids. From there. So let’s say, okay, Naomi, I do this, I plan with standards in mind. How are we gonna do this? How are we going to assess these projects? And like I mentioned, I like to use a rubric because it has a whole variety of things when it comes to an actual project.

Naomi Meredith [00:05:59]:

And when you are designing a rubric, I highly recommend creating a rubric that involves the process versus the product. It has both of those intertwined. So again, if you are planning with the standards, you might have ways where students are demonstrating a specific science standard in their actual project, and that might be the grade level indicators that you put in the rubric, and then, of course, you go up from there. So I like to use a 4-point rubric, four being the highest, 1 being the lowest, and then 3 and 2 are in the middle. So 3 would be what I would expect for a grade level 2, they need to do it with support. Four is above and beyond. 1, they didn’t do it all, like, they might have some things or were absent. And so, having those indicators maybe have those specific science standards.

Naomi Meredith [00:06:52]:

How are they demonstrating this in the project? How are they demonstrating specific math concepts in their project? Are they doing specific parts of the engineering design process? Are they demonstrating those things? So you’re merging those standards together where they maybe have 5 different levels. Some of the standards actually would overlap. So, just the way that you write the rubric is really important as well so that students can find success. Also, if you create this rubric while you are planning, you know how you should teach the lesson so that students can succeed in this overall grade. You could give honestly whatever points you want. If you had 5 categories, each category is worth 20. That is correct.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:40]:

That is the correct math. That is the m and stem. Good job, Naomi. But if you do that, then you could have a score out of 100, and you would be good to go. Creating standards-based rubrics is actually one of the 2 updates that I am putting in my k through 5 stem year long plan of lessons because this is actually a really highly requested nature that I told you a lot of you have been asking about. So this is something if you see the lessons, my lessons are $10, if you see that price difference, then that means I have updated those lessons with me teaching the lesson. So you actually get to hear how I teach the lesson to students. I create a video about me actually explaining the whole thing in the product, and then there’s also an update with standards-based rubrics and more math connections.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:31]:

So, the sooner you jump in on those, the better. You get all the updates for free, so you can have a rubric already set up for the main grade level that I plan it for. And then, if you need to adjust it for other grades, you can have a sense of what that could be like. And finally, when you are creating rubrics for your students, I highly recommend writing them in kid-friendly language. If you have students in 2nd through 5th grade, this actually might be a little bit easier because you’re writing in a way that if they read the rubric or if they were self-assessing, they could understand what is happening. I recommend doing a self-assessment on these rubrics with your students that can be a whole other topic, but that way, you’re not creating 2 different rubrics. When I taught writing, we graded on the student-friendly rubric, so there wasn’t any miscommunication about what they needed to add, and then it made sense. This might be a little more tricky for k and 2, maybe a little bit of 2nd grade, where you might have to add some images on this student-friendly rubric.

Naomi Meredith [00:09:40]:

But honestly, you could do the same thing. You could still grade them on the same thing. It doesn’t have to be this whole overcomplicated thing when it comes to creating a rubric for students, write it in a way that a student would understand. And that way, you as a teacher be like, okay. They did this, or they didn’t do this. So then you don’t need to create 2 different things. That is my philosophy on it, especially if you’re making it standards-based anyway, why do you need to have the teacher’s language? Now, maybe you have student examples on the side of, oh, here’s what a 3 looks like, here’s what a 2 looks like. Awesome.

Naomi Meredith [00:10:16]:

But really, it saves a lot of time. You’re getting at the same idea. If it’s standards-based, you’ll be good to go. If you are interested to see in exactly how to create a rubric from scratch where it is a 4-point system, learning how to put the standards together, and putting together that Process First product, I invite you into the self-paced signature course of mine, STEM teacher 101, where there’s a new module that is all about how to grade using a rubric. So there’s a section already about self-assessment and explaining rubrics and different ways to do that and examples for you. And then the new module is actually going to walk you through how I create a rubric with that process first product and really the whole explanation of that. As a recap, here are the 3 ways that we talked about how you can grade students’ STEM projects using a rubric. 1st is making sure that your lessons and the rubric itself is standards-based.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:25]:

Next, we talked about creating a rubric that combines the process of how the project is made and the final product. And 3rd, we talked about writing those rubrics in kid-friendly language. It will save you time. And also, as the teacher understands, hey, this is what is expected for this type of project. As a reminder, don’t forget to jump in on my signature course, STEM Teacher 101. It is never too late to jump on in our community of teachers, and I am continuously listening to you and seeing the needs that you want for your stem space and adding in those modules. Also, the cool thing about it, I added a private podcast feature. So, if you are busy on the go like most teachers, every module has a podcast pairing.

Naomi Meredith [00:12:18]:

So when you sign up, you get that private podcast, and you can actually listen to the entire course and not feel like you have to be stuck on the computer watching my cute little face. So I invite you in there. The link will be in the show notes, and I will see you in the next.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

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

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

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

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

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

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

How to Teach Students to Work in Groups for STEM Projects [ep.132]

Check out the full episode on How to Teach Students to Work in Groups for STEM Projects:

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 wanting to implement group STEM projects in your classroom but aren’t sure of the most effective approach? As educators, we understand the importance of collaboration in fostering teamwork skills. However, it’s not always easy teaching students how to work in groups. In today’s episode, I’m breaking down how to teach students to work in groups for STEM projects and sharing examples of each approach.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

How to teach students how to work in groups
Tips for effectively implementing these strategies to teach students how to work in groups
Examples of how I implemented these various methods for teaching students how to work in groups

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]:

We know as teachers that it is important for students to work in groups when they are creating collaborative projects, But it doesn’t always go the way that you hoped and planned. In this episode, I’ll be sharing with you ways that you can teach your students to work in groups on their STEM projects and the types of tips that I have used in my own classrooms to help students work together successfully. Before we jump into this episode, I wanted to read an awesome podcast review from 1 of you.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:08]:

This is from mamabarker0616, and they say, life saving. This podcast has given me so much Actionable tips. I cannot even begin to express how thankful I am that you put in your time and energy to help so many people. Any STEM teacher or teacher implementing STEM should listen. It is worth it. Thank you so much, mama Barker. If all of you out there haven’t taken the time to write a review, I would absolutely appreciate it. If you wouldn’t mind going over to Apple Podcasts, write a 5-star review.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:49]:

It would absolutely mean the world to me. It costs nothing, and it helps other teachers like you Help them find this podcast. More and more teachers these days are getting into elementary STEM, and I definitely wanna be in their back pockets like I am for you each and every week. I recently wrote an article for an upcoming publication in a STEM magazine for teachers and parents. and I was asked to give my perspective on really anything as it relates to elementary and maybe some lessons that I learned in that type of position of being a k through 5 STEM teacher. Now, I knew exactly right off the bat what I wanted to say, and one of the points that I made in the article was how collaboration is so important for students and a really big thing that we try to teach in the elementary STEM space. Once that article comes out, we will link it in the show notes. Not sure when the time frame is, but keep an eye out for that.

Naomi Meredith [00:02:59]:

Of course, especially as a STEM teacher, working in groups is so important, and continually sharing examples with students of how people work together in real life, especially in STEM roles, is extremely important so students can actually visualize why we’re having them work together. One example that I like to use with Students is thinking about rockets built by NASA or really anybody who makes rockets. and I asked the kids, Do you think that 1 person built that entire rocket all by themselves? They built the rocket, they planned the rocket, they got all the pieces, they launched the rocket, they’ve tested it, and the kids giggle, and they say no, like, exactly. So when we are working together on projects, we need to use all of our skills and work together so that it can happen. This isn’t a by yourself activity. I want you to talk and collaborate. Well, easier said than done in a lot of instances, but it doesn’t mean giving up on having students collaborate in groups, we as teachers know it’s important, but outside of teaching, in the books that I read in my book club membership, the STEM teacher bookshelf, 2 other business books that I listen to, Many of these books either directly or indirectly talk about ways that they collaborated with others. These people outside of the classroom are telling us how important collaboration is and how it is a vital skill that we teach our students so that they can be successful in the real world.

Naomi Meredith [00:04:55]:

Two books in particular that are on the top of my head that are related to STEM and one we read in the STEM teacher bookshelf, and one sneak peek that we will be reading, first one is Limitless Mind by Joe Bowler and the other book is Visual Thinking by Temple Grandin. That’s not the whole base of their books, but they do talk specifically about why we need to have students collaborate together. Jo Boaler actually really gives some good suggestions inside of that book that you can check out. You can still join my book club at any moment. I have a reading guide that goes along with this book, and there’s a whole section about collaborating with students. Okay. So we know it’s important for students to work together in groups, but how do you teach them to do it? It’s more than, alright, you’re working in a group today, and the end. We need to be more specific in the ways that we teach students to work in groups, and we have to continually do it even if it’s not working out the first time.

Naomi Meredith [00:06:03]:

Just like we tell our students, we don’t want them to give up when things don’t work, they need to continue working on being together in a group. and I do have some stories that I’m gonna share with you along the way. The first way that you can teach students to work in groups is to have a gradual release of how big the group sizes are. I don’t recommend starting groups in groups of 4. That is a lot of kids, especially if you are starting this out at the beginning of the year, mid-year, where you haven’t seen these students yet before. They don’t really know each other, and there’s a whole trust thing going on, and it might be an actual disaster. Likewise, if you are a specials teacher, you need to know the dynamics of their classroom coming into this space. This might be a little tricky if you don’t ever leave the classroom.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:00]:

I recommend that you have an administrator or even a sub come in where you can actually observe students in their classrooms. I was lucky enough to do this because when I first had my role in k through 5 STEM, I did STEM as a specials, and then I also got to co-teach in the classrooms, and I was brand new to the school. I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t know the teachers. I didn’t know the students. So I actually took the 1st week to see the teaching styles of the teachers in the building because I didn’t know what was going on and also how students were in their classrooms. and throughout the year, I did have the opportunity to see how it grows because it is different at the beginning of the year, but that was extremely insightful for me. I had a 5th-grade class who could never collaborate together.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:52]:

They weren’t allowed to be in their classroom. When I would go into that teacher’s room, they actually sat in rows, and it wasn’t a testing season. They sat in rows, they sat by themselves. When I would teach a lesson, I wanted them to work together, and the teacher didn’t want them to work together. and it really wasn’t a behavior thing where, oh, they can’t be with this, they can’t be with that. This teacher didn’t believe in having students collaborate together. They always thought that it should be an isolated task and not group work. So that teacher is getting really stressed out when the noise level is going up a little bit because I wanted kids to work together, they didn’t like that.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:33]:

Likewise, when these students came into my classroom, They really had a hard time collaborating because they didn’t know how to do it. They weren’t allowed to do it. and the art teacher saw the same thing, and so did the PE teacher. and I gave them that insight, this is something we’re not allowed to do in their regular classroom. So we had to take a step back, and STEM and also PE, art, and music, where they had a lot of chances to work together, we had to take a step back and have them work in smaller groups. We had to figure out how to have them work together in just a simple partnership, and that was a great start. Eventually, I could get into bigger groups of 3 and 4, but we had to start small, and that’s where that class was at. Sometimes, some classes might not ever get to work bigger than a partnership, and it might be a behavior issue.

Naomi Meredith [00:09:29]:

This was a teacher’s philosophy. This was because they weren’t allowed to do this in their classroom. I had a class when I taught 3rd grade, and I knew I was meant to be their teacher. I definitely was the right teacher for them, But having all those students in my classroom mixed up together was a horrible combination. I tried everything, classroom community, all the things. It was just oil and water every day, and the biggest groups we could ever have were partnerships. That’s the best that we could do. That’s literally where we were at with that classroom. So you just have to be comfortable engaging your classes to see where they’re at.

Naomi Meredith [00:10:11]:

It might be smaller groups the whole year, like my 3rd-grade class, or it Might be something you start off small, and you work up to it. So keep in mind the sizes of your groups. The next way that you can teach Students to work in groups is hosting STEM stations. I am a huge fan of doing STEM stations with my younger students, kindergarten through 2nd grade. But I also did play around with STEM stations with my older students in 3rd through 5th grade, my 1st couple of years in STEM. In fact, this is something that we explored and planned for in my group coaching program, which will open back up in the summer, But this is something that we did where we actually planned out specific STEM stations that would relate to an overall theme. I really like this especially for the younger students, because working on a project for little kids doesn’t take the whole week. I’ve tried it.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:10]:

It is like pulling teeth. It takes way too long. So, mixing in projects and STEM stations is a really great way to help them with their group work. With STEM stations, I see it as a form of parallel play. Sometimes, the task that they are working on at their station is something that they could work together. But a lot of times, they each have their own set of the same materials where they can talk together about what is happening, but they don’t necessarily have to collaborate on the same task. So a lot of that parallel play where they’re kinda working together, but not really. You see that a lot with toddlers.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:54]:

Now the older kids, they kinda older, meaning, like, kindergarten through 2nd grade, they learn to kinda help Each other out a bit better and they’re more aware that there’s other kids in their group. But this is a really great way to help them understand, okay, We are working on the same task together. We have about 4 to 5 kids in this group and we are going to get the job done. This also helps when they’re cleaning up materials, making sure that they are on task, but there’s not as much pressure when it comes to working in a STEM station as it is on a project where you have to really finish that. These Stem stations, the way that I do it, they have more of a flow where you get as far as you can and that’s amazing. If you’re interested in learning more about STEM stations, I have my on demand workshop all about primary planning. You can grab that at nami meredith.com/primaryworkshop and also one of the modules in my guided STEM teacher 101 course. There’s also a whole section about STEM stations as well.

Naomi Meredith [00:13:01]:

and finally, the third way that you can teach students To work in groups is assigning roles. This really helps too if you have those smaller groups, you can actually assign roles when you are teaching them how to work in groups. and there’s a couple of ways that you can do this. 1st is giving them the language of how they should talk to each other in certain situations. You can practice this as a whole class. This can be a mini lesson or it can also be something in the moment. Maybe you even have a different sentence starters that they can use when they talk together, which I do have that in my STEM teacher one zero one course where I actually give you the language that students can use with each other when they’re working in groups. But having them have that language of how to speak is extremely important for all students, All of them.

Naomi Meredith [00:13:58]:

Not just students who are learning English, all students need to learn how to talk to one another. I had this situation happen the moment, you probably already do this more than you think, but I had a student in one of my LEGO after-school clubs that I host, and they were frustrated because there was a misunderstanding on the directions where the group actually was following directions. In the LEGO Education lessons, there’s a little story, and I wanted kids to listen to the story, and then it connects to the LEGO build. Well, the student who was upset didn’t get that part, and they knew that one of my roles is to stay on task so that they could get the work done. and that student was upset because they thought that the group wasn’t staying on task when they actually were. They’re doing exactly what they’re supposed to do. So I went and talked to this student and finally clarified that, and then I was like, Okay. You can go back.

Naomi Meredith [00:14:55]:

Like, that’s part of the challenge. and they really wanted the other group to welcome them back. and so I the other kids in the group were really, really sweet. I helped give them the language in that situation where I’m frustrated right now. Here’s why. and hey, we’re working on this. Do you wanna join us? Or even things like, Hey, how can I help? So a lot of times kids will shut down and if they’re frustrated they don’t know what to do. If there’s a disagreement where this was a misunderstanding but if there’s a disagreement That’s okay.

Naomi Meredith [00:15:32]:

How can we problem-solve through this instead of shutting down and screaming at each other? So giving kids Specific language in certain situations, whether it’s in the moment or something you guys even talk about as a mini-lesson is extremely important and also aids to that social and emotional learning. I have a whole episode that I talked With a guest, Jill Loesch, where we actually talked about SEL in the STEM classroom, we’ll link that in the show notes. That’s a really great one for you to keep in mind especially when you are talking about group work and how it actually just STEM projects in general does take that level creativity where it is more of a vulnerable situation. So assigning those certain roles, giving them that language and also having different roles for different tasks. It depends on the project that I’m working on, but I would say most Of my projects, I have specific jobs, especially if they’re very hands on and everybody wants to do something at once, which great you want them to be involved, But you also want them to be involved in productive ways. So for different types of things like Lego kits, Lego building kits, they have different jobs. For robotics, I give them different jobs. Sometimes when we do makerspace projects, I’ll give them different jobs depending on the class and what level of support that they need with group work and also when it comes to coding, I will give them different jobs.

Naomi Meredith [00:17:03]:

So this helps students realize, okay, when I have this role, I am responsible for this. and it also really, really helps kids who need that actual visual of how to work with someone. Again, in one of my Lego after-school clubs, I have a partnership of these 2 boys who take their roles very seriously, and they’re extremely productive. They work Amazing together. But I have a student who needs that explicit level of support where I have a job, this is what I’m doing in the job, When we turn the page, we’re going to switch jobs and they actually physically switch spots which is absolutely adorable. They don’t need to do that. Maybe not the most efficient, but they are very clear on the roles that they have. and some students, they’re just like, okay.

Naomi Meredith [00:17:54]:

Like, I’m gonna do this job for today. You can do it tomorrow. But there are some students, you could probably think of them right now, who need that explicit, this is my job and this is what I do and I am going to do it until we switch. You can think about switching if it’s page by page, if it’s like a Lego education build, Maybe when a timer goes off, you could set a timer. They have that job for that amount of time. When the timer goes off in the class, they switch or even day by day. and, again, it depends on the class and the groups, and also the project that you’re working on. So inside of my STEM teacher 101 course, I actually give you different roles with visuals, a definition of what the job is, and how you can actually use it in different projects along with those sentence starters that are really helpful for kids when they are working in groups That could be something that is laid out for them or even things that you print out and hang on your wall that you can refer to.

Naomi Meredith [00:18:57]:

As a recap, here are the 3 different ways that we talked about how you can support students in your classroom When working on STEM projects and working in groups, first is starting small and building up to those larger groups. Next is trying out STEM stations, maybe with everybody, but really for those primary students. and finally, consider assigning roles. Having students work in groups is definitely a process but a very important one that we as teachers, I know can be really frustrating, especially when there’s classes that it doesn’t seem like that they can get along, But try out these things. It is worth it. I promise you. and for those different visuals and levels of support and considering the types of roles that you can have in those STEM groups, I invite you to join in the self-paced course by signature course, STEM teacher 101, where not only this is a lesson inside of the modules, but we also talk about systems and routines, so giving those a refresh in your classroom, different types of planning structures, and even ways that you can Have students self assess and have ways to help you with grading. Thank you so much again for being here, and I will see you in the next episode.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Episode 31: Ideas for SEL in Elementary STEM with Jill Loesch

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

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

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

5 STEM Project Plan Examples for Students [ep.131]

Check out the full episode on 5 STEM Project Plan Examples for Students:

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Episode Summary

Do your students struggle with effectively planning their designs for their STEM projects? If yes, you’re not alone. This was something I saw with many of my students when I was a STEM teacher. They would create plans, but they weren’t plans that supported them in the building process. Knowing this needed to change, I pulled from my teaching experience, tested out different ways to support students with planning their projects, and came up with five effective ways to teach students how to plan effectively. In today’s episode, I’m breaking down these five STEM project plan examples for students.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

STEM project plan examples for students
The benefits of implementing each of these STEM project plan examples for students
Tips and strategies for supporting students with planning their designs

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript:

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

Having students plan their designs when they’re completing STEM projects can feel like quite a chore. Sure, you might be having them draw their ideas before they start building, but is there a better way? In this episode, I’m gonna be sharing with you five ways that students can plan their designs before they get into building their STEM projects. The inspiration for this episode came about from my own observations of my students when I taught k through five STEM and in those beginning stages. Once we were getting the hang of the engineering design process for pretty much all the projects that we were completing together, I was having students plan their designs. But what I noticed with their plans is that their plans weren’t very good, and their plans weren’t even helping them with the building process anyway. They were just scribbling something down on their paper just to say that they created a plan, and well, that’s about it.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:41]:

Does this sound familiar in your classroom? I knew that this needed to change and that the plan is actually a really important step when it comes to thinking about your design. So, I took a step back and thought about my classroom teacher days. I was a classroom teacher for 6 years Before stepping into my K through 5 STEM role, and I thought about when we were doing the writing process and how the planning stage is extremely important to pull out all of those ideas. So, of course, you have ways where you are building backgrounds, and we were doing that really well in our engineering design process projects, But the plan wasn’t that great. So I tried and tested a lot of different ways to plan, and from there, we had way better plans that were actually thoughtful and helping students. And I even have a little story I’m gonna share with you in a little bit in this episode where the students actually really like to plan more than they thought. So, let’s jump into these 5 ways that students can plan their designs. You don’t have to do all of these with your students.

Naomi Meredith [00:02:57]:

Pick and choose what works best, But I’m going to explain what these things are and how they helped out my students’ plans. The first way that students can plan their designs is to just talk through their ideas. This is the quickest way to plan, and this works really well if you’re doing one-day challenges. I didn’t do this method very often, But it was great when we were in a pinch, and we were going to go through the engineering design process pretty quickly in our time together. One way that I did this is that I had to co-teach with our PE teacher at the last minute because she found out that school pictures were going to be in the gym and not in our main hallway that day. So my PE teacher and all of her classes for the day Had to get moved to a new location, and I volunteered to have her and her classes come into my room so we could do a fun STEM challenge together. There were some simple building supplies for this challenge students were creating a catapult to launch into a basketball hoop. I don’t currently have a lesson for this, but I do have a video on my YouTube channel where you can actually see how we built the catapult.

Naomi Meredith [00:04:17]:

But before students built their designs, their catapult, and the basketball hoop, they had to talk through their ideas. And that was it. That was their plan. We gave them a couple of minutes to talk, and then they got the materials, and then they got to build. That was all that we did. Funny enough, a few years later, I had an interesting week with 1 of my 5th-grade classes, And they were working on my Rube Goldberg Ecosystem project, which is in my TpT shop. We had a weird week where they didn’t have the full 5 days in a row, and they still needed to plan their ideas, but I really wanted to get them to build. So I gave them the option that they could just talk through their ideas and then jump into the actual building.

Naomi Meredith [00:05:08]:

Well, funny enough, mind you, this is when I’ve had these kids for 5 years. I have had them since 1st grade. It was so interesting because I gave them the option where they just had to talk about their designs, but all of them ended up trying their designs anyway. So think about what you’re doing if you’re really being purposeful in the way that you are having students draw their designs. They might want to do that anyway. But they did have the option to talk through it because, again, we had a weird week. But it made me so proud as a teacher that the kids actually wanted to do a step in the engineering design process that they actually wanted to do. The next way that students can plan their STEM projects is kind of similar to the first one but a bit more hands-on, and it’s that students can gather their materials and talk about it, but there is a caveat to this: you don’t let them have any sticky things yet, so no glue and no tape.

Naomi Meredith [00:06:13]:

The reason for this is really great where, again, if you are pressed for time, if drawing isn’t an option, you’re doing a quicker challenge. And this is really great for younger learners where drawing and labeling can be so taxing on them. Think about the time of day you might have your youngest learners. Mine were in the afternoon, right after my lunchtime, I believe after their lunchtime, and they were tired. And drawing and labeling every single time we did a project wasn’t going to happen. The one time I did have kindergarten in the morning, we flip-flopped their times because of a field trip. They are different children. And you know I love kindergarten so so much, but they are completely different in the morning.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:03]:

They are nice to each other. There are kids who are friends I never knew were friends because all they did was fight when they were in my class, so this method, when you are gathering the materials and having them talk about it, is another great alternative. I did this one time again, another co-teaching lesson with a kindergarten teacher they came into my classroom for a bonus STEM lesson, and we were doing a gingerbread man boat challenge. So they were doing a whole gingerbread unit in their class and reading different variations of the gingerbread man. And we talked about What if the gingerbread man was actually smart and had some building skills and could actually build a boat to get away from the fox. I had different materials laid out. Those were the things that they could choose from, and we gave them a limit of 5 items that they could take. These 5 items did not include the gingerbread man, the tape, the water, the scissors, all of that, those were not included in their count. However, they could gather 5 items with their partner that would help them with their gingerbread band design.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:19]:

Once the students grabbed their 5 items, they had a few minutes to talk about with their partners how they were going to use these items together to create their design. This is really great because while they were talking, sometimes students switched out their items because they might have grabbed something that wouldn’t work. And I did add some items in there that purposely wouldn’t work. I wanted to see if they could figure that out, like coffee filters, paper, and things that would get wet and eventually sink. So once students had the time to talk about the supplies with their partners, we gave them the sticky things, we gave them some tape, then we gave them scissors, and then they could build their design. The 3rd way that you can have students plan their design is probably what most of you are doing, but there is an additional step, and that is draw, label, and explain the steps in your design. Back in a guest interview that I had with Kelly Hogan, She talked about this where she actually has students write out the first few steps of how they’re going to get started with their project. This is really great because this is going to help students be very purposeful with the materials that they’re going to have and not be wasteful.

Naomi Meredith [00:09:39]:

She doesn’t have them write out every single step of the entire project because, again, you do want students to actually get to building and not take the whole time to plan, but this is a really great way for them to be thoughtful and how everything is going to connect together. This is definitely the opposite of the Ikea building plans. If you’ve ever bought furniture from Ikea, When you get the plans, all of the plans are in drawings. There are no words. I’ve heard different theories behind this as to why there are no words, and this actually makes my teacher honey, very upset because he wishes there were words. And so we actually have a plan when we build. I find the pieces, and I tell them where to put them because I like reading the plans. But anyway, when you have students draw, label, and explain, This is again a great way for them to be thoughtful and why they are designing it the way that they are.

Naomi Meredith [00:10:38]:

The 4th way that you can have students plan their designs is adding on to the previous tip, but it’s to create a shopping list. This doesn’t work for every type of stem project. This one is really great when you are doing Makerspace projects, and they have tons of materials to choose from. So let’s say you are not keeping the supplies limited like I did for that gingerbread project, but they have open access to all of the supplies. Having students draw and label their plans thoughtfully but also adding a shopping list does add a different element to their plans because it is a plan. I always tell the kids when I am going to make dinner, I make a plan of the ingredients that I need, and then I have to create a shopping list based on those ingredients and what I’m going to cook. So it’s just like when you’re building, you need to plan out what you are going to purchase. But this list isn’t just a list of materials.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:44]:

It can be if you have younger students and you don’t want to add in math. But for the most part, it’s adding in the prices of each of the items, how much it’s all going to cost, if there is any money left in their budget, and how much they are going to spend. Back in episode 6, you can hear all about how I use this Makerspace money and menu in my classroom, and there’s definitely a link in the show notes where I Have it all set up for you, suggested price plans, and literally step by step by step on how I do this with my students when I get into deeper Makerspace projects. This is also really great because if you are planning a STEM lesson and you need more elements of math, all students can benefit from counting with denominations of 1, 5, tens, and twenties. I don’t add the fifties and the hundreds. You can if you want to have more change, but I have seen such benefits from this type of math with numbers within 20 and also doing a bit of mental math when they are checking out with me at the cash register. So, definitely check out that episode. Grab the menu in the show notes. It’s all done for you.

Naomi Meredith [00:12:58]:

It’s very, very helpful, and that was a huge game changer in my classroom. Also, my supplies didn’t deplete as much because students were being way, way, way, way, way more thoughtful in the supplies that they were using and how to be innovative with the stuff that they purchased. And the last way that you can have students plan their designs, and this is also building upon the last 2 steps. You can do all of these if you want. I eventually did all of these leading up to this by having a rubric on which students can base their plans. This rubric for planning isn’t something that I use for grading but really more for a self-evaluation tool to help students improve their designs. When I introduce this rubric to students, I like to compare it to when inventors are creating a patent to turn in so nobody can copy their designs.

Naomi Meredith [00:13:58]:

And in fact, if you’re watching the video version, I am holding up an example. I found on one trip to Chicago, I was walking through the Chicago Cargo midway, and there was a little wooden shop that had all of these laser-cut items, and something caught my eye. I’m like, oh my gosh, I know what that Is it is the patent image of the Lego brick, and it is so cool. You can Google this, but mine’s way cooler because it’s etched into wood, and I had it hanging up by my 3D printers. But it’s so cool and a great visual for kids to see because it’s literally showing every single layer and every single element of the Lego brick. But if you look closer, there are a lot of numbers, there are arrows, There are little headings that say figure 1, figure 2, and I tell kids about this when I introduce this rubric that when inventors are turning in a patent, it’s not just the drawings but they explain Every single thing about their invention so that nobody can copy anything from their design. And so all of those little numbers and arrows are referencing a huge document that is talking about each of those pieces. The students really like this example of a patent.

Naomi Meredith [00:15:24]:

It’s a great way to get that little vocabulary and history lesson in there. Then, I present to them the rubric that I have for their plans. There are 4 different categories as to how their plans should be, and I talk about each level where they should be at for that grade level based on what’s typical for that grade. And this has really been a game changer when it comes to their actual plans. This rubric also has examples of a sample project because students who are rushing through their plans just to start building have really slowed down to make their plans even better. Also, for me, as a teacher, this helps me help them as to what they can do to help with their plans. I literally have a reference on the screen that I can point to and tell them, hey, you need to add this to your plan. You didn’t do it. And then the students believe me because it’s like The law, as soon as I hang it up, it’s like that is the rules, and that’s what’s gonna happen, and so they will go back and modify their designs.

Naomi Meredith [00:16:37]:

This rubric and how I teach it, the template, and what this rubric actually looks like is a new update in my STEM teacher 101 course. So there is a whole module that I’m updating with innovative practices, and this is one of those ways if you are looking to Level up your plans and your student projects. I break this all down for you, and I also include a sample video of me teaching How I would actually teach this lesson to my students. So you can hear that language of how you can introduce it to your kids, or you can even just play that part of the video of me teaching it, and then you can just add in your own 2¢ while I am talking. This course will be linked in the show notes, and there’s also a podcast version where you can listen to the audio on the go. And if you have this course, make sure to log in and check out this new update because this template is not even in my tpt shop and definitely something that will save you time and also level up your plans. As a recap, here are the 5 ways that you can have students Plan for their STEM projects. 1st, students can talk through their ideas.

Naomi Meredith [00:17:51]:

Next is gathering materials and then talking about it, but don’t let them have the sticky stuff yet. Third, students can draw, label, and then explain each step or just part of the steps on how they’re going to build. Fourth, students can make a shopping list, and this can build off of that drawing and labeling. Fifth, you can build off the drawing and labeling and then build off that shopping list. Students can plan using a rubric. I hope with all these ideas of ways to plan will make this stage in the engineering design process way less stressful and also help students create meaning as to why this stage is important. Also, I invite you to join my STEM Teacher 101 course, where not only is this rubric lesson about planning going to be added to that module, but this is also a great course to help you build up your systems in your classroom or rethink the ones that you might be having, adding in those routines that are going to make a smooth flow of your classroom, and also find ways that you can plan different types of stem lessons. The entire course is available in a private podcast so you can actually listen to the whole thing on the go.

Naomi Meredith [00:19:12]:

You don’t have to sit in front of a computer if you don’t want to. And there are tons of templates and resources to help you be successful. You can grab that link in the show notes or find it at Naomimeredith.com/stemteacher101.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

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

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

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

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

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How to Teach Simple Building Ideas for STEM Projects for Elementary Students [ep.130]

Check out the full episode on How to Teach Simple Building Ideas for STEM Projects for Elementary Students:

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Episode Summary

Have you been wondering about the best way to teach simple building ideas for STEM projects for elementary students in your STEM classroom? Well, I received this question from a listener, and I’m excited to answer it in today’s episode. I also share some tips and strategies for teaching students how to build.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

3 ways to teach simple building ideas for STEM projects for elementary students
The stages of the Engineering Design Process in which I teach building techniques
Tips and strategies for effectively planning and implementing STEM projects

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript:

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

When teaching STEM to our elementary students, we always want to encourage that creativity and even celebrate that all of their projects look different. That is an amazing thing. You don’t want everything to look the same. It’s okay if they see the solution to the problem all differently, but at the same time, we still want to teach our students strategies and ways to build different things so that it can push their creativity along and even make their designs even better. How do you balance both when you are teaching STEM projects? In this episode, I’ll be sharing with you three ways to teach simple, building ideas for your elementary STEM projects to not only keep that creativity that they are showing in their designs but also ways that they can improve their projects.

Listener Question [00:01:17]:

Hey, Naomi, thank you for your podcast, and congratulations on your wedding. I am new to teaching STEM this year, and a question that I have is, do you go over building principles with such as if you’re doing a bridge, do you touch on different types of bridges in a minilesson and then let them go? Or do you wait on that until you’re in the improve stage of the engineering design process? Also, for maker space stuff like working with cardboard, do you teach the kids different ways to work with cardboard and do different sorts of attachments, or do you let them figure out those things on their own? Just trying to plan my lessons and see what would work best for an experienced STEM teacher. Thank you!

Naomi Meredith [00:02:53]:

This is such an excellent question, and thank you so much for submitting this. If you want to submit a voice question like this, you can do this at naomimeredith.com/voice, and it’s also in the show notes and in every podcast episode. You can find this link because I love hearing your questions. Not only this audio message did I receive with this question, but a lot of you have asked this to me over on Instagram as well at Naomi Meredith underscore, and it is a little bit of a tricky one. How do you balance the actual teaching of the project and also those building strategies, and when do you do it? The first few years when I started teaching K through Five STEM, I had taught for six years prior to this as a classroom teacher, and when I stepped into this K through Five STEM role, I was given a brand new classroom with limited supplies and zero curriculum. On the flip side, I also didn’t know my students, and they didn’t really have a stun class before. And let’s be real, their projects weren’t really good when we first got started. Yes, it was my teaching, but also, they weren’t used to doing hands-on projects before, and they weren’t that great. They didn’t look very good. And so it really developed over the years. Of course, again, with my teaching, but also, this is a skill that students have to learn.

Naomi Meredith [00:04:12]:

They have to learn how to be creative and let that shine. And it’s okay to make mistakes and also learn those building techniques. And this isn’t to say that I had kids do everybody do the same project, everything’s going to look the same. I don’t believe in that in STEM projects unless it’s a Lego build, that’s completely different. But for the most part, everybody’s projects are going to look different. And that is scary for kids where there’s not exactly one right answer. But at the same time, you still want to teach them those techniques that are going to make their designs even better. What you are doing with your students when you’re teaching STEM, whether you are a STEM teacher, a specialist, or even a classroom teacher who’s implementing STEM, what you are doing is so important.

Naomi Meredith [00:05:06]:

Keep on doing what you are doing. This is so important for kids, and it’s really going to shine. And they love these types of projects. Also, think about it too if you are teaching STEM as a special subject, you’re not seeing kids as often as a classroom teacher. They are going to see growth a lot faster than you are. If you really think about it too, even go down to counting out the number of days that you see students and the amount of time you are spending on projects, it is way less than a classroom teacher, more often than not. And so that growth in their actual projects and what things are going to look like is going to take some time. The types of projects my students were creating my first couple of years weren’t as detailed, and they were more simple because that’s where my students were at.

Naomi Meredith [00:06:00]:

But by the time we got into the fourth and fifth years, their projects were more complex. They had more tools in their belt per se, no pun intended, but they had more skills, and they had a lot more background, experience, and knowledge with these types of projects. So, in turn, their projects got a lot better. This is going to take some time with your students. It can even take years. Don’t forget to teach these things. So say, oh, they’ll get it later. Every single year is extremely important.

Naomi Meredith [00:06:31]:

But don’t put a lot of pressure on yourself if it doesn’t work out exactly as planned because it is going to come. And so these strategies I’m going to teach you when it comes to actually teaching those skills when it comes to building your projects. Keep doing these things. But again, the students are going to get better and better and better, and it also depends on the project and even the experiences that they might have outside of your classroom. Now, two out of the three tips that I’m going to be sharing with you two of them go along with when you teach certain parts of the engineering design process. Now, if you want more background on exactly what the engineering design process is and more examples on how to teach it, I encourage you to go back to Episode 15, where I have a series all about the engineering design process. So, I break down every single step of the process to help you better understand what that is and what it can look like in your classroom. But for this episode, we’re going to talk about a couple of different stages of when I teach those building techniques that can help out students’ designs.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:41]:

The first time I will teach students different building techniques is during the beginning of the project, the Imagine stage. So, in the engineering design process, you have the ask, what is the problem they’re trying to solve? And then the Imagine, where you’re gathering as many ideas as possible before you start planning. This is when we first talk about different building techniques and getting as much information as possible. For all of my projects in my K through five STEM year-long plan bundle of lessons, I pre-research everything. And there are a couple of reasons why I do this for STEM in a specific STEM class, there’s not a whole lot of time when it comes to an open-ended Google search, and that is a whole skill in itself. Now, if you are a technology and STEM teacher or you teach both subjects, definitely zone in on those research skills. They’re very important if you’re a classroom teacher, zone in on those research skills. I definitely did that, especially when I taught third grade.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:49]:

We focused a lot on how to research, but at the same time, I also gave them pre-researched resources because the goal is for them to have them gather information from these sources and if it’s credible or not and all those things. So I really try to save time, and I pre-research everything so I know the resources that they are going to be looking at are going to give them the right types of ideas. So it’s open-ended in a sense where they have some choice as to which resources they can use. But it’s very focused also with that. If you are pre-researching, you might often come across times when you have this very high-level topic, but then there aren’t any resources available for your grade level. One project that comes to mind is when I was designing a strap motion animation lesson that is in the bundle for pollination, and I was finding really great resources about different types of pollinators, but it wasn’t really answering the question I wanted them to solve for this project. So what I did is I pre-researched using many different resources, and then I ended up writing my own articles. So that is also a time when you are getting that background information as a teacher so you can share that with your students.

Naomi Meredith [00:10:18]:

So, pre-research and have those resources in that Imagine stage. So again, maybe it’s articles, maybe it is resources that will really help answer that ask. It can also be videos that teach the science behind it that can be really helpful as well. Maybe they are showing why things are happening or even why things are built a certain way. And that could even be like if you’re doing something with birdhouses, like a birdhouse unit that I have for second grade, they create a birdhouse to help birds in the area. Well, we watched a video as to how birds build their nest and, using those ideas as to why they build a nest the way that they do, that helps students design a birdhouse that birds would actually like based on the nest that they make in nature. So, making those types of connections can really help when it comes to their building design. Also too, in this Imagine stage, this is a great opportunity for you to share pictures of real life examples.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:27]:

Again, I like to pull things that are related to the topic, not usually doing an open-ended Google search because we know the filters aren’t perfect and they might find some inappropriate things like, well, I’m not going to mention what I’ve actually seen students look up, but you know what I’m talking about. So having those real life pictures is really helpful. And if you have done the project before, having physical models of what students have built in the past is really helpful. Or I go ahead and take pictures of my students’ examples, and those are already there for you. So if you’re teaching any of my lessons in that K through five semi-long plan, you actually have student examples to help give a basis as well. When you are adding in those real life examples or those student examples, it isn’t really meant for kids to copy exactly what they see. But more so inspiration as a starting point, I will say when students aren’t used to doing hands-on or creative projects and they have examples like this, more often than not, they might copy exactly what they see because really think about it, they’re a little bit unsure how their own creative idea is going to work. So, they might feel more comfortable copying the idea up on the screen, which is fine.

Naomi Meredith [00:12:55]:

That is a great point. They are trying their best, and they’re going to keep growing from there. So just give them some grace if that is happening. I don’t say, oh, here, we’re going to make this exactly like the picture. I usually say things like, oh, this is how another student thought of this project. Maybe there’s something in this project that you really like. So, having those examples is really helpful. Now, I taught six classes a day, so K through five.

Naomi Meredith [00:13:25]:

I didn’t keep every single physical example. That’s why taking pictures and videos, you as a teacher, are really important. And even having students take their own pictures and videos are really important as well. That’s why I loved using Seesaw in my classroom because we could have a whole bank of different resources, and I would often go through and even download the pictures that were really great in their accounts and then save them for later. Another way to give students some ideas during this Imagine stage, especially when it comes to a maker space or hands-on type of project, is having different examples of the type of thing you want them to build and having a T chart so two columns and have one column be try and not try. I did this with my build a shelter unit. Actually, most of the lessons in STEM survival camp, we did this where we saw examples of the thing that they were going to build, and then they would sketch or draw ideas of things they wanted to try in their design, and then things that they didn’t want to try in their design. And this is also a great time to share some non-examples.

Naomi Meredith [00:14:37]:

Not everything in the videos is going to be perfect or even feasible for the materials that you were going to give them. So this is a really cool way to help students really think about how they’re going to build their design by seeing something else in action and what they could actually try. And things that for sure they definitely couldn’t do. Like with the Build a Shelter challenge, some of the shelters actually did not have doors on them in the videos that I gave them. And so some of them said, I actually want to add a door because for the purpose of our challenge, the videos weren’t really showing examples that exactly matched what we were trying to solve. Likewise, our Hiking Backpack challenge it showed backpacks having zippers, and some students actually really wanted to try a zipper. But I did tell them, hey, adding in a zipper is a whole other skill when it comes to sewing because they are sewing a backpack prototype. So that is something for this challenge we won’t be able to explore.

Naomi Meredith [00:15:44]:

So that is when students actually added that option to the not try because adding in a zipper would be great, but we just didn’t have the time actually to add that type of item. The next place in your teaching where you can teach students simple building techniques is during the Create stage. Just because students have gotten all these ideas from the Imagine stage. They made a plan they’re ready to create. It doesn’t mean they know how to build everything. Again, this isn’t a time where you teach students step by step by step. This is how you are going to build. This is a great way to show them strategies on how to build different things.

Naomi Meredith [00:16:29]:

If I am doing a maker space project and they actually have an open-ended selection of all the Makerspace supplies within reason, using our maker Space menu and money, which you can definitely check out in the show notes. I also have a podcast episode where I talk all about that and have the menu all set up, especially if there are things that are open-ended, and I’m showing them all of the supplies before they go start shopping for everything. This is a time when I might show them, oh, this would be a good tool for this. Or if you don’t have enough money for this, you can use this instead. And it kind of does the same thing. So even giving them some suggestions on how materials can be used is really helpful. A lesson that I actually don’t have in my year-long plan. But it was something that I did when I was co-teaching with first grade.

Naomi Meredith [00:17:24]:

We were talking about insects, and then they were designing an insect using all of the things that insects have. And I gave them some ideas of how materials can be used. For example, for the antennas on the top of their heads, I showed them that they could use a bendy straw as an antenna. So I had like on the poster antennas, and I gave some options on there. I also put some Qtips on the antenna side. For wings, we had tissue paper. So, I showed on that poster how tissue paper can be crunched up. So again, I wasn’t showing them, oh, here’s every step on how to make your insect, and all of your projects are going to look the same.

Naomi Meredith [00:18:07]:

Yay for you. You did it. It was just more of those strategies of ways that they could add this to their design. I also did this with my rock and roller coaster unit for fifth grade which is in the year-long plan. And they were building a roller coaster that a marble can roll through. And a lot of them wanted to use either tubes or straws to be the base to hold up their roller coaster. And they were having a hard time having the tube stay flat on their platform. They were building it on a cardboard platform so that their roller coaster could be moved at the end of class.

Naomi Meredith [00:18:47]:

So I noticed this while they were building. So they didn’t have a problem of shopping for supplies. They knew what they needed. They were in fifth grade, but that strategy was really tricky for them, and they were actually wasting a lot of tape because every time they taped their pole to the cardboard, it kept falling over. It wasn’t sticking to the base of their roller coaster, and it wasn’t sticking to the platform. And so this was an opportunity where I actually paused the class during creating. We already had the minilesson or whatever, but I showed them, hey, there’s a strategy I want to teach you. I’ve been noticing this issue.

Naomi Meredith [00:19:24]:

This is something that can actually help improve your tubes holding up things. And it’s called a phalange. I’m not kidding you. It’s called that. Look it up. I actually have a video on my YouTube channel. It’s called a phalange. So what you do with the tube is you cut slits a little ways down on the tube, and when you fold them back, then it will actually make the tube stand up flat because you tape down the little flaps.

Naomi Meredith [00:19:52]:

So just a simple technique. I didn’t teach them this right off the bat because you kind of want to see if they can figure it out. But I noticed no one was figuring this out yet. And so, just that quick teaching while they were building took me a couple of minutes. It drastically improved their designs, and they were able to keep their roller coasters steady. Now, some concepts during this Create stage, I will specifically show them how to do it. This doesn’t happen very often, but if I know ahead of time, this is something they probably do not know how to do. And this is going to be a troublesome point, different than the roller coasters.

Naomi Meredith [00:20:37]:

They’re actually doing fine. They just needed one little tip. But I’m talking more about something that is definitely going to hinder their design. And everybody’s going to be asking you, how do I do this? How do I do this? You kind of want to problem solve and think, what is something they specifically need to know? And I will teach them that right before they start building. So maybe not so much during the plan. Some kids might even ask, oh, how will I do this? And I’m going to say, hey, we’re going to talk about this tomorrow. When we get to the create stage, I’m going to show you specifically how to do this step. Put it in your plan, and I’m going to show you exactly how to do that.

Naomi Meredith [00:21:13]:

So, a big example of this is when we were doing STEM race cars in fourth grade, part of our STEM amusement park. And what we wanted for our race cars was that the wheels could actually turn, and they were making a race car out of maker space supplies. So when you think of if you’re listening to this, you’re like, oh yeah, how would you make the wheels actually turn? So, I pre-made a video, and this is in the lesson. Or you can pre-teach them, but I made a video where I specifically showed them how to add a piece to their car that will hold the axle that will actually allow the wheels to turn. I showed everybody in the class before they even started building because I knew this would be a troublesome point, and everybody had to have this in their car. Everybody needed wheels because they needed their car to roll. So that’s a time when, okay, this is when I’m going to teach you all of this. Another thing that I’ve done this for is when we were testing flood inventions for third grade.

Naomi Meredith [00:22:20]:

So, in my Earth’s engineer unit, students were going to be adding different measurements of water to test their design. So a little bit different. They already had built their designs, but I specifically had to show the class beforehand how to measure with a measuring cup because they hadn’t done that before third-grade standards, but they were very excited to pour their own water. But I did have to show them specifically as a whole class, hey, this is how we get water, this is how we measure it, and then this is also how we keep track of it. So really think through your lesson. Not everything is going to have something very specific like this, but if you know it’s going to be a troublesome point for all of your class, that’s a great time to stop the class mid-teaching or just start it off. This is how you do this. And then they still have all those creative pieces.

Naomi Meredith [00:23:19]:

The last way to teach those simple building techniques in your STEM lessons is by having STEM stations. I highly recommend having a balance of STEM projects and STEM stations for your primary students. And I teach all about that in my STEM K through 2 planning workshops where you can go through the workshop on your own in 2 hours and learn how to do your own STEM stations and even have a unit plan for you. But having STEM stations where aside from the projects, this is a great time for your younger learners to experiment with materials they might not have tried before. Not all of my STEM stations are building stations, but again, it helps them see, oh, this is how some materials can balance on top of each other. This is a way that different materials can connect together. So give those time for your younger students to explore when they get to their maker space projects. Within that same school year or even years down the road, they have more experiences where they have been creative with different things, and they can make those connections with the materials they used at their STEM stations and also with their building projects.

Naomi Meredith [00:24:38]:

Also, with these STEM stations, it’s a great opportunity for students to work in small groups and talk about the things that they are doing and problem-solving together. This is a low-stress way where they’re using reusable materials. They are figuring out this is how this material works. Oh, you built it like this. I’m going to try it like this, where they can talk about how these materials are being used. Likewise, as a teacher, when you are introducing these STEM stations, you can give them some ideas on how to use the materials. And again, this exposure is going to be helpful with those longer-term projects. As a recap, here are your three tips for teaching those simple building ideas for your STEM projects.

Naomi Meredith [00:25:30]:

First, we talked about introducing these building ideas during that Imagine stage. Next, we talked about ways where you can add this into the Create stage. And finally, we talked about ways students can explore materials in those younger years by using STEM stations. Again, teaching these building skills is definitely going to take some time. It won’t always be perfect. And for you as the teacher, you are going to be learning new strategies and things along the way. Just like listening to this podcast, you might have heard some tips or tricks that you hadn’t thought before, and you can go back to teaching your students, which is exactly why you are here. But also for your students.

Naomi Meredith [00:26:15]:

They are going to be learning some tips and tricks from each other and from you, and their projects are definitely going to get better along the way. If you are looking for further support for your STEM lessons, as the elementary STEM coach I am, I have been behind the scenes working on updating all of the lessons in my K through Five STEM year-long plan with me actually teaching the lessons. This has been a highly requested feature, and I’ve heard you, and I am working on it. It’s definitely taking me some time, but I feel like it’s so helpful for you to hear me talk through all of the slides that are included in the engineering design process of that project and why certain things are laid out the way they are. But I also am teaching the lessons where you can actually hear the language of how I would teach these things to my students, including these building techniques. Now, at the time of this recording, not everything is updated yet. It’s going to take me some time. So, definitely jump in on any of those lessons in that bundle.

Naomi Meredith [00:27:25]:

Now, whether you do the full K through five STEM year three through five fifth grade only, grab those now because as I am updating those new things and also new slides, the price definitely does go up. But I really feel like it’s so important for you to have the support where not all STEM resources have this extra teaching component. So, thank you so much for requesting this. I hear you. I am working on it and definitely feel like there’s a lot of value in this component in these lessons. I’m so passionate about creating for your students as I was about creating them for mine. Thank you so much again for being here and for sending me your request, your questions, and all those things. I hear you.

Naomi Meredith [00:28:11]:

I appreciate all of you so much, and I’ll see you in the next episode.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

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

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

7 Spooky STEM Activities to Try [ep.129]

Check out the full episode on 7 Spooky STEM Activities to Try:

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 for fun ways to celebrate Halloween in your STEM classroom without any chaos or your students bouncing off the wall? In today’s episode, I’m sharing seven spooky STEM activities that your students will love. Whether you’re looking for fun activities for a Halloween party or to incorporate some fall-themed activities into your lessons, these spooky STEM activities are perfect for your STEM classroom.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

7 spooky STEM activities
An overview of the materials needed for each spooky STEM activity
Tips and strategies for implementing each activity

Resources Mentioned:

(Witch’s Hand) Human Hand: STEM Snack Pack
Monster Mouth
Robot Coding: Jack-o-Lantern & Skeletal System
Exploding Jack-o-Lanterns
Flying Ghosts
Kid-Safe Slime
Magic Potion Bulletin Board/Halloween Bulletin Board
Halloween Bundle: Grab it now before all of the activities are added and the price goes up!

Episode Transcript:

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

Looking to add an element of spookiness to your STEM lessons? Well, I have the perfect amount of ideas for you. Whether you are looking for something to do with your whole class or a lot of different STEM stations. These 7 ideas are definitely going to add in that spooky factor. When I first started teaching, I taught 2nd grade for 2 years and 3rd grade for 4 years. Once I got my feet underway after teaching 2nd grade, I moved on to 3rd grade in a new school, new district, and I had parents plan and host my classroom parties. Well, after that year, that was something I told myself, never again is that ever happening. They were absolutely out of control. The kids ate way too much food, and who was left to deal with them all day? Me.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:04]:

And it was absolute chaos. So I said from that day on, any party or event, I will get this covered. I know that I can plan this perfectly fine all by myself, and the kids will be calm. And let me tell you, it definitely works and why I would do the controlled chaos, but the kids were definitely productive during my parties and had a great time, and didn’t eat too much sugar. This really went on in my K through 5 STEM role where really it’s like throwing a birthday party all day at least 6 different times. So whether you’re hoping to add an element of STEM into a Halloween or spooky fall party, these ideas would be perfect for that, but also a great addition to your Halloween STEM bundle, which you can grab in my TPT shop Naomi Meredith, and if they’re not in there yet at the time of this recording, definitely grabbed the bundle now while it’s at its cheapest because whenever I add anything new, the price goes up and you always get those updates for free if you already have the bundle, so jump in on that as soon as possible. If you’re looking for the link, that will be linked for you in the show notes. The 1st spooky STEM activity is a witch’s hand.

Naomi Meredith [00:02:28]:

Don’t worry, it’s something that you will make on your own, and using cardstock, straws, plastic or paper, whatever you have, and yarn, students will actually create a hand that will open and close, and you can even have it try to pick up different things like candy corn. This activity does take some time and patience. So, if you are going to do this with younger students if you have older helpers or buddies helping out. That is a great option because it does take some time really tracing the hand, adding in those spooky elements, and then cutting the straws and placing them where the joints would be so that the hand can open and close efficiently. But once you get it, it’s actually really, really cool, and it does help students understand how hands basically work with your muscles and with the joints. So pretty cool to see that inside view of a hand by adding in that spooky element. The 2nd spooky STEM activity is creating monster mouths. I tried this for the 1st time a few years ago when I hosted a Lego after-school club, and this is actually probably when I was first getting started with clubs.

Naomi Meredith [00:03:50]:

This is one of my clubs. If you wanna hear more about my clubs, I do have an episode about the 8 different types of STEM after-school clubs that you can host. So check that out. That’ll be linked in the show notes. But this was really fun in our Lego 101 club where we just did some fun building challenges, and I just made this one up where students had those little Halloween monster teeth, googly eyes, and Lego bricks, and they had to design a monster that could hold the little mouth in place without being taped in, and then they put the googly eyes 2 or more or what however many googly eyes they wanted to create this cute little monster. They didn’t turn out very scary. They were absolutely adorable, and even one of my students figured out how to make their monster mouth open and close, which was so cute. So you can go through the whole engineering design process with this, or if you just want to do the building challenge, that is an option as well.

Naomi Meredith [00:04:54]:

The 3rd spooky STEM activity is exploding jack-o’-lanterns. If you listened to my last episode, I shared with you all different kinds of pumpkin STEM activities. So, if you haven’t checked that out, go back and listen. That’ll give you some more ideas if you’re looking for things that are more around pumpkins. This one is fun. You don’t have to use real pumpkins unless you really want to, but instead, you can grab some orange cups, orange plastic cups, baking soda, vinegar, and even a little bit of food coloring or glitter if you would like as well. And you are going to have students create like that volcano experiment but using the cups to represent a jack-o’-lantern. So before they add in all of those elements, they can actually draw on a face, or maybe you have some stickers that they could use.

Naomi Meredith [00:05:50]:

You could even find those stickers that you see that kids decorate pumpkins, and they can decorate their cup to be their jack-o’-lantern. And then adding in those mixtures and solutions. They can have their jack-o’lantern explode. But before throwing it away, You could actually even put a glow stick in there, and this could be decoration throughout the day, and students could come and pick up their jack o’-lantern before they go home. So just a fun activity where you can talk about the states of matter but also add in that jack-o’-lantern theme. The 4th spooky STEM activity is flying ghosts. To help students understand the third law of motion by Sir Isaac Newton. With every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction.

Naomi Meredith [00:06:39]:

So, thinking about how rockets explode, that there is all that pressure building up that when it explodes, the rocket is blasting off in the air, and then so are the flames going back out of it. So that opposite and equal reaction. So same kind of idea, students will have white balloons, and they will design their ghost face, and then they will create their rocket that the ghost will travel on to fly throughout their zip line. So this can be pretty fun, too. Students can actually design the track and how that will go and how that actually makes a difference in how fast or how far the ghost can travel, and then they can definitely experiment with the different sizes of the balloons and all of that. This can definitely keep your kids engaged with a lot of different variables, and they could even think about having a ghost race. The 5th spooky STEM activity is having jack o’lantern and skeletal system robot coding. These are 2 different activities that have similar vibes.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:45]:

So you’ll have 2 different sets of cards. So don’t mix them up it kind of actually won’t make sense. But for the jack-o’-lantern coding on your cards, you’ll have different faces that go along with different complete jack-o’-lantern faces. So, for example, 1 jack o’-lantern might have a certain pattern of eyes, nose, and mouth, and then all of the pieces on the cards are separated and mixed up. So you probably have about 5 or so complete jack-o’-lanterns, and students have to take turns coding their robot to collect the pieces to complete the jack-o’lanterns first. You could do this in a lot of variations, maybe all of the cards are facing up, and they can see the cards. You can make it a lot harder and make it a memory game and then add in that element of coding. So this would be really fun and a lot of problem solving to finishing these jack o’lantern puzzles.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:40]:

The other robot coding game that you can do is all about the skeletal system, and this can help students understand the different major parts that are in the skeletal system. Likewise, they can collect all of the pieces that are on the card to finish up the skeletal system. I recently taught a STEM field trip here at one of our local facilities. And it was all about STEM and health and wellness and the human body, and it was 5th graders, and they hadn’t yet had their human body lessons, which I know that they would do eventually, that’s just something that they do in science out here in Colorado, but there are all these pictures of the different body systems and the kids were like, ew, that’s so gross. I’m like, you guys haven’t had your human body lessons yet, have you? And they’re no. I’m like, yeah. It is a little bit gross, So just be aware of your audience and also the images that you’re using because this legit is probably the most spookiest of them all that I am talking about. The 6th spooky STEM activity that you can try is kid-safe slime.

Naomi Meredith [00:09:50]:

Now, I know parents don’t love slime, and so this is a great opportunity to do this at school, and parents will be so grateful for that because they really don’t wanna do this at home. And really, don’t send it home with the kids. It’s better off if they put it in the trash based on experience. But I have 3 different slime recipes that I actually broke down and rewrote them into smaller proportions. Because if you’re teaching a lot of kids throughout the day, you will run out of supplies really, really fast. So, using those smaller proportions, they can try different slime experiments and compare and contrast the different types of slime, and one of those uses glue. I tried this specific recipe using glue and switching out the glue for glow in the dark glow. I was hosting a STEM after-school experience.

Naomi Meredith [00:10:45]:

It was a prize for something with our fun run. And I decided to do a STEM glow party, which I am gonna do a whole episode about it, I haven’t forgotten about this. I have it saved for in the future. But one of the stations was creating glow-in-the-dark slime, and it actually worked. It was super, super cool. We did have black lights going, so it did amp up the glow feature, but I’m pretty sure if you leave the glow-in-the-dark glue in sunlight, it will glow in a dark room. The black lights just really amped it up and made it look a lot cooler. And the final spooky STEM activity that kind of as activity, but not really more of decoration, is having a magic potion bulletin board. Now, when you are thinking about STEM and really the whole purpose of teaching STEM, what is the whole purpose? Is it all of these fun and amazing hands-on activities? Yes, that’s part of it.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:44]:

But a lot of the reasons why that we teach them and why it’s important is all of the soft skills that you are teaching students, collaboration, perseverance, grit, creativity. Those are the true magic potions of STEM. So, just using my bulletin board kit where you just print, cut, and hang. It has all of those magic potions where you can decorate your space, your bulletin board or your door, whatever, your windows to get in the mood of spooky season. When I print these out, cut them out, and try it, I usually print out 2 sets. And I gave a whole set to one of my STEM teacher friends, and she was like, oh my gosh. This is amazing. This takes me hardly any time to hang up, and it looks really, really cute. So definitely a fun way that you can decorate for this season where it’s STEM themed, but then you can also laminate and keep them for year after year.

Naomi Meredith [00:12:42]:

As a recap, here are those 7 spooky STEM activities that you can try in your classroom. 1st is the witch’s hands. Next is the monster mouse. 3rd are the exploding jack-o’-lanterns. 4th are the flying ghosts. 5th, the robot coding stations with jack o’-lanterns and the skeletal system. 6th, kids safe slime but make it glow in the dark, and 7, the magic potion bulletin board. I hope that all of these activities get you in the mood for spooky season.

Naomi Meredith [00:13:21]:

And if you don’t feel like putting them all together yourself, I’ve done all of that work for you. You can check it out in my Halloween STEM bundle at my tpt shop, Naomi Meredith, just to save you some time, and so you can just focus on your Halloween costume. Hint, hint, I am, and make sure to go and check it out on my Instagram page. Thank you so much for being here, and have a happy spooky season.

Code robots to collect different pieces of a Jack-o-Lantern to create a custom design. Grab the templates for this lesson here.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

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

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

5 Pumpkin STEM Challenges to Try [ep.128]

Check out the full episode on 5 Pumpkin STEM Challenges to Try:

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

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

Episode Summary

With fall upon us, that means it’s time to start planning fall-themed activities for your STEM classroom. In today’s episode, I’m sharing 5 pumpkin STEM challenges for you to implement in your classroom. These STEM challenges were such a hit with my students, so I know your students will enjoy them, too.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

5 pumpkin STEM challenges
Tips and strategies for implementing each pumpkin STEM challenge
How each activity connects to the standards

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript:

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

Fall is here, and it’s all things pumpkin over at my house. Take this theme into your classroom with these 5 STEM pumpkin-themed activities. I am getting in the mood for fall in this episode, and I am wearing the only orange shirt that I have in my closet, and it is a jack-o’-lantern shirt. So, if you’re watching the video version of this podcast, you can check out the shirt that I found at Target 1 year ago.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:00]:

And you guys know I love a good theme and that it really involves teaching my whole k through 5 STEM year-long plan where every month has its own theme and tool that it’s working on. But there are also times when I have liked to add in those themed seasonal activities, and the kids like it, too. So, it’s fun to mix these things into your lesson plans. And also they can also make great backup sub plans if you can’t seem to find out where to fit it in. So I saw over on Instagram the other day. It was a funny video. This guy was making something called a boo basket, where it’s a basket of things for your wife that have to do with fall. And you said, dudes, if you’re making this fall basket for your wife or your girlfriend, whoever, you have to figure out if she is a fall girly or a Halloween girly.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:58]:

There is a difference between the two, and you might even be laughing out loud because I did. And I’m, Oh, I’m a fall girly because I feel like with fall decorations. These are things that you can keep up from September through November. And you just add in those little pops September through November, and you just add in those little pops of Halloween when you want. I have a few little pops of Halloween and Dia de los Muertos because my teacher honey is a Spanish teacher, so he likes those little things as well. I do have these skeletons that are taking a selfie, which is super cute. And I do have some other skeleton pieces and all that. But I really go for the fall vibes in terms of what I have going on in my decor.

Naomi Meredith [00:02:44]:

The same is true for these STEM activities, these pumpkin activities, you can do these from September through November, and it will work at any time during those months, and it won’t exclude anybody or isolate anything when it comes to specific holidays, and pop them in when you need a little bit of refresh in your classroom. So let’s get into these fun 5 pumpkin-themed stem activities. Most of the lessons that I am going to be talking about I have them all bundled up together in a pumpkin-themed bundle. So you can check that out in my tpt shop, Naomi Meredith, or check it out in the show notes. Some of the things I don’t have an official lesson plan for, so I’ll mention that along the way, and just maybe there will be something one day. You never know. Sometimes, I just like to create ideas and think of them, and then you guys can just run with it. The first activity is pumpkin life cycle coding.

Naomi Meredith [00:03:41]:

All you need for this is the robots that your students will code with for their grade level and the pumpkin life cycle cards. This is a great way to really learn any type of life cycle. And there are a few variations that they could play with this. I recommend when you are using robots, have a grid where each of the grid spaces is measured so that the robot can travel to each space within one forward movement. So you do have to do some playing around with this to figure out the grid if you don’t wanna purchase 1. I do have, separate from the pumpkin bundle, for most popular robots that you use in your classroom, some editable squares that are already perfectly measured, and they can cut those out and everything. But have a mat for your robots, and then you have the cards that go along with the life cycle of a pumpkin, and students can code their robot to go in order of those things. You can add in other fun variations, like a matching game or a memory game.

Naomi Meredith [00:04:44]:

You can add in dice where they have the code to a specific part. So there are lots of different variations. I have that included in that lesson plan ready to go. But another way to think about that s, science, and stem and add in that element of coding. The second activity is pumpkin digital activities. And I have 2 different variations because if you’re teaching all the grades, you need a lot of different things to make sure you’re hitting all those standards and have those age-appropriate activities. For k through 2, my students really, really liked this one, and they added it in as a STEM station for one of the stations they could attend to.

Naomi Meredith [00:05:25]:

But for K and 2, I had this pumpkin digital activity where every slide had something different to accomplish. It had a lot of different cross-curricular connections and even audio of me reading the directions. I created a version for Seesaw, also Google Slides, and PowerPoint. It’s the same exact thing. My preference is Seesaw. You guys know that is one of my favorite tools, but the activity slides are really fun because they stay on that slide. They can listen to the directions being read to them, and then they can independently or even with a partner complete those activities, such as measuring the pumpkin vine with Unifix cubes, digital Unifix cubes, and see how long it is creating a pumpkin face using the different shapes. There’s even a chance to match the letters to spell different words that are related to pumpkins and even labeling a pumpkin digitally.

Naomi Meredith [00:06:23]:

The kids really liked it. They felt excited about each of the activities, and they wanted to have me make a lot more of them. Though. This is something that I really enjoy doing as a stem station. Likewise, you could do this as a stem station or even something that students can go to throughout the week if they finish a project, but have for 2nd through 5th grade, a pumpkin digital interactive notebook. It has the same kind of vibes as the kindergarten version or the primary version, but of course, activities that are more at their level. So compare and contrast. What do you notice in this picture, looking at a graph and finding out data and things that they notice about the graph?

Naomi Meredith [00:07:06]:

So, again, this could be something that they can get to throughout the week. It doesn’t have to be your day lesson. It can be if you have classes on a holiday. You know, students can be a little bit crazy if you’re having classroom parties, and when they come into specials, you might need a more chill activity. I would do these digital interactive notebooks all the time when I was a 3rd-grade teacher and had them themed and related to the topic. And, again, this is something that they could get to if we finish the other projects or, like, as a may do thing like a fast finisher. So that is something that you can add to your curriculum. The next activity is to design a spooky pumpkin.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:47]:

This is something I don’t currently have in my shop, but maybe sometime in the future. But using Lego bricks or if you have even some LEGO education kits like LEGO We Do 2.0. I know that kit is discontinued, but is still an excellent, excellent kit. Or maybe you have the upgraded, the newer versions like the Lego Spike essential kit. Students can create a spooky pumpkin, and using the motion sensor, they can code the pumpkin to make a sound. And this is a lot like when you see the decorations that you move past, and as soon as you move past that decoration, then it freaks you out. It makes you really scared. Oftentimes, those are turned on in stores, and you’re like, oh my gosh, it’s this, like, decoration is alive.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:38]:

So, the same kind of vibes and students can create that. And in the LEGO We Do Kit, the pieces aren’t exactly orange. There are more orange pieces in the LEGO spike essential, but you get the idea, and they can get creative with that project. The next activity is building pumpkin bridges. This is something that you can go through the entire engineering design process, or if you wanna pair it down and feed through some of the steps, you could also do with this in one day. The goal for this challenge is for students are creating a bridge to hold as many pumpkins as possible. You can use a lot of different things for the bridges, such as pumpkin candies or unifix cubes, or maybe students have to make their own bridges, but this is a fun one that, again, you can stretch out as long as you want. Go through it fast and see the different types of bridges students come up with, and you can even talk about the engineering of bridges as an architecture piece.

Naomi Meredith [00:09:40]:

This is in the bundle that has everything laid out for you. And the last STEM activity is a 7 stories reading, how many seeds are in a pumpkin. This is something that I did again as a classroom teacher, but you could do this as a STEM teacher. And I had some kids donate pumpkins that they had or went and grabbed a pumpkin. And we had a few different pumpkins in the room, and we did different experiments and things that involve math with these pumpkins. So first we tested things like Do you think the pumpkin is going to sink or float? Why do you think that’s going to happen? What is the outside like how many ridges are on the outside of the pumpkin, what does the pumpkin feel like, how many unifix cubes tall or you can even add in measuring with inches and centimeters. Students can even compare the data if you have multiple pumpkins in your classroom. And then students also had to guess how many seeds were in their pumpkin.

Naomi Meredith [00:10:41]:

And we did open the pumpkins up. And students scooped out the seeds. We had butcher paper all over. The students were on the floor, and they had to determine the best way to count all of the seeds in their pumpkin. And the great way of using butcher paper for this activity is that students can actually put the seeds in equal groups, they can draw, they can label, it does get a bit messy. So if you don’t like messes, don’t do this one. But it is a lot of fun for them to think about carving a pumpkin in a different way. Maybe some of your students have never done this before.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:16]:

You never know. You will definitely find out when you have them open up the pumpkin, and so are just another great way to get hands-on and make it a fun math activity. As a recap, here are the 5 pumpkin-themed STEM activities that you can use in your classroom. 1st is pumpkin life cycle coding. Next is pumpkin digital activities. 3rd, are creating a spooky pumpkin out of Lego bricks. 4th is designing a pumpkin bridge, and 5th is that STEM and stories connection, how many seeds are in a pumpkin, and dissect those pumpkins. Most of these lessons are packaged together nicely for you in a bundle so you can just grab and go and implement these in your classroom.

Naomi Meredith [00:12:01]:

You can find that in the show notes for this episode or even check it out on my TpT shop, Naomi Meredith. Thanks so much for listening, and I’ll see you later, pumpkin.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

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

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

How this Teacher Successfully Wrote a $1000 STEM Grant [STEM Teacher Pathway Series] [ep.127]

Check out the full episode on How this Teacher Successfully Wrote a $1000 STEM Grant [STEM Teacher Pathway Series]:

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 ever felt frustrated because you don’t have certain materials to implement innovative STEM lessons? One way I’ve been able to navigate this issue is through writing grants for the materials I need in my STEM classroom. Grant writing is a great way for STEM teachers to secure the resources they need to incorporate fun and engaging STEM activities in their classrooms. In this episode, I’m sharing how I supported one of the STEM teachers in my group coaching program with successfully writing a $1,000 STEM grant. I’m taking you behind the scenes of how we strategically prepared for the grant writing process, decided on what materials to write a $ 1000 STEM grant for, and so much more.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

How I supported a teacher in my group coaching program with writing a $1000 STEM grant
How we decided on what types of materials to write $1000 STEM grant for
Things to consider when writing a grant
Tips and strategies for successfully writing a $1000 STEM grant

Resources Mentioned:

Group Coaching Cohort: STEM into Fall: naomimeredith.com/stemintofall
Private Podcast: My (Not So Straight) Pathway to STEM Teacher Success [and what I would do different today]- naomimeredith.com/STEMpathwaypod
Pitsco Education: https://resources.pitsco.com/pitsco-grant-app
Toshiba K-5 Grant: https://www.toshiba.com/taf/k5.jsp
DonorsChoose
Amazon Wishlist:

Episode Transcript:

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

Frustrated that you are required to teach innovative lessons but don’t have the materials to do so? While it does take some thoughtful prep work from the beginning, grant writing is an amazing opportunity to take advantage of as a STEM teacher and gather the materials that you are hoping to use in your classroom with your students. When it comes to grant writing, you want to be strategic in the type of materials that you are writing a grant for, the longevity of that tool, and how it’s going to impact not just 1 set of students but students for many years to come. In this episode, I’ll be sharing with you a STEM teacher’s success when writing a $1000 STEM grant and the things that she did to prepare for this opportunity. A big benefit of working together with me and other teachers in my group coaching program for STEM teachers is we take a look at your overall lessons and how they fit into a cohesive year-long plan, and we also take an inventory of the supplies that you have and how those things fit together.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:42]:

From there, a really big benefit is that we get weekly live calls together that are customized based on the group needs, and also a group chat where we can talk about the topics that are related to the live call or other questions that you have in your STEM space. Now, another thing that we do in the months that we have together in this group coaching program that I haven’t talked a whole lot about yet is grant writing. Grant writing actually has a really big impact on your STEM program because you want to use all of these amazing tools for your students. And unless you had a big huge overhaul and all of this money put forth into your program, more often than not, you have to fit all the puzzle pieces together and figure out how you’re gonna get materials at certain times and build up to the program of your dreams. Because of the work together in our group coaching program, I actually have, as the coach, the overall view of where everybody’s lessons are at, but also the types of materials and how that can even go into the grant writing process and what to even write a grant for. There was a teacher in my program that I want you to meet, the one who was able to write a successful $1000 STEM grant for her program. This teacher teaches pre-k, so even the little ones, pre-k through 5th grade STEM, twice a week, and like many of you, she is responsible for building up her whole program when it comes to lesson plans, figuring out supplies, and all of the things in between. She had a really great start to her year-long plan and even had some of the things from my k through 5 STEM year bundle of lessons, but I also felt like with the things she had and then didn’t have, her lessons were kind of all over the place.

Naomi Meredith [00:03:40]:

So she wanted to create a more cohesive curriculum, which, by the end of our program, we were able to do, and also add in more structures when it came to STEM stations. If you go back to the last episode, episode 126, you can hear more about the lesson planning that we did as a group and how we integrated materials that the teachers already had and planned an amazing k through 5 STEM ocean unit, and we even added in different types of STEM stations. So you can finish this episode and then go back to that one if you haven’t checked it out already. Towards the last part of our group coaching program, once we’ve done the lesson planning, we have our year-long plan figured out, and what we’re going to be teaching, teachers have the opportunity to work with me when it comes to writing their grant. And this teacher that I’m talking about had a really great program, especially when it came to coding lessons and the tools available for that. But they really needed more things when it came to hands-on coding and robotics. And we know that STEM materials are pricey, especially if you want to invest in things that have a longer shelf life and can be used with a lot of kids. You really want to get high-quality materials.

Naomi Meredith [00:05:02]:

Now, the timing of this was absolutely perfect. Great writing was something we were already going to be working on, but this teacher’s principal actually sent a grant opportunity her way to look into. Now, a little caveat to this: this teacher does work in a private school. And so, if you are a teacher who’s working in a private school, make sure you read the fine print when it comes to the type of grants that you can be eligible for because every grant has its different rules and regulations, and all of that. I do have other episodes that I’ll link in the show notes when it comes to grant writing and other tips and tricks that you can use along the way, as well as some different grants that you can look into to help you get started. So the principal sent her a grant this way, which was funny because this was actually one of the ones that was on my list, and she was thinking about, okay, how can I really make the maximum effort for this grant? In my experience as an educator, especially in my k through 5 STEM role, I have written a lot of grants. And you really can write a grant for anything. My biggest ones were $1000 STEM grants, so the same amount that this teacher was looking for.

Naomi Meredith [00:06:15]:

And the biggest thing when it comes to grant writing is not so much the tool but how you can create an engaging and innovative variance for the students where it is impacting the students that year but also years beyond, and also thinking about those cross-curricular connections. Now, if you’re thinking, okay, great, it doesn’t matter about the tool, it kind of doesn’t because let me tell you this, my school needed document cameras. Our document cameras were really old, and these are an essential tool in the elementary space. My teacher, Honey, who teaches high school, doesn’t really so much use a document camera. But in elementary, it’s super essential, and the ones that we’re having were dying, they were bulky, they had 5,000,000 cords, and we needed document cameras. Well, honestly, when you talk about it, it doesn’t really sound like that innovative of a tool. However, the way that I wrote that grant, I was actually able to get all brand new document cameras to outfit our whole school, just by the way that I wrote that grant. So that is one of many that I did in my experience.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:24]:

So, really, it’s just how you word things and put it all together. When it came down to it with recommendations and looking at her year-long plan and things that would benefit her program, even based on the supplies that she had and didn’t have, we decided on writing a grant for coding and hands-on materials like robots. The coding materials were things that she could use in STEM stations, which was a big thing that this teacher wanted to do in her year-long plan anyway. And with those STEM stations, you don’t have to figure out every single little thing and create it from scratch. There are a lot of great tools out there that lend themselves to STEM stations. So, we figured out a couple of things that would work really well for STEM stations. And even if students use them repeatedly over the years, this program actually has different apps where students can progress at different levels. So that was super great and, again, hands-on.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:21]:

And then we also added in some robots so she could build up her collection from there. With our collaboration together and from our live lessons, I was able to help her write a rough draft when it came to the questions for the grant writing. So I definitely recommend when you are writing a STEM grant, to figure out what the questions are when it comes to the grant, you might need to create an account, they’re always free to create your account. So create your account, figure out the questions, and then type those out on a document on the side. So when you get to filling out the actual well application, you can just copy and paste. I actually was writing a couple of grants for something else this morning, and I did the same exact thing. Because a lot of times, when it comes to these grants, you can’t see ahead what the questions are. Or sometimes you can’t, like, while you’re filling it out, like, you can’t go forwards and backward.

Naomi Meredith [00:09:18]:

And then, sometimes, with the grants, it won’t save your progress. So, if you make an account, see the questions, and type up your answers, this can also help you with spell check and everything. The couple of grants that I was writing today had a word limit. So, I was really limited to a specific amount of words to get all of the information in there. So that is something that we did. This teacher and I worked together. She added her own story, which is also really important when you’re writing any kind of grant. And if it’s a STEM grant, what is the story? Why is this going to have an impact on your students? Who are your students? Why do they need these tools? We, the people who are reading your grants, know that it is expensive, but why is this something that you need? So that is something that she and her principal really worked together once she had that draft that we did together and was able to put forth that information that was very specific to her school.

Naomi Meredith [00:10:18]:

The cool thing about this is that this document is actually available to everybody in the group because those specific things she added in on the side on her own copy, but we were able to brainstorm together as a group different opportunities, different types of grants you could apply for, What are those limits to the type of grants? What are certain materials that would work well? And what are different lesson plans you could plan forward to? There are tons of grants out there. I recommend going even for those smaller grants. You have a better opportunity when it comes to getting those materials, but also be really thoughtful with those things that you were hoping to get. With our time together in our group, this teacher was able to write her a first $1000 STEM grant for these STEM supplies and turn it in way ahead of the timeline. We are hoping to hear back, but the process was so fun and collaborative, and really no stress at all because we were able to bounce off and talk about ideas together. If this is an area that you definitely need support in, and also when it comes to thinking through your year of lessons, having somebody having that overall picture of what your year can look like and also taking a deep dive into your supplies and what would work well for lessons, but also what could work ahead in the future, I have some a few spots available in my STEM into fall group coaching program. The spots are limited, but we have a great time together as we meet for a course of a few months to really help you feel successful in your space and also have that community support that you have always been hoping for in this STEM role. I invite you into this program and would love to work with you. You can find the information in the show notes or go directly to Naomimeredith.com/STEMintofall.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

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

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

After-School STEM Teacher Success with Curriculum Creation [STEM Teacher Pathway Series] [ep.126]

Check out the full episode on After-School STEM Teacher Success with Curriculum Creation:

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

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

Episode Summary

Creating a STEM curriculum from scratch is hard! However, this after-school STEM teacher had great success creating and implementing her custom curriculum. She took her learning from our group coaching program and was able to successfully implement it with her students.In today’s episode, I’m taking you behind the scenes of my group coaching program and sharing many of the wins that an after-school STEM teacher experienced when she joined the first round of my group coaching program.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

One after-school STEM teacher’s experience in the first cohort of my group coaching program
Where the STEM teacher’s after-school program was before and after we worked together
An overview of the lessons we mapped out during our time working together

Resources Mentioned:

Group Coaching Cohort: STEM into Fall: naomimeredith.com/stemintofall
- Limited time BONUS for Level 2 of the program (Expires 9/28/23): $500/off when you use CODE: STEMINTOFALL
Private Podcast: My (Not So Straight) Pathway to STEM Teacher Success [and what I would do different today]- naomimeredith.com/STEMpathwaypod
K-2 STEM Planning Workshop

Episode Transcript:

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

What is it like being in a STEM teacher group coaching program? Is this even a thing? What does this even mean? What happens during our time together? What do you even do when you’re in a program like this one? Well, in today’s episode, I’m gonna be sharing with you about a teacher who is in my STEM group coaching program who is a lot like you. This teacher is in charge of creating her entire program from scratch for their STEM after-school program that runs for kindergarten through 5th grade. She’s not only in charge of the curriculum but also figuring out the structure for her students and even how to use the materials and what materials to purchase. Sound familiar to your story? It was all very similar to what I went through as a former classroom teacher jumping into a K through 5 STEM space. A big thing that wasn’t happening in her role was having the support to bounce ideas off of other teachers And find out what she was doing that was working really well. And also, what are some areas that she can grow in to build the program of her dreams? This teacher had taught in her position for about a year, and she was ready for the next steps and to be a part of a space to really figure all the things out and not be so alone in this position. In this episode, I’m taking you behind the scenes of this teacher and Where they were at, the needs that we targeted, and ultimately, the successes that she had in our STEM teacher group coaching program. If you are listening to this episode live as it comes out, today is the last day for you to claim your special podcast listener bonus.

Naomi Meredith [00:02:27]:

The doors to my STEM into fall group coaching are officially open, and I would love to have you inside. You can get $500 off the level 2 group coaching program for just being a podcast listener, And if you put in that code STEM into fall, all one word, no spaces, you will get your special bonus Where you will be in a community of like-minded teachers to target specific needs, refine your year-long plan, and figure out the next steps of where your program is going. Make sure to jump on this. Spots are limited, and I would love to support you in our special special community. And you can grab that at nammeeredith.com/stem into fall. And don’t forget to put in that code STEM into fall for your special bonus. I recently ended my first Cohort of teachers in my STEM into summer group coaching program, and it was such a special experience. You know how you will never forget your 1st class of students or even your 1st year teaching STEM? That’s what this program was like for me being the coach of this program, and it was just an honor to be in this community of like-minded teachers to see what it’s like inside of their classrooms from afar, but also really target and look at the things that they are needing in their programs And work together to fill in those gaps and also play upon the successes that they were already having. Today, we are zoning in on one of the teachers who is in my STEM into summer group coaching program Who had amazing things going on already and wanted to take their program to the next level.

Naomi Meredith [00:04:24]:

This teacher was in charge of their k through 5 STEM after-school program and had taught in this position for about a year. So, she already had a feel for what it could look like in her program and tested out a lot of things through trial and error, which I know most to best do in that position. That’s definitely what I was doing when I started my 1st year in k through 5 STEM and figured out the lessons that worked really well for her program and then things that weren’t such a great fit. What’s interesting about her role is that she teaches one grade level 1 at a time. So if she’s teaching 3rd grade, she is 3rd grade at one time, 5th grade at one time, and so on. But it is after-school, so the kids might have different times when they come in and out, especially when they’re leaving for the day, and she definitely needed things that would work well for that structure so that students could be independent when she’s talking to parents or kids are leaving and that projects would actually carry on throughout the weeks in a nondisruptive way? Before taking my group coaching program, This teacher actually attended my K through 2 STEM planning workshop and then eventually my 3 through 5 STEM planning workshop And sought great success. So much so she even implemented the stations that were in my K through 2 STEM planning workshop In her after-school program and loved it so much. Her kids were totally engaged. She even said that they had a movie going on in the background, but the kids were so into the stations that were going on that they just turned off the video, it wasn’t even needed. That was a tool that was used before to help calm the kids down, But the projects and the structure of the STEM stations worked so well that she knew she needed more for her program. I was so excited to talk to this teacher to see where they were at and how this could be something that we could grow upon. And there were more things that we discovered during our time together.

Naomi Meredith [00:06:33]:

This teacher was also interested in having different themes to plan all of her content around because that seemed to be something that her students really loved, and also a really fun way to plan. You know that I am the queen of themes. I love a good theme. And I’m even here recording this podcast wearing a robot shirt with a matching headband? I love all of that stuff. So, she was definitely talking to the right person because I love planning in a theme. So, at the beginning of the program, the 1st month in my group coaching is really a self-led part of the process. Now, the awesome thing about technology is I’m able to meet with all of you in other places all over the world. But at this time, I’m not flying into your classrooms.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:24]:

So we started off our whole group coaching program with a live kickoff Call to get to know one another and also what the structure of the whole group coaching program will be and figuring out a common time where we would meet. I also talked about in this call how each teacher would be conducting their own lesson plan audit and supply inventory using the templates and guides that I created that are in this group coaching program. I actually don’t have them anywhere else but are in this group coaching program. And what teachers were to do is to really sit down with what are the lessons they have already taught. They’ve taught STEM for at least a year, But what are the lessons they have already taught? How have those been structured throughout the year? What grade levels? And mapping those out from the get go. And it’s okay that not everything was complete. I really just wanted to see a big picture of where we were starting at and where we were headed. The teachers in this group, not just the teacher I’m gonna be talking about, but the teachers in the group were all encouraged to also put in their plans What are potential lessons they want to teach, and at what time of the year? That was also helpful. Good. Because if they had something in mind they really wanted to teach, then that could be something that we could plan forward with.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:45]:

So that 1st month teachers had time to create this lesson audit and then alongside that is is they actually had a supply inventory. So again, going through all of the supplies that they had available in their space, How much of each items? And also categorizing that as well. This was really helpful to understand, oh, These are the materials that you are using, that you are planning with. Here are some materials that you have on hand but haven’t made any lessons yet for, so let’s do that? And, also, what are some materials that you might want in the future? So, again, this first Samantha is really setting that foundation of what does the program currently look like and how are we going to grow from there. Once the teachers in my group were finished with their lesson plan audit and their supply inventory, they were able to submit it to me for feedback. And I loved this so much. I really appreciated the detail that the teachers put into their inventories And their supply their lesson audits, and I really got a real clear picture of what their program is like so far? And I did give video feedback. It’ll so much easier than typing, but I was able to give video feedback and See some things and trends of what they had going on, what should we keep and build upon, and then how could we create alignment with everybody’s year long plans? Not all of them were the same, but there were some areas where we could actually plan together based on some gaps that were in their programs or things that they wanted to work on? And also I have the big picture of seeing all of their supplies? So putting that all together when it came to the future planning of our sessions.

Naomi Meredith [00:10:41]:

This teacher that I’m talking about in this episode had an amazing start to their year long plan. They really had a strong coding unit and did a really great job using materials that were accessible to their students And also appropriate for their grade level. That is a huge challenge in itself really understanding what tools Should I be using for which grade? And this teacher was already doing an amazing job using the these materials. I also noticed in the lesson audit, there were some materials that she hadn’t used quite yet and that was something that I wanted to Keep in mind, especially the Makey Makeys, which if you haven’t heard of Makey Makeys before, it’s basically this little controller that you hook of different electronic components? And you hook that up to your computer. And when those components are touching things that are conductive, It can produce an action like making a sound on the computer or making something jump. So super cool tool. How totally recommend using that. But I kept that in my back of my mind where she had a great bank of those but hadn’t quite used those yet.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:55]:

And that was something that we eventually worked on. I also noticed this teacher did a really great job incorporating robotics, coding, and technology into her lessons, but I also realize that there were some times that Makerspace could be a great fit for her program, especially with the layout of your program Where we know funding is really tricky, but Makerspace is one of those things that it can be pretty low cost to get started. And those projects can last for a long time, but they could be quick as well. Also, when I met with this teacher, they really wanted to implement more of those STEM stations for K through 2. Because they saw the amazing success that they already had with the ones that they had implemented in their space And also with the flow of their classroom where the kids are leaving at different points, STEM stations were a great way where students could keep working and not be as disrupted with the amazing work that they were doing. She was also curious about how she could implement STEM stations with her older students, and that is something I haven’t talked a whole lot about on this podcast, but it is something that I did when I first got started in my STEM space where I did move out of that just based on my program, it wasn’t a good fit. But definitely for hers when it came to, again, that structure, that was something that she really wanted to do for her older students as well. In terms of materials, again, she had great materials to work with, which was such a benefit. And this was awesome to see, okay, here are the materials that you had.

Naomi Meredith [00:13:37]:

And then, what are some ways that we can grow your materials where they could be used by many grade levels? And when we got into the grant writing, we had a plan going forward knowing that here are the materials she had to work with and also what types of lessons she was going to have. And that helped us again with that grant writing later on. So, what were these teachers’ successes during this group coaching program? Well, this Teacher was able to create a well thought out year long plan of the lessons that she was already teaching in her program she was able to visually map those out and also map out new lessons that she wanted to try, which was so exciting. She did have really great lessons and just didn’t need that structure so that she could see, oh, okay, Here’s where, and I’m teaching this coding unit. Maybe I can add in Makerspace here or maybe I could add this here. So, even putting all of those ideas in an organized structure was a definite game changer for her. Not only that, I was able to see, okay, here are those holes and here’s our things that we can work together in our program to help you build those up. Back to them makey makeies, we were able to create a common lesson in our entire group coaching program.

Naomi Meredith [00:15:02]:

The other teachers under program also had Makey Makeys, but we were able to create a unit where we could use those Makey Makeys in a Makerspace lesson. And this one was so much fun. I actually had a makey makey myself. So for part of our call, we actually all had our makey makeys at home, and we went through the guiding process That’s where we actually set up our makey makies, talked about an intro lesson that we could do with our students. We did the intro lesson ourselves, And then we also created a way where these makey makies could be added into a Makerspace project that went into an overall collaboratively planned ocean units? This ocean unit was really cool because this teacher really wanted to have themed lessons, So we took that idea of oceans k through 5 and created a whole Makerspace unit for k through 5. So for k through 2, we did map out some STEM stations that students can rotate through, and we created a bank of 4 STEM stations. And then if these stations were repeated, we also created some extensions that could go along with it. And this teacher implemented those right away. She even found some animals, ocean animals from Dollar Tree and added those to one of the STEM stations.

Naomi Meredith [00:16:23]:

As you said, The kids were having so much fun with that. We even created Makerspace lessons that could be carried on for one day or multiple days depending on the teacher settings? Again, this was a collaborative unit that we wrote together during our group coaching sessions. And then from there, we even took one of those Makerspace lessons for 4th 5th grade and had created an extension with the makey makeies. And then even from there, it was so much fun. We had so much fun with this unit. We created a choice board that 2nd through 5th grade could use that were related to ocean resources that could be used as an extension, as stem stations, or even as sub plans? So it was again so much fun. We were gathering all these ideas and resources throughout our times together and created this well thought out unit together? Our teachers didn’t have to do this alone, and we even had a chat going on where we could share resources in there. And when we came together for our live calls, we are prepared and ready to go.

Naomi Meredith [00:17:30]:

This teacher also got the Lego spike essential kits, the Lego Education SPIKE essential kits? And these are an amazing kit by the way. I highly recommend them And she was starting to implement those with her students, but wasn’t sure how to use it where with all the grade levels since she didn’t have enough kits where each grade level could be working on it at the same time? So that was something we did plan into her structure where she could use that kit at specific Times they could still do certain lessons, but their tool might be modified with that Lego kit which was a really great asset for her. Also, once that year long plan was mapped out, this teacher had some really cool ideas when it came to different lessons she wanted to try. She really wanted to do a unit in February for black history month and different black inventors, so we created different ideas where she could use robotics And have the students learn about different inventors and also thought of different cool Makerspace and 7 story lessons that could connect to this unit? This teacher also was really interested in stop motion animation which I Absolutely love. It’s a very fun unit to teach. And fun fact about stop motion, all of the work happens in front of the camera, not behind. It’s a lot easier than you might think. In another one of our sessions, we actually played around with the stop motion animation technology And talked about different units in different ways that that could be used in the classroom setting where it could be a small little task Or something bigger as well? I feel so privileged that I had the opportunity to work with this teacher in my STEM into summer group coaching program And this teacher already had great skills as a teacher and had a great program in mind but really needed that community and that extra push to continue for her to keep her going and even think about STEM lessons in a different way? If this experience sounds like something that you would absolutely love to jump in on, the doors are open to my stem into fall 2023 group coaching program? I would love to have like minded teachers like you who Has taught their program for a little bit of time, but you definitely need that community to really think through those lessons together And also have somebody on the side who can see where your lessons are at, what is your year look like, what are the supplies you are hoping for, And how can we grow it from there? Spots are limited in this group coaching program, but I would absolutely love to have you, and you can jump in on that at NaomiMeredith.com/STEMintofall.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

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

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

Taught STEM 4 Years or More-The Connector [STEM Teacher Pathway Series] [ep. 125]

Check out the full episode on taught STEM 4 years or more:

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

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

Episode Summary

Once you hit 4+ years as a STEM teacher, you enter into the next phase of the STEM teacher pathway, which is the Connector STEM teacher stage. This stage is where you find your groove as a STEM teacher. In today’s episode, I’m sharing the successes and challenges that come with this stage, the importance of continuous growth and innovation in your teaching practices, and sharing behind the scenes of my journey at this stage.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

An overview of the 3rd stage of the STEM teacher pathway: the Connector STEM teacher
What Connector STEM teachers need to continue to grow in their teaching role
Challenges that arise during this stage of the STEM teacher pathway
Things I learned and experienced as a Connector STEM teacher

Resources Mentioned:

Group Coaching Cohort: STEM into Fall: naomimeredith.com/stemintofall
- Limited time BONUS for Level 2 of the program (Expires 9/28/23): $500/off when you use CODE: STEMINTOFALL
Private Podcast: My (Not So Straight) Pathway to STEM Teacher Success [and what I would do different today]- naomimeredith.com/STEMpathwaypod
K-2 STEM Planning Workshop
Grab the school-wide news workshop: naomimeredith.com/newsworkshop
STEM Teacher Bookshelf Community
1:1 Coaching: naomimeredith.com/coaching

Episode Transcript:

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

When I made it through my 1st 3 years of teaching K-5 STEM, and at this point 9 years of teaching in general, I knew I had found my thing in education. I have definitely developed a passion for elementary STEM, and it is something that continues to grow and a big reason why this podcast is here today. Getting to this stage in my STEM teacher pathway definitely has had many successes and also a lot of challenges. In this episode, I’m going to walk you through the 3rd stage of the STEM teacher pathway, the connector.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:15]:

In case you haven’t heard, I am so excited to announce that the doors are open to my STEM into fall group coaching. If you’re looking for more support when it comes to your STEM lessons for the year, figuring out how to use your materials and what materials you need to purchase in the future, and having that guidance of like-minded teachers like you, and getting to learn with me and from me, Naomi Meredith, then I invite you to the limited spots in my group coaching program and for this super fun cohort. You can grab more information at naomimeredith.com/STEMintofall. I could not believe that I made it to my 4th and 5th year teaching elementary STEM. And not only that, getting into my 10th or 11th year of teaching. And if you’ve been teaching a while like I was, it’s a pretty big accomplishment. I never knew going into elementary education that STEM was even a thing or even how to implement technology. I didn’t have a whole lot of experience with that in my student teaching and really my 1st 2 years of teaching as well.

Naomi Meredith [00:02:34]:

I did do a lot of hands-on learning and experiments, so I’ve always known that’s important in a way that I definitely like to learn. I’m a very highly creative person, and I just really love to create, whether it is digital things or things with my hands. I love that kind of stuff. So elementary STEM, in hindsight, of all the things that I have done in all of my experiences, is definitely a great fit for me, and I love thinking of new challenges and new lesson plans that students can implement. I just really love learning. I really, really do. Super corny, but just ask my teacher honey, husband. It’s how I am.

Naomi Meredith [00:03:17]:

Yes. I am a bit corny, and I really mean what I say. I really, I really do love to learn. So what was it like? What is a connector? What is the stage on the STEM teacher pathway? Well, as a connector, you are in 4 plus years of teaching elementary STEM, whether you’ve been teaching in the classroom before this role but really you’ve been teaching elementary STEM for a while, and you are filling your groove, you’re feeling confident about your class, you’re probably like me, you have a whole bank of lessons that can carry you throughout the year and beyond. And you’re able to adapt easily. You know that your lessons are standards-based, but also, if there are new things that arise, you are able to implement those things into your program and take out the things that might not be working anymore. Likewise, you really do know your students. When you’ve been in a spot for 4 plus years, you know your students not only on that personal level but also as a grade level and those things that those ages like to connect with and the types of lessons that work best for them.

Naomi Meredith [00:04:30]:

You definitely have been able to differentiate your lessons, whether those are things that are planned or even things on the go, you’re able to figure out things because you’re really comfortable with the tools and the setting in your classroom, and it really shows too with your students. They really are comfortable as well, and they get to know you. I recently actually visited my school that I taught at their fun run, and I thought it’d be a good way to see all the kids in a less non-intrusive way. So I saw every kid, but I wasn’t interrupting all their classrooms. And it was so funny. They’re like, oh my gosh. Miss Meredith, the other STEM teacher, is over there. Like, it’s fine.

Naomi Meredith [00:05:12]:

It’s okay. It’s not like a competition. But, it’s just really cool because the kids were so used to me and a great, great teacher in that role now, but they got so used to me over the course of 5 years in the way that I do things that they didn’t know any other way that STEM could be taught. And everybody has their different rhythm and things that they’re comfortable with. So just really cool when you get to that place where kids really get to know you, and you get to know them and also the things they like and don’t like. Also, when you’ve been teaching in this role for a while. As the connector, you are looking for really in-depth ways to connect as a community and to push you along and push your thinking, whether that is in your own school, your own school district, or even beyond your district walls, where you can find a place to collaborate and continue to grow as an educator. Your biggest focus is when and you’re in this general because you are comfortable in that is to make sure that you don’t get stuck in your ways, especially if you are the only person in your building who teaches this subject, it’s kind of easy just to keep doing what you’ve been doing.

Naomi Meredith [00:06:23]:

But really, in any role in education, you want to be continuing to learn and grow and adapt, and that is the same with your STEM lessons. You might even notice with your students that they need more of a challenge. When you first got in that role, they might know some things they might not, especially if they’ve never had a STEM program before. So, you definitely need to grow and change your program based on global trends. What are some new things that they need to be learning? What are some skills that are important? And also, this might even be the types of tools. Do you need to update some of the things in your curriculum, all of those types of things you still want to grow and change and provide that innovative experience for your students? Also, you might even be experimenting with different teaching styles. Maybe you tried a little bit in your 1st couple of years, but you’re feeling really confident where you could be co-teaching with other teachers in your building.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:21]:

Maybe they do something in their class that they bring into your classroom. Maybe you’re co-teaching across your district, maybe you’re planning whole units with other teachers in your district, or maybe you’re even planning a lesson with people in a group coaching setting, which is something that I do in my group coaching program where we developed a whole ocean unit, a whole entire Makerspace ocean unit that doesn’t even exist in my shop. We created this together based on the passions and interests of the teachers and their students and also their lesson plans and created all of these different things together, which was so powerful, especially since the teachers in my program were the only ones who taught STEM. So, definitely looking for those ways because you have that capacity, you understand your program, but you really wanna grow in it. Maybe you’ve already dabbled in this before, but even your after-school programs have become more refined, and you’ve really figured out your rhythm and flow with that and really pick the programs that you’re really passionate about and are worthwhile your time after school. So, in my journey as a connector in elementary STEM. So, I was going into my 4th year. By this point, I had already completed my STEM certificate and my master’s in STEM education.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:43]:

So again, I will definitely record a podcast about this in the future. Just waiting on a few things. But that’s something I definitely have planned at some point. Because I am so glad I ended up waiting to get my master’s in education. Then I waited, what, until my 9th year of teaching to get my masters because I didn’t know what I wanted to spend all this money on. I always thought curriculum and instruction, which I still think, would be a good fit because that is something I really love doing. But I’m so glad that I waited because, again, I figured out by this point in my career, end of my 3rd year teaching STEM, going into my 4th and 5th, that I was super passionate about this. This is my jam.

Naomi Meredith [00:09:26]:

This is what I absolutely love doing. So that might even be an opportunity for you. How can you continue your learning, maybe even going into another program to pursue that? Also, starting off in my 4th year, my schedule had a big change. So, if you go back and listen to the other 2 episodes, I talk more about my schedule and how crazy it was, and all the different hats. My different hats didn’t go away. The only thing that changed was that I wasn’t going to be co-teaching anymore just based on the funding and my school and how the week was split up, and where the kids would go when they didn’t have STEM, that wasn’t an opportunity our school had anymore. So with that, it was exciting.

Naomi Meredith [00:10:08]:

I actually got to teach more STEM. So I got all of my kids, my 6 classes a day, my 150 kids a day for 5 days in a row, 45 minutes each. So I had 5th, 4th, 3rd, lunch, and then first, to kinder and second. So, I had the same 6 classes for those 5 days in a row. And this was really amazing to me because I was so used to teaching the 3 days out of the week. And for me, I was like super excited, and the kids were too. We literally got double the amount of STEM. And with that, because my projects would kind of carry on for 2 months, I was actually doubling my year-long plan.

Naomi Meredith [00:10:51]:

Now, I already had that planned out. I already know what knew what those lessons were, and I’ve tried some things here and there, but I really got to dive in and go through that whole engineering design process. So maybe if you’re thinking in this role, how you can better improve your program? Are there ways that you can even extend the time, the amount of time that you actually see kids? That can actually make a huge difference in your teaching, too, and be a different challenge. How can you make projects last longer? During these 4th and 5th years is really when I also started exploring more STEM stations. I had tried it before, but I am really being more strategic in those STEM stations. I talked all about it in my k through 2 STEM planning workshop, and we also did a lot that in my group coaching as well, is planning out those STEM stations that are purposeful and standards-aligned, not random, and something that the kids look forward to. And that was a huge game changer in my management and also my whole curriculum in k to 5. During these years, I really did refine my afterschool clubs.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:54]:

I was known for hosting a lot of after-school clubs because I wanted kids to be involved and try new passions and continue things that they really, really loved. I always had those certain kids who always signed up for my STEM clubs. Every single year, I knew they would sign up, and I always made sure they got in because that was their total thing. This is when I actually developed my school-wide video news. So I also did a whole series about this and have a whole workshop all about setting up your school-wide news. But this is when I really transformed our school-wide announcements and built that consistency and excitement over something that would show every single day and also deliver important information. So this became like a whole movement in my building, and since I had the capacity where I knew where my curriculum was going, I really could focus on having this really awesome program when it came to my school-wide news where we would video prerecord the news at least a week ahead and then also edit, and those could be shown in classrooms based on the teacher’s time and not worrying about the announcements blaring overhead. Also, with after-school clubs, I really was focusing on hosting clubs that would be a part of our district events.

Naomi Meredith [00:13:13]:

And those things were actually growing in our district at the same time. So before, I did clubs where it was kinda random, I was testing out tools a lot of times, like, I don’t even know how this tool works. Let me run a club so I can figure it out. But at this point, I kind of knew how those tools worked. So I picked clubs that would actually benefit a future event where a lot of kids could participate, and I could bring a lot of kids to that event, which was super exciting, especially in this 4th and 5th year of teaching STEM. Again, this was my 10th or 11th year of education. I am the kind of person who’s always trying to pursue and grow and learn and wants more challenges and opportunities. So I was really seeking out ways to connect with other teachers for myself, but also to connect with all of you because I know how important that is.

Naomi Meredith [00:14:04]:

So I’ve always had my business for this whole STEM world, elementary STEM coach Naomi Meredith, I’m really transformed within my 1st year of teaching STEM, but especially in my 4th 5th years is really developing things that could bring you together and help you dive in deeper like those online workshops and my membership. So, I’m really thinking about those things. Also for myself, I really wanted to share that knowledge with teachers in my district and present at a lot of events that we did. We did some professional development where we could sign up and teach about something. So, I really tried to push myself and be in that role where I could teach others about the things that were happening in my classroom and then also present at a lot of online summits and online conferences. Again, I will share information with teachers who haven’t heard of me before and need some new refreshing ideas in their classroom and push myself that way. It does take a lot, yes, I can do this with my students and figure it out and do all that. But it’s another where you can take what you have learned, refine it, and be able to present it in a way that makes sense to others.

Naomi Meredith [00:15:18]:

It’s really hard, everybody. Maybe I maybe I don’t make it seem very easy. And I apologize. But it really does take a lot a lot of practice to really go through. Okay. Here’s this concept I want to explain to you, and then let me break it down so that it makes sense so you can make sense of that. So, I mean, I guess that’s teaching, but really teaching how you are teaching, that is a challenge. So beyond that 5th year of teaching K-5 STEM, I did end up leaving the classroom, which I talk more about in episode 108, and talking through this whole journey in education, but really continuing that passion where I can be here to support you in all sorts of ways in your elementary journey so that you can be a connector, and you can be that navigator, investigator, all those things in your STEM teacher pathway where I can provide more time and support with for you with my resources, podcast, all of those different programs, and also have the opportunity to connect with other companies and still get my feet wet in teaching.

Naomi Meredith [00:16:27]:

I do have some things where I still get to teach them in person because I absolutely love it. I am also so passionate about making this elementary STEM community so much smaller. So when it comes to different resources that I can specifically provide you if you’re in this stage of the connector or going into this stage. You’re going into those later years of teaching elementary STEM, and you’re thinking, how else can I grow? What support do I need? Continue listening to this podcast. I absolutely love you being here. And if there’s something that you’re looking for, please shoot me an email or message me on Instagram. I take screenshots of those and save them and end up planning those into my content because that lets me know if I don’t have an answer for you, like, hey, I already recorded in this episode, if I don’t have that, then I will end up recording it. So it really helps me know what you are looking for, what are those things that I want to be creating and help make sense of everything for you? From there, if you’re really looking for a community, I definitely encourage you to join my STEM teacher bookshelf community, where we read a book a month to help us continue our growth.

Naomi Meredith [00:17:38]:

I read them at least 2 times where we can continue that growth in STEM and innovation. There’s always more to learn, and have that community where we can discuss the topics that are presented in the book and also have a really fun live call where we can connect together. Now, when it comes to more big lesson getting and really digging into your program and making sure everything’s cohesive, and you’re finding ways to grow, we do this in my group coaching program It’s open only a couple times a year. Currently, if you’re listening to this live, it is the STEM into fall cohort where we will get started in October, and we will go through part of the new year just with winter breaks and all of that. Want to make sure we honor all of our times off, but also honor the time that we are other. So, that is a great opportunity for you to connect and grow and learn. I absolutely love my STEM in spring group. It was such a great group of ladies, and we really connected within our chats and also our live calls.

Naomi Meredith [00:18:40]:

I had a plan going forward and then definitely after things based on what our teachers needed in the group, and it was just an amazing place to be. So, every cohort is definitely different. There is a plan in mind, but then also changing that for what you’re looking for. If you really just want some help 1 on 1, I’m also available for that too. So there are also some ways we can work together for the short term and the long term if you just wanna connect with me on a deeper level. And, Definitely, those workshops are available as well, some planning workshops and also how to host your own video school-wide news. So everything will be linked for you in the show notes. Definitely, I’m creating and always thinking of ways to help you grow as an educator.

Naomi Meredith [00:19:22]:

Even if I’m not sharing them quite yet, there are things that I’m always working on behind the scenes to improve myself in my STEM teacher pathway and ultimately help you and your students so that it is an amazing and great place for you to be.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

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

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

The Navigator STEM Teacher [STEM Teacher Pathway Series] [ep.124]

Check out the full episode on The Navigator STEM Teacher [STEM Teacher Pathway Series]:

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

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

Episode Summary

You made it through your first year of STEM as an investigator STEM teacher, and now you’re transitioning into the navigator STEM teacher role. Whether this is your 2nd or 3rd year as a STEM teacher, there is so much more to learn when you enter the navigator stage of the STEM teacher pathway. In today’s episode, I’m sharing my experience as a navigator STEM teacher, things that I learned, and giving you some great resources to ensure you excel in this stage.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

What is a navigator STEM teacher
My experience in the navigator stage of the STEM teacher pathway
Resources to support you as a navigator STEM teacher

Resources Mentioned:

Group Coaching Cohort: STEM into Fall: naomimeredith.com/stemintofall
- Limited time BONUS for Level 2 of the program (Expires 9/28/23): $500/off when you use CODE: STEMINTOFALL
Private Podcast: My (Not So Straight) Pathway to STEM Teacher Success [and what I would do different today]- naomimeredith.com/STEMpathwaypod
Free Playlist Categories for the Elementary STEM Coach: naomimeredith.com/podcastplaylist
STEM Teacher Bookshelf Community
1:1 Coaching: naomimeredith.com/coaching

Episode Transcript:

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

Once I got through my 1st year teaching elementary STEM, I was so excited. This 1st year in teaching STEM confirmed that this was a passion of mine, and I was ready for year 2. That 1st year in my STEM teacher pathway, I had the role of a navigator, and I was ready to step into that next stage as an investigator. What are these stages that I’m talking about? Let’s dive into the 2nd stage of your STEM teacher pathway, the investigator, and how my experiences can connect with yours.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:05]:

The doors are officially open to my STEM into fall group coaching program, and you are hearing it first on this podcast. I haven’t talked about it anywhere else. I am actually ending my STEM into the spring cohort this week if you’re listening to this podcast live. And me and the group members, the teachers in this group, we’re So sad that our time is over. It has gone by so fast, and we had four incredible months together where the teachers audited their lesson plans. They looked at their inventory and were able to see where they were at in their STEM year and where they would like to go.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:59]:

I really felt like during this time with these teachers, I got an inside look at their classrooms, and I really got a feel for what their teaching style is, how their program runs, and how I could best support I loved working with these teachers every single week, including our live calls and our group messaging, seeing pictures, hearing successes of lessons that we planned together, and how great they were, including the whole k through 5 ocean unit that we planned together. I am so sad that this group is over, but I’m confident that they’re gonna be even more amazing in their STEM spaces. The spots are limited for my group coaching program, and I would love to invite you in. There are 2 different levels for you to join that can meet your needs, and by being a podcast listener, you get a bonus of $500 off on level 2 of our group coaching STEM into fall. Now, this is a limited-time bonus. It will expire on September 28, 2023, so make sure to jump into that. You can join our group coaching program at namiemeridith.com/stemintofall. And to grab that extra $500 off in level 2, use the coupon code stemintofall, all one word and no spaces.

Naomi Meredith [00:03:19]:

I’ll see you in our group. Make sure to go and claim your spot. Making it through my 1st year of elementary STEM was quite a whirlwind, and there were a lot of comparisons between that 1st year teaching STEM and my 1st year teaching ever. Now, thankfully, I had 6 years of teaching in the homeroom classroom, 2nd grade for 2 years, 3rd grade for 4 years. Luckily, I had teaching experience under my belt, so it did really play into my success that 1st year teaching elementary STEM. What was it like my next couple of years teaching elementary STEM? Because I knew this was definitely the pathway for me as an educator. So, let’s jump into my STEM teacher pathway and how I moved from being an investigator in my 1st year to moving into the role of a navigator. So, what is a navigator in the STEM teacher pathway? This is a whole pathway that I came up with, and you might be in this stage of your STEM teaching career.

Naomi Meredith [00:04:25]:

A navigator is you’ve already accomplished that 1st year teaching STEM, and you are within your 2nd to 3 years of STEM. You are really getting the hang of managing multiple projects at once. It’s not as overwhelming as it used to be. You know what’s going on in your controlled chaos environment, and you are really getting those systems and routines down. Of course, tweaking things when they’re not working the way that they should, but you are getting that momentum in your STEM space. With that, you have your bank of lesson plans that went well your 1st year, and you’re starting to work on getting creative with your lessons. Maybe not a whole overhaul of every single lesson in your program, but maybe trying some new things to see how they will work and how you can really challenge your students who are ready for it. With that, your main areas of focus are to continue building your program and refining your practices, along with building your classroom community and starting a little bit with the community outside of your own classroom walls.

Naomi Meredith [00:05:36]:

You also, with that lesson planning, are starting to plan your own original standards-based lessons now that you have seen and tried lessons that are standards-based, You are ready to start creating and implementing your own. Now that you’re in your 2nd or 3rd year of teaching STEM, you’re not as overwhelmed. You were reaching out to Teachers before, but really, I need a solution to this for tomorrow. but you’re hoping to reach out to other teachers who are like-minded like you in a not so last minute type of situation, but people that you can talk to regularly when it comes to your lesson planning and also seeking guidance for what you’re trying to do in your classroom. For me, in my role as a navigator, It was very interesting these 2 years of teaching STEM. Let’s be real. So, my 1st year teaching STEM was a little bit crazy, In my schedule, my 1st 2nd year was very similar. In my 2nd year teaching STEM, I taught on Mondays instead of teaching GT science, I did my 1st year teaching STEM. I was actually teaching 8 classes a day. And that was getting a little bit crazy.

Naomi Meredith [00:06:49]:

It was extra planning time for teachers. I was getting paid through a grant. That’s a whole other thing. But I was getting paid for a grant for my Mondays, and I was providing extra plan time for teachers. So I saw that Monday lesson as an isolated one-day lesson where even if I had the same classes later on that week, I wouldn’t connect those lessons together. Then, on Tuesdays, I was co-teaching with the teachers in my building to help them implement STEM and innovation and creative ways. And then, throughout all this time, I was also the technology point person in managing our school-wide technology, cleaning that up, creating systems and processes that weren’t there. Then, students had STEM as a specials Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, 3 days in a row for 45-minute sessions.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:35]:

So I had those same 6 classes for 3 days, and then it repeated the following week. Those Mondays did get a little bit crazy. I was really worn down after 8 classes. 6 says a lot. 8 is even more, and there was always 1 Monday where I had all my 5th graders and all of my 1st graders. And I’ve talked about this in a previous podcast episode. Those are, for me, my most challenging grade levels and for teaching both of those on the same day. And there’s so many similarities between those ages.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:11]:

I was really struggling, so I ended up splitting up my Mondays where I taught 4 classes, their extra plan on Mondays, and 4 on Tuesdays. So, things are getting off to a good start. And then in the spring of 2020. We know what happened, but we all went remote online. And that was really intense for me because, yes, I had all of these roles, but my role as the technology point person really came into play. Teachers were seeking me out for my knowledge of technology in general and what can they do with teaching their students online. How are we supposed to connect? What are we supposed to do? So, my role as a coach and a co-teacher was really amplified during this 2020 season. There were some things that I did have to do for elementary STEM.

Naomi Meredith [00:09:06]:

My teammates and I created a choice board. And, you know, for that spring of 2020, it was kind of a Let’s make the rules as we go kind of teaching because no one really knew what to do. And it was weird. It was super interesting. So, Again, I took on that role as a coach, and I got a lot of firsthand online coaching experience during 2020 time because our special schedule was really random and sporadic. So what I ended up doing is hosting a lot of mini work Shops for the teachers in my building based on their needs and based on the things that they were telling me that they needed when I popped into their grade level conversations virtually. And I was hosting these online mini-workshops for teachers that were really targeted for what they were looking for, whether it was specific Tools that they wanted to learn more about and how to utilize those online, or maybe it had to do with lesson planning. Maybe they were looking for creative ways to engage their students while they were teaching remotely.

Naomi Meredith [00:10:08]:

So I really had a lot of coaching experience and got to know my Teachers in a different realm, where I had had experience using online tools a lot, whether it’s in my classroom or just talking with other teachers online. And so this was a role that I really became comfortable with and really started to love this online coaching because I was doing this in person, but now I had this experience doing this online. And so this was in my 2nd year of teaching, so that was very interesting. Going into my 3rd year of teaching STEM, it was a weird year for us. We actually did Start off with all of the kids going into the building. We had all of our students 100% in elementary, and then at any moment, a class could go online, and we would be treat teaching virtually. So we definitely had to adapt, and I had to have lessons Since ready to go, that would work remotely because maybe even I was teaching 5th grade, and then 2 hours later, 3rd grade was gone, and I was teaching them remotely. And so it was just very crazy and chaotic in that fall.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:17]:

It did start to slow down in the spring of 2021, but definitely trying to make my lesson plans work for a lot of different environments in that 3rd year. In my 2nd and 3rd year of teaching STEM, I was already planning it along with my year-long plan and really looking into the standards when it comes to creating standards-based lessons. I had a few from the previous year that were really strong, and I was just refining them when I was teaching those. And then I was adding more into my year-long plan that you all know today at that k through 5 stem year-long bundle. Out of this, a very memorable unit was actually my STEM survival camp unit. That was something coming into the fall of 2020 Was a unit that I created that could be done remotely, but also be very beneficial in person. And students didn’t have to share materials, and they were actually using materials from outside. So that’s a really big insight behind the scenes of how that whole unit was created and where I was in my STEM teacher journey.

Naomi Meredith [00:12:25]:

Likewise, going into this 3rd year, I was looking for more meaningful connections with other like-minded teachers like me. I wasn’t finding a whole lot on Instagram. Yes. There were those little pops of conversations in relationships that I made, but I wanted to have something that was more consistent and could help me grow as an educator. So, at first, I was just going to get my certificate in STEM and have that endorsement or have that certification, which then actually ended up leading me into my master’s in STEM leadership, which I started at the end of the spring of 2020. So it was funny because when I was teaching students online or when I got to see them again in the fall, I was like, hey. You were doing online learning, and so was I, and I’m still doing that right now. Like, this is a real thing.

Naomi Meredith [00:13:15]:

Online learning is not a new concept. This is something that real-life people do. I’m hoping to do a future podcast episode about my masters in more detail. I know some of you have asked me about it, so I have that in mind. I haven’t forgotten. I’m just waiting on a few things before I can do that. Also, in these 2nd and 3rd years of teaching STEM and in this role at my STEM teacher pathway as the navigator, I was getting more involved with district-wide planning events. So, I was feeling confident in my STEM space.

Naomi Meredith [00:13:47]:

There were things I was still figuring out, but I felt I had more of that mental capacity at that time because my year was basically planned. I was just trying the lessons, but I had more of a capacity where I wanted to help my district even more. So I helped them with planning events such as an event we did called Steamapalooza, where we had a lot of different booths where kids could experience Different quick STEM experiences and also different people in the community to share how STEM works in the real world. I also planned our first RoboCon, and me and another teacher were in charge of the Wonder Workshop competition, where we actually created stations for the challenge where students could go apply their skills, and they were all Olympic themed. So that was a really fun experience. And funny enough, that whole RoboCon situation, that whole event happened right before The shutdown in March 2020, so that actually happened at the end of February. So we’re so glad, in hindsight we were able to kick that off. Also, in the 2nd and 3rd year, I was trying other after-school clubs, adding back ones that students really, really loved, and getting more involved a little bit more in our community outside of my typical 6 classes a day and all the other roles honestly that I had.

Naomi Meredith [00:15:07]:

I just really wanted to get to know my students in a different way, build those relationships, and really try out other tools that I could use for future lessons. If you wanna hear more about the types of clubs that I’ve done, I have an episode where I talk about the 8 different after-school clubs, And that will be linked in the show notes if you are interested. If you are having a similar experience and you are possibly in the role of a navigator in your STEM teacher pathway. I definitely have some resources here to support you and to make sure that you are feeling well and not searching for resources and not knowing where to go, I have been curating for those and continue to improve these things to make sure that they are that serving you. 1st is this podcast, the elementary STEM coach podcast, and I definitely plan lessons thinking of all of you in what you need and the questions that you were asking me. So, thank you again so much for being here. And if you’re loving it, I appreciate all of the comments and kind words and all of the reviews. So, this podcast is definitely a great resource for you.

Naomi Meredith [00:16:16]:

If you’re looking for something specific, I do have a free playlist for you to check out. I have all of my episodes categorized into topics. So it’s the same exact episodes, but they’re organized in a way. So, if you wanna learn just about robotics, you can have all the lessons and binge listen to those about just robotics. If you wanna hear just about how I can help you and your role, you can listen to those lessons. And so it’s pretty cool because once you get the link, you actually get a little private link. You can’t search it up in a podcast app, but you actually scan it, and then you can get it like a real podcast. So it’s pretty cool how it works out.

Naomi Meredith [00:16:54]:

Also, if you’re seeking out a community, that is a huge thing that Really helped me grow as a STEM educator and is continuing to help me grow. But there are a lot of different ways where I am pulling you all together in this Online space to help you feel successful. 1st is my STEM teacher bookshelf community, where we live once a month. And we also have questions that go along with the books that I put together for you based on books I have read or ones that I really think would benefit us in this STEM educator community. And so it really pushes you along to improve your professional development reading, but also connect with other teachers who are like-minded like you? So it’s a super fun community, and I live for those live calls. If you’re looking for something more where when it comes to really diving into your lessons and all of the materials and how to put everything together and you really want more of that support, I invite you into my STEM into fall group coaching program where we will work together over the course of a few months. We will take some breaks with the whole winter holidays. But over the next few months, to really go through your year-long plan and push you along with that, along with also how we can use the materials you have on hand and what are some other purchasing decisions you can make in the future. I welcome you into that group.

Naomi Meredith [00:18:16]:

I am so excited to kick this off. Our live call will be in mid-October, so make sure you sign up before then. And I do have a special $500 off for being a podcast listener. So if you put in the code stemintofall, you get $500 off for this next week, off of that level, too. If you just wanna work with me 1 on 1 just for a little bit, like, maybe for a week or two, and just have that 1 to 1 time with me, I also do offer that type of coaching as well. My main goal is to help you out, just as past Naomi would’ve loved to have all these resources all over 1 place and really build my STEM community and feel successful. Also, if you wanna hear more behind the scenes, I created another free pop-up podcast, my not so straight pathway to STEM teaching and what I would do differently today. There are 3 episodes you could binge within the hour, so pop on over. Everything I’m talking about is in the show notes.

Naomi Meredith [00:19:13]:

Know it’s a lot of things, but it’s all linked there for you. But with this pop-up podcast, you can hear more behind the scenes of what my pathway was like. In the next episode, we’re gonna be talking about the 3rd stage in the STEM teacher pathway and what my journey was like in that part of my STEM teaching career.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

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

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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