How to Teach STEM During Back to School

Are you in a new STEM position and overwhelmed by the thought of what you are going to do the first month of school in your STEM class? Keep it simple with these practical back to school ideas for how to teach STEM.

Tips & Tricks for how to teach STEM

When I was preparing for my first year teaching STEM, I had no idea what to teach either. I teach my specials rotation Wednesday-Friday for students K-5. I have 4 rotations with over 600 kids. So I basically see each class 3 times/month. You can see more in detail what my week is like by reading about it here.

Having the background in the general education classroom before teaching STEM helped me realize that a lot of the back to school stuff applied to my new space, just in a different way.

Here is what I did and it really helped me have a successful rest of the school year and I think that it will help you too!

How to Teach STEM: Classroom Rules & Expectations

Every classroom needs to have a clear management system so students can feel safe and be successful in your space. Even if you don't have the students all day, this definitely still applies in your classroom, if not more, since you have limited time!

If you're coming from a general ed classroom like me, ask yourself those same questions that students need to know:

How do you want students to come into your classroom? Where do you want students to sit when they first come into your classroom?
When students leave the room & for the restroom, what are the policies?
How should students respond and behave during a lesson?
What are your expectations during whole group, group work and partner work?
How much time are you going to allow for a mini-lesson, student work time, clean up & reflection? (I need to work on my reflection piece for sure!)
Where do students line up at the end of class?
Is there some type of class reward for good behavior? What about individual students?

Along with that, these have been my go-to classroom rules in my STEM classroom and they also work well in regular classrooms when students are handling technology.

how-to-teach-stem — Click on the image to grab these posters for your classroom!

technology-class-rules — Teaching specials again and just reviewing rules with the kids? Think of how to make it a game like this one; which team can put together the puzzle pieces of the classroom rules the quickest?

For specific projects, new rules & expectations often need to be introduced during the year. For example, during the first month of STEM, robots aren't typically introduced. However when they are brought out later in the year, additional rules need to be established to ensure the robots are cared for properly.

Classroom Materials

This one took me a few months to get the materials in places that made the most sense. Like I said, I teach K-5 and it will definitely take some trial and error to have a system that works for all grades.

For example, I thought having a bucket of crayons and scissors would work well with 1st grade. For some reason, this wasn't the best fit and there were a bunch of sharing issues.

As a solution, I came up with STEM Supply buckets which have the basic tools and student might need during a project. If they need the supplies, they can grab their own box. This really helped build independence with my students of all ages.

In turn if germs are an issue, think of having students bringing their supplies boxes with them. That can help limit the amount of hands touching all of the supplies during the day.

stem-classroom-supplies — Individual essential supplies to complete STEM projects. (click on image to grab labels.)

Think about ways materials can be organized so students can get the tools that they need successfully without having to relying on the teacher constantly. I know baby ducks are super cute when they follow their mommies, but it's not super cute when students follow their teachers all around the classroom.

Teach students how they can get their supplies, and put them away, for each class time and also which ones might not be needed for certain times.

If there are a lot of pieces required for a specific task, consider taking pictures of what it should look like cleaned up. Pictures go a long way and it's a lot easier to explain rather than verbally.

Handling Technology & Passwords

I got really lucky and was fortunate enough to have a brand-new, renovated classroom to start my first year teaching STEM. The room before used to be a computer lab with desktop computers lining the walls. Those devices eventually got reassigned to other areas of the school building. There are a few laptops and iPads left in the classroom for various projects.

My classrooms 2nd-5th mainly use laptops for their projects. There are many times that I want students to bring their student device with them. I will schedule groups of emails to go out to my classroom teachers the week I have their class to let them know to have their students carry their student device to my room (with 2 hands of course) and/or roll down their class cart.

I actually don't keep passwords on hand. Quickly, students learned that if they didn't have theirs memorized yet, they kept a sticky note on their computer as a reminder of their credentials. For my younger students (K&1), I rarely need student passwords during STEM class. During co-teaching, that might be a different story which you can read about here.

This is an alternative option to charging classroom devices if your school is on a budget.

This is a system that has worked well in my building and has visually helped the students see that a lot of the work that we do in class isn't just “stuck” in the STEM classroom and can be completed in other locations in the building.

Digital Citizenship

Digital Citizenship should be taught all year long in any classroom setting. However, especially if it's your first year in your STEM position, digital citizenship is the perfect place to start the first month. This will help you gauge what your students know and don't know about the topic. I go more into detail on how I teach digital citizenship, which you can read here.

Two favorite digital citizenship resources are Google Interland and Common Sense Media.

Team Building STEM Challenges

At the beginning of the school year, teachers are working hard to build up their classroom community and how all the students in the room can get along and be successful. You will be a huge help by doing different team challenges in your classroom as well the first month you have kids.

Not only will this help students get to know one another in new ways, it will help you get to know them as well! There are millions of ideas on Pinterest. Start a new board with STEM Challenges or you can just follow mine here.

Fail Forward

We all know that the first month of school is crucial to help build the rest of the school year. Keep in mind though, it definitely won't be perfect.

Here are some fails my first month of teaching STEM.

I didn't know that school's wifi password and people kept asking me for it. Which makes sense since I'm the STEM teacher…
Half of my classroom walls weren't finished. They were temporary with an awkward door so I ended up making it a graffiti wall for students to sign when they were done with digital citizenship.
I had a first grader eat crayons the second day of class and spit them back in the group crayon bucket. I guess he already ate all his other crayons back in class…
A kindergartener wound up in the 5th grade hallway even though my classroom is directly across from hers.
I had these awesome fancy mats for students to sit on that sounded like pool noodles being slapped on wet concrete when they were put on the floor. Multiply this sound by 150…

How to Teach STEM- Resources for Getting Started

To help you even more, here are all of my go-to materials to aid you in your STEM position; my STEM Starter Kit Bundle. Over 25 different resources to get your classroom started on the right foot!

Activities for back to school included in this bundle:

Other blog posts you might enjoy:

Valuable Classroom Setup Tips for Your Elementary Lab by Science and STEAM Team

In conclusion, what do you typically teach the first month of STEM? Feel free to direct message me on Instagram, @naomimeredith_ and I would love to chat with you!