Tag: makerspace

Build a City STEM Project to Try [ep.63]

Check out the full episode on Build a City STEM Project to Try:

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Episode Summary

How can you have students plan and build a community based on Earth’s features in an area? In today’s episode, I share an in-depth overview of the build a city STEM project. In this lesson, I tie in the concept of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data. It also incorporates the Engineering Design Process. This is such a fun, Makerspace lesson that my students loved, and I know that yours will too.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

An overview of the build a city STEM project
An in-depth look at how the lesson went throughout the week when I taught it
How you can implement this lesson in your classroom
Where you can find the resources for this lesson

Resources Mentioned:

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

Episode Transcript:

Naomi Meredith 00:00

How can you have students plan and build a community based on Earth’s features in an area? Civil engineers and a lot of other STEM careers use GIS or Geographic Information Systems data to help them create a community that will work in the space that they are given. I’ll be sharing an in depth overview of the STEM lesson that I tie in using these concepts that you definitely don’t want to miss out on. Students will go through the Engineering Design Process and learn more about what GIS is, then they’ll be given different data of a fictional location that shows them the landscape of an area. From there, they will create the map of this data, they will build the physical features, and then they will plan a community based on these features, but also think about the way that their community works as a whole. Of course, they will make modifications to their design when things don’t work. This is such a fun, Makerspace lesson that my students loved, and I know that yours will too.

Naomi Meredith 01:39

It’s always fun for me to record episodes when I get to talk about the lessons that I’ve implemented with my students. And I’m always taking pictures and writing notes when I am teaching these lessons with my students. And so when I’m preparing episodes like this, I love to go back and reflect on that experience. A lot of fun things pop up for me that I can’t wait to share with you. So for this episode, I’m going to give you an overview of just the nuts and bolts of this lesson and who I taught it to, a snapshot of how the lesson went throughout the week. I will also share some fun stories throughout, how you can get started with this lesson in your classroom, and where you can get all of those resources. Also, thanks to you for filling out the podcast survey a little bit ago. A lot of you really wanted to hear about lesson plans and how I taught them with specific grades. So even if you aren’t teaching that specific grade that I taught this lesson in, don’t stop the podcast. You can definitely get ideas on how this can best work in your classroom. So don’t write me off. It’s fun to hear about other grade levels, especially when you teach all of the grade levels. Even if you don’t need something for that grade level, it’s just good to hear a lot of different ideas. So think of this, like being in a workshop with me, but I’m in your earbuds this time.

Naomi Meredith 03:03

For this build a city STEM project, I taught this with fourth grade. And of course, you could flex this to third grade, fifth grade, and beyond. There were a lot of different standards that I integrated in this lesson. Of course, the NGSS Next Generation Science Standards that talks about the Engineering Design Process, those were super apparent in this lesson. When it came to a specific grade level standard for fourth grade, there is an NGSS standard that talks about analyzing and interpreting data from maps to describe patterns of Earth features. When it comes to specific math standards that were integrated in this lesson, the mathematical practice was all about attending to precision. And as I am explaining this lesson, you’re gonna understand why students had to be really precise, when they are setting up the format of where their study was going to be built. There are also various math skills that are integrated throughout. I know some of you might think that I don’t integrate math in my lessons, but they definitely are there. Like I’ve mentioned in past episodes, I do like to use science as my base. But then all of the standards really are integrated in there. So I’m not handing out worksheets of this math standard and all that math is really embedded in all of these lessons. And sometimes the students don’t even know that at the time, which is okay. They’re using their math skills. It’s almost like when you are feeding kids vegetables that they don’t like and you’re sneaking them in like making zucchini bread and they really like it. What I have done in the past with my Teacher Honey who doesn’t like carrots. And so I bought mashed carrots, and thought he would be tricked and thought they were sweet potatoes but he wasn’t but anyway, there is math in this lesson. And so students are attending to a position with that mathematical practice. They’re also working on their math facts when purchasing supplies and yes, fourth graders still need this skill when using basic math skills. When we were purchasing supplies, which we’ll talk about in a little bit, this was super important for the kids and they needed that extra practice. Also, students will be graphing using data that is provided for them, and also creating the landscapes. They will have to use their measurement skills, and they are building the landscapes based on the measurement skills that are provided in the data as well. I didn’t do this step with my fourth graders just with the time I had. But for an extension, a great way is students can build a scaled model based on certain measurements that you give them, or they can make up the measurements. So there’s a lot of opportunities for math in this lesson that are definitely embedded all throughout the week. When it comes to English language arts standards, the students will be accessing a lot of nonfiction texts, when it comes to videos, articles, websites, all those nonfiction text features reading a map. And so those are definitely in that lesson and where they can gather information. And of course, don’t forget those speaking and listening skills. Oftentimes we think about there aren’t specific STEM standards as of this, as of now with this recording, totally true. But those speaking and listening standards are apparent in STEM. And so there’s a ton of collaboration and talking about their work in this lesson. Also, when it comes to the ISTE standards for students, students are being a knowledge constructor, and all of those various things that fall under that. So definitely check out the ISTE standards for students, if you’re not familiar with them. Again, another great way to integrate STEM and just planning and how you might want to assess your students. If that is an option or something you need to think about. I did teach this lesson five days in a row. But I know we all have different schedules. So modify what works best for you, take out the pieces that you need or don’t need. But I’m giving you an overview of how this went in my classroom.

Naomi Meredith 07:06

To start off this project, students were asked the question that they were going to be answering throughout the week, how can you plan and develop a community based on Earth’s features in an area. So not only are students going to be planning and designing a community, they really have to be mindful of the features in the area, and where they can and can’t build things. We talked about how if there’s a muddy area in a landscape, it doesn’t really make sense for a house to be built there. There might be some issues with where the water is filtering, maybe it gets flash floods all the time, that might not be the best place for a house to be built. And there’ll be some issues. Likewise, if there is a river or a lake, typically houses aren’t built on there, maybe you have a houseboat. But having students really be mindful of the landscape when they’re making their decisions, and planning their community it was super good for them to think about. From there, we did some imagining. And students learned more about GIS, geographical information systems, and how they’re used in various jobs. We looked at different videos, different websites and examples of how GIS is used. Sometimes it’s even there to help communities with water. So real life examples of how this is used in our world, and even day to day as well, when we’re using maps in our real lives. From there, we also talked about different people who have jobs that will use data and work together to build and create a community, you have the architects who are really thinking about the design and the structure of the buildings. But then you have the civil engineers as well. And then all of the city planners and just how all those people can work together. There are some great videos out there on YouTube that even talk about this collaboration. And they even talk about words of how the engine, they don’t say Engineering Design Process, but they actually talk about how they collaborate and work together. They plan and have to revise their plan. They build their plan, and then they make changes along the way. They have to make decisions. So all those things that you’re doing in your class and how they are actually used in the real world. So students were really mesmerized by this. And it really brought up some great conversations with the students of how some of their parents or people in their family or people they’ve seen in movies have these types of roles and then they are asking them questions throughout the week when they were designing their projects.

Naomi Meredith 09:36

If you’re a teacher who needs more of an extension or you are teaching GT or homeschool, or even a classroom teacher, you can definitely do this lesson. You can have students dive in deeper when it comes to the features that are in a city. Google Earth is a great resource for this and you can even create a scavenger hunt where students are finding different locations in the world and then they can notice the different features that a place might have, such as the human features, the cultural features, the physical features. And this can also tell a lot about a place and how people live, and why a city might be designed the way that it is. So that again, another great extension, another way to integrate a technology tool in your classroom, using those mapping skills, even pulling in a little bit of that social studies, and really helping them be thoughtful when they get to the planning of their city. Of course, there is more than enough information to dive in that background knowledge. And of course, all that knowledge really helps with the building. So take it or leave it, do what would work best with your students. I didn’t have time for the Google Earth. But if I were a classroom teacher, or any of those other roles that I mentioned, that’s something I definitely would integrate. Now, this project I did a little bit differently than some of my other Makerspace projects. Before students actually drew the plan of their city, they actually had to use the fictional GIS data that I gave them, and really figure out what their landscape was actually going to look like. I didn’t want them to create a city on something, they don’t know what the city is actually going to look like, what are all the land features, so that was important for them to do. Students got a grid, kind of like a bingo board in a way where one side had numbers and the other one has letters. Then they were given their fictional data, which I shared with them through Seesaw because then they could keep track digitally just by highlighting the data that they colored. And they work together as a partner to color in on their grid, the different landscapes. So let’s say these are the areas that are grassy, here is where a river runs through the city color it blue, here’s an area that’s muddy color at brown, here’s a sandy area color that yellow. So this took about a whole class time for students to collaborate and work together to create what their landscape looks like. Now, don’t worry, you might be saying, Oh, well, everybody’s looks the same. Yes, their map does look the same. I do know this. But once they get into the planning completely different, they needed to have some sort of base to build up off of, then when it came to the physical features of the place, I created clay, some homemade playdough at home that they would actually build on top of this grid, I just put the grids inside of sheet protectors or sometimes large ziploc bags so that the paper didn’t get soggy. And then their data actually told them in these areas that you felt, you need to build up the land to a certain height. So having rulers on hand was helpful, because then they had to actually measure how high certain places on the landscape was. Now side tip with the clay eyes somehow super messed up when I made the recipe. And I brought all of this and I found out all these different sensory needs I wasn’t quite aware of, because I definitely messed up on this playdough this clay that I made and it was extremely, extremely sticky. Kids were screaming, it was all over my floor, it was all over the computers, the trash can and maybe my hair, it was a disaster. So double check your recipe, maybe even buy some Crayola modeling clay, that would be really awesome. If you bought that because it doesn’t dry out. It’s super inexpensive. And then at the end of the project, you can actually have kids give you back all of the modeling clay, so that might be working out a bit better from there.

Naomi Meredith 13:37

When students understood what their landscape looked like, then I actually had them plan out their city and oh my goodness, kids love this step. It’s very interesting with this project to get different kids like different parts of this project. And even more interesting because I’ve known these kids for a long time. There were kids who were like, they go through the motions, they do the projects, like cool, whatever they get into it or not. But those certain hard kids, I don’t know what it is about this project. They were super invested in it and they were all in. So that’s why I’m telling you having all these different types of experience in your classroom is so important because you never know what students are going to like and not like, but you need to mix it up. Because you can grab those kids at whatever lesson you don’t know when it’s going to hit them and just bring up this light bulb. So that was super fun to watch in the students. So when it came to this planning, they got super into the planning. Some kids even didn’t get to finish their building part because they love the planning piece, almost like creating a blueprint of their city, which is totally fine. That’s where they’re at in the process. So I’m glad that they were excited about it. With their plan, they had certain parameters that they needed to add to their city so I did want to have them specific things and things that most communities have some of those things, were having roads, a neighborhood, a way to cross the river. It could be however they want. It’s across the river. So I got some creative designs there. And yes, I did make the kids have a school, we weren’t doing online learning in this place in this fictional place. So there was some sort of school, a lot of kids also added targets, which was super funny as well. And I’ll even share some of the things that they added. After students created the plan for their city, then they were ready to build, they did not get unlimited supplies. So I did have my Makerspace menu and money out for them. And they had a budget of $25, where they would purchase the supplies for their city. If you want to hear more about exactly how I use Makerspace money and a menu in my classroom. Go back and listen to episode six, I explain the whole reason behind this, and how this actually helps with the materials and management in your classroom. When you are doing and Makerspace projects like this one. Along the way I shared with students a checklist of ways to modify and improve their design, and waves have, they can actually make it a lot better. This was also a great time, you can also have students think about the scale of the things that are in their city. Again, if you want to go even more specific about the measurements and drawing and creating things to scale, you definitely can do that. So just being really thoughtful about the designs and how everything works together as a community is super important when you’re a city planner, and using the landscape to design what you have in front of you. Students were so proud of their creations and they loved collaborating on this. In a lot of ways it was like having a hands on real life SimCity game. I don’t know if any of you ever played the Sims, I did play the human version where they had the houses, you build the houses, then you have the people inside. I also would play SimCity and RollerCoaster Tycoon and Sue Tonkin. So I’ve always had kind of that STEM background, even though I never knew I’d be a STEM teacher. But they loved this hands on thing they got super into it. There are some super cute things that I’m definitely going to link the pictures in the show notes because you definitely have to see what they did. One girl created a restaurant and it looked like a giant fry box with the fries sticking out of it. So a super cute design, and very creative. I love that. That’s very good marketing, if that was a business, you have the fries.

Naomi Meredith 17:36

Also, another student 3D printed something at home and added that to their design and wanted it to be a wind turbine to collect renewable energy of the wind. So that was super cool that they had a moving piece in their design and that it actually spun around. I did take a video of that in action because they were just so cute. There’s also in the fictional data a muddy area of the town, one group decided to make this a dirt bike area where people could go and pay and ride their dirt bikes. Another group decided this would be fun to have a pig farm, and all the pigs will be rolling in the mud. So how cute is that. So again, all of their cities had the same landscapes, but their designs were 100% different. And they were so invested in their designs, they were so proud of themselves. When it came to the share piece, I highly recommended for them to take a video of their work, especially since they were working in groups, not everybody could take the project home. And so taking a video was a great way for them to share their work with their families. And you know, there’s families who just feel like, hey, we don’t need to keep this project. So a video is a really great way again, of course, I use Seesaw. But you could use another platform, like Flipgrid or something like that. With recording a video, they can take their work by taking a video. For students who finish earlier, if you wanted to extend this project even further, they could take a video of their work and then create a little commercial of why you might want to live in this city, and what are the features of this place and try to convince others of why you should live there. So as you’re listening, and even while I’m explaining this to you, if I was a classroom teacher, I can see all of these cross curricular connections. And you could do this whole thing for a while. You can have them in reading research about GIS and how that’s used in real life and new things that they learned and things that they’re wondering and things they want to explore more and social studies. You could have them explore Google Earth, and all of the physical features that have a place in the land and math and you could just combine Math and Science where they’re creating scale models of their buildings and then implementing that into their design. In writing. They could write a persuasive essay of the commercial of why you should enter this land. So see how it all came. connect together. When I was a classroom teacher, I was all about projects like this that could connect with everything and actually make your planning so much easier. So, so much fun. There’s so many extensions that you can do. So I hope, I hope that you enjoyed hearing more of a deeper dive of a lesson that I taught my fourth graders when it came to planning a city. And of course, I put this all together for you. So go ahead, implement it yourself, I would also love to help you out with the planning. So linked in the show notes is the individual lesson that you can grab for your classroom that has all the research done for you all the vocabulary, all the data, even student examples to get inspiration going with your students, they’re definitely going to be creative, they won’t meet need a whole lot because this one is a lot of fun. Or you can also see in my free K-5 lesson plan how this connects together with my whole K through five engineering units. So this was one of the many lessons in this case, or five, where students took on the role of being engineers and a lot of different ways. Of course, there are lots of different bundles to with this. So you can buy this individually. There’s a grade level unit, you can even look at the whole K through five bundle. Or even if you only teach upper elementary, there’s an option for three through five. So lots of different ways where you can integrate this into your classroom and bring that creativity where students are awesome city planners, civil engineers, even that element of being an architect and having that creativity with their building design, but it really opens up the world of just another way how STEM is used in their real lives.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

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Check out more inspiration on her website: naomimeredith.com
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Watch this episode on her YouTube Channel: Naomi Meredith
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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!

5 STEM Activities for February [ep.55]

Check out the full episode on 5 STEM Activities for February:

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Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

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Episode Summary

February is one of my favorite months, and that is because my birthday happens to be on Valentine’s Day! I’m sure you know by now that I love a good theme. In today’s episode, I share five February STEM activities you can use in your classroom.

These are lessons that I have done with my students over the years, and they have absolutely loved them, so I know that your students will too. All of these STEM activities for February that I share can be done as one-day challenges, or you can spread them out over time. I have also done some of these activities when I was a classroom teacher, so you can implement them whether you’re a STEM teacher or a classroom teacher.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

5 STEM activities for February
An overview of the 5 STEM activities
Tips for how to implement these 5 STEM activities

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

February is selfishly one of my favorite months, and it’s because my birthday happens to be on Valentine’s Day. You know by now that I love a good theme, so in this episode, I will be sharing with you five February STEM activities that you can use in your classroom. These are lessons that I have done with my students over the years, and they have absolutely loved them, I know that your students will too.

Naomi Meredith 00:59

A couple of announcements for you before we jump into this fun episode: the doors are open to my live two-hour virtual STEM workshop that is going to help support you with K through two planning since we know that planning for the little ones can be pretty tricky. In this two-hour workshop, you will be planning a full unit for one of your grade levels that are in K through two. I will be showing you the exact system and templates that I use for my younger students. Now if you can’t make it live, that is absolutely okay because this will all be recorded for you. So if you are listening to this later and the live has passed, it will still be available. So you can go through this workshop on your own time. So of course, you’ll have that unit plan finished, but you will also create a base and a system that’s going to help you with future lesson planning. You’re going to have so much fun planning for the younger students that you’re actually probably going to start loving it as well and have all the ideas for a future lesson. So I hope you can join on in. All the info will be linked in the show notes. You can check out when that will be hosted, whether you join us live or you want to watch the recording. Also, coming up in the future, another way that you’ll be able to connect with me and other STEM teachers all over the world is I will be starting a virtual monthly book club. I know that reading can be a bit hard as a teacher in general, but this will help you find books that you might not have thought about before in the STEM education space. As I said, this is a great way to connect with other STEM teachers. Even if you don’t read the book, you know, that’s like a whole thing about book clubs, right? So there’s a waitlist started up for that. So don’t miss out, I would love to have you join in when that is live. So that will be also linked in the show notes. So jump in on these two opportunities! I have so many things coming up for 2023 to help support you and the elementary STEM space. Thank you so much again for being here, and I can’t wait to connect with you further.

Naomi Meredith 03:06

All of these STEM activities for February that I’m going to be sharing with you can be done as one-day challenges or spread out over time. You know your schedule better than I do. I have done both of those methods for the lessons that I will be sharing with you. So definitely modify what will work best for you and the grade levels that you teach. I also did some of these when I was a classroom teacher. So if you are a classroom teacher that’s listening, definitely try these out as well. Again, everything will be linked in the show notes so you can recreate it if you want or if you don’t feel like recreating, I have it all laid out for you for every single one of these. They will be in my TPT shop and again linked in the show notes. So let’s jump in on these fun February STEM activities.

Naomi Meredith 03:56

This first one is Groundhog Day shadows. This is one that you’d probably do at the beginning of the month since that’s when Groundhog Day is and this is really great to help students understand the science behind the light and shadows and also a little bit of history about Groundhog Day. I always show them the video of what Groundhog Day is, and if it has actually happened, they always have a replay of the groundhog if he has seen his shadow or not. In my opinion. Groundhogs are a little bit gross looking, their teeth are disgusting to me. So when I do this challenge, the groundhog picture I use is way cuter than a real groundhog. I do not like rodents. I’m pretty sure they’re a rodent, or they’re pretty close to one, and they gross me out. Anyway, for this challenge, you need a picture of a groundhog, a paper cup for each student, flashlights to share, and tape or glue. Students will color and cut out their groundhog. They can add it to the cup in whatever way works best for them. Sometimes I will even show students how to make an L brace using cardboard. If you don’t know how to do that it’s a great cardboard building technique. I have a video that you can use with your students, and there’s no sound on purpose. What I like to do is play the video on a loop on YouTube, and then students can watch it whenever they need to on my screen. So there’s actually a hack that I use all the time when I am teaching building techniques. So I’ll link that for you so you can check that out and use it as you need it. Students will build their groundhog that is on the cup and then around the classroom, they will create the shadow for the groundhog and figure out what they need to do to make the shadow bigger and smaller. If it’s nice enough outside, you could take the cups outside with the groundhog and use the light outside. I live in Colorado, so it’s usually not very nice in February. So that’s why I have to use flashlights. So again, a great one-day challenge that you can do with your students to teach them about light, shadows, and Groundhog Day.

Naomi Meredith 06:08

The next STEM activity for February is candy heart baskets. The ultimate goal for this challenge is for students to build a basket and see how many candy hearts can fit in their basket without falling out, which can be another part of the challenge. They have to carry it across the room, which will really test the durability of their basket. You can grab those simple candy hearts, and you can find them anywhere. I am more partial to the Sweet tart candy hearts which taste like sweet tarts. I don’t really like the chalky ones. Of course, check on allergies and all that if you teach all the students in the school, and most of you who listen to this do. You might even want to find little heart erasers or something similar online, they’re about the same size, and then you can reuse them over and over again. So if you don’t want to deal with food, I totally get it. I typically don’t deal with food, either. Well, in this position, as a classroom teacher, I was more likely to use food because I knew all their allergies and all of that. So up to you on that little part. Students can build their baskets out of reusable items in the classroom or consumable items. From there, if you want to really dig into the math piece, students can create different types of graphs. So a line plot to graph the class results of how many candy hearts were in each basket. They can create a bar graph to represent how many of each color heart were in their basket and even create a Pictochart. So those definitely go along with, I know off the top of my head, third-grade math standards, and then you can even dive into those graphing questions: how many more and how many less, so really get that M in STEM. So if you are a classroom teacher, you could make this last all day. In reading, you can read about the history behind how candy is made. In science, you could build this candy heart basket, and then in math, you could do all the graphing, so this is really integrated content and can last you a whole day if you’re thinking about it. So this is a fun challenge to do in your classroom.

Naomi Meredith 08:19

The next February’s STEM activity is a STEM and stories challenge. You can read the story Beekle and connect it to magnets. There is a long title for this story, I’m pretty sure it’s the Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat, which I might have butchered the title. I love his books. By the way, when I look back at what I have created and done, it seems like I really enjoy his stories, which I obviously do. In this story, there is an imaginary friend Beekle, and he’s having a hard time finding his human and connecting to someone who is just his person. While on the other side, there’s a human who’s having a hard time finding their imaginary friend. Eventually, they connect and just are absolutely obsessed with each other. Thinking about the science connection with this, you can have students explore things that are magnetic and not magnetic. From there, they can create their imaginary friend or unimaginary friend, how the book goes, so their imaginary friend and a human and how they can connect perfectly together. This might take a little bit longer than you think depending on the materials that you use. I used magnets and paper clips and other small things that can be attached. Then they created their little characters out of either construction paper or felt. So there’s a lot of art in this challenge, and it is definitely a STEAM project. But again, this can be a great one or two-day challenge that you do in your classroom. Then students could even have their own imaginary friends or unimaginary friends connect with other ones. But you can definitely take this further, and there can be a lot of creativity and smiles with this activity.

Naomi Meredith 10:06

The next February STEM activity is having a themed engineer inspiration board. I love having these on hand for throughout the year. What you can do is find different images that relate to the month, or with Valentine’s Day, or other holidays in February. You can have students recreate those images using any materials that you have on hand. So again, you can use reusable or consumable items. If you want to take this a step further, they can quickly plan their design and build, and then they can share. Seesaw and Flipgrid are great options for this share. So especially if you are using things that are reusable, they can take it home by taking a picture. That’s what I like to say in my classroom. This is also a great STEM station for the younger students. So if you’re joining in on the workshop, Naomimeredith.com/primaryworkshop, then this could be an option that you can use when you are planning one of your STEM stations for your younger students. So very easy to prep, very easy to implement, and you don’t need a whole lot. There’s a lot of engagement that students can have in this activity.

Naomi Meredith 11:16

The final STEM activity for February that you can try in your classroom is a Valentine’s box STEM challenge. This is something that I did when I taught third grade, and the kids loved it. Maybe this is something that you might even collaborate with the classroom teachers. So if you do Valentine’s parties or friendship parties in your school, maybe they make their Valentine’s box in your classroom, that might be a pretty cool connection. You can do this, and a lot of different ways you can have your students vote on a class theme. So maybe everybody’s box has to go along with the theme of space. So that will help a lot with creativity with constraints. Also, thinking about constraints, have some success criteria for the box. Does the box have something that opens and closes? Is there something that is shiny? Is there a place to put in the cards and a different place to take the cards out without breaking the box? So all of those different things might come to mind with your box. Also, put a limit on the size. When we did this, we made sure that the box will fit on top of their desk and that other students could easily put in Valentine’s cards. If you’re a STEM teacher and doing this challenge, I would recommend even having the boxes be a lot smaller. So can the box fit in a grocery bag? Because we know based on past episodes that I’ve done, Makerspace episodes five and six, if the projects are really big, it’s going to take a longer time. So a shoe box size is actually a great size when it comes to Valentine’s boxes. So think about if you can do this challenge with your classroom. As I said, it’d be really cool to do this collaborating with classroom teachers, even if you did this with one group of older grades like fifth and sixth grade. That’d be pretty cool as well. So keep it in mind, have a fun way that you can have a STEM Valentine’s Box Challenge.

Naomi Meredith 13:18

As a recap, here are the five February STEM activities that you can do in your classroom. First is Groundhog Day shadows. Next is candy heart baskets. Third, themed engineer inspiration boards for February. Fourth, and I know I said this out of order, the STEM and stories with Beekle and connecting those two magnets. And fifth, the Valentine’s Day box STEM challenge. Hopefully, this gave you some good ideas of what you can do in your classroom when it comes to February STEM challenges. Definitely take off with it and run with it. Or if you don’t feel like making anything, as I said, I’ve made all of this for you. It’s linked in the show notes and also in my TPT shop. So that will definitely save you some time. Take it from me. I love themes, and I love planning this way for fun. It’s like it’s a creative outlet for me, so you can definitely check that out. Also, while you’re there in the show notes, make sure you sign up for the K through two virtual STEM planning workshop and join the waitlist for the STEM teacher book club that will be coming up in a little bit. Thank you so much again for listening, and I will chat with you soon.

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

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

How to Teach a STEM Lesson [ep.35]

Check out the full episode on How to Teach a STEM LEsson:

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

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

Watch the video version on YouTube here:

Episode Summary

Struggling to find a structure and a flow when teaching your STEM lessons?

In today’s episode, I’ll be sharing with you how to teach all of my K through five STEM lessons.

This method has allowed me to get through the content. Students are able to have enough work time, and it even saves a little room for cleanup at the end.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

How to teach a STEM lesson using the workshop model
What the workshop model is
Each stage of the workshop model

Resources Mentioned:

K-5 Core Year Long Plan Lessons: https://naomimeredith.com/k5stem
- Exclusive Code for $30 off the bundle Podcast Listeners: PODCASTK5
Engineering Design Process Poster
Classroomscreen.com
STEM Station Rotations Digital Slides
Free STEM Station Planning Guide
Technology Troubleshooting Posters

Episode Transcript:

Naomi Meredith 00:00

Struggling to find a structure and a flow when teaching your STEM lessons? In today’s episode, I’ll be sharing with you the exact format that I use to teach all of my K through five STEM lessons.

Naomi Meredith 00:11

This method has been a game changer for me during the past five years as a STEM teacher, and it has allowed me to get through the content. Students are able to have enough work time, and it even saves a little room for cleanup at the end. Let’s jump right in.

Naomi Meredith 00:59

I originally taught in the classroom for six years before I landed my role in K through five STEM. I was in a brand new district with a brand new remodeled classroom, limited tools and zero curriculum. It was super overwhelming at first. But I knew that my time spent as a classroom teacher for six years before this role was definitely an asset. I even talked about this in episode 11 of the podcast, why classroom teachers make great STEM teachers. So go back and take a listen if this is a role that you have tumbled into, and you just don’t know where to begin. Overall, this is why I created this podcast. This is something that I wish I had, so I am giving back to you. We know that time goes by super fast as a teacher, especially as a specialist teacher. I’m going to be sharing with you the exact model that I use to teach all of my lessons in my classroom. This is a structure that I didn’t invent. You might be a little bit surprised by what I’m going to be sharing with you, and I’m ready to spill all the secrets. Do you want to hear what the model I use is? It’s the workshop model, not new, but I use this structure in my K through five STEM space for all of my lessons. I’m going to break down for you exactly how I use the workshop model.

Naomi Meredith 02:22

In my classroom, I use the workshop model when integrating the Engineering Design Process with my projects and with STEM stations. I know that you can too. It will definitely give you the structure that you are looking for, and you don’t have to change it up every day. If you keep it the same every single day, students will know what to expect when they come into your classroom, and it will ease the stress of your teaching. It will definitely help you with time management with all of the things going on. Real quick, here’s an overview of the workshop model. If you haven’t used this method of teaching, think of the workshop model as a circle of a pie chart. So literally, your time is in a circle, you are going to break it up into a few different sections. I have my classes for 45 minutes, K through five. So depending on the time that you have with kids, you will adjust accordingly. I’m also not including the transition time that I have in between classes because that is separate from this workshop model. So keep that in mind as well. Within the workshop model, you have it broken up into three parts, but not three equal parts. You have a medium slice, a big slice of the pie, which is most of it and a tiny slice at the end. First, our medium slice is the mini lesson. For me my mini lessons are between five to eight minutes. After that you have the practice time. This is when students are collaborating, they’re working independently, or maybe they’re in station rotations. For me, my practice time is between 25 to 35 minutes. Finally, the tiniest slice of the pie that is between two to five minutes is your share, reflect and clean up. I structure all of my classes this way, and it just brings a ton of consistency.

Naomi Meredith 04:12

But let’s really talk about what each of those timeframes look like, depending on the lesson that I’m teaching. Throughout the year, my second grade students come into my classroom often with their classroom computers. I don’t have a classroom set of computers in my room. So I have set this up from day one, that for 90% of the lessons that I’m going to teach students will carry their classroom computer with them to my classroom, we may or may not use it, but it’s just great that they have it. I also like to connect the lessons to what they’re doing within their class, even just by the simple fact of logging into their student computer. This gives them that extra practice. Yes, it might take longer sometimes, especially with the younger students, but I just want to set up the expectation that we will sometimes use tech now as a tool, not as a toy to help us with the lessons that we’re teaching. When students come in with their computer, their role is computer on the table, sit on the floor. When they sit on the floor, they are in my group meeting area and they’re ready to go for the lesson. If they don’t have their computer or if they’re younger students, they’re only one step direction is sit on the floor. One hundred percent of the time, I’ve talked about this in past episodes, I don’t have students sitting at the tables when I teach. My room is ginormous, and I don’t talk very loud. I know the kids aren’t listening to me when they are spread out along the room. Yes, K through five, my big kids do this as well. I don’t feel bad because in PE and music, they don’t have chairs either. They have to sit on the floor. So don’t feel bad at all. They are okay. They’re sitting on the floor in front of our group meeting area. That’s where I have my TV and all the materials ready to go to teach the lesson.

Naomi Meredith 05:55

Another great way to maximize your time is on the screen, have a warm up question related to the project that you’re going to be working on. Or even have the slides that you will be teaching from ready to go have student examples, something related to the lesson that will pique their interest and get their mindset ready to go. I am very big on using every moment wisely. So even just the act of having something on the screen for students to look at and talk about with the people next to them is extremely valuable when I am teaching with the Engineering Design Process. All of my Engineering Design Process notebooks are digital. I actually don’t create separate slides to teach from. I teach from the student slides that I assigned to them. I will typically assign them in Seesaw, sometimes in Google Classroom, but I will be physically logged in as a teacher opening up the slides within that class I am teaching from so they can see me interact with the slides just as if they were as well. It’s great to connect the two together and the kids know they have access to everything that I am showing them. So nothing I am showing them is a surprise. If you are curious to hear more about the Engineering Design Process. I talked about this and a lot of my episodes, but more specifically in Episodes 15 and 17 through 21. So go back and take a listen. I break down each stage of the Engineering Design Process and how you can use this within your space.

Naomi Meredith 07:28

When I am teaching the mini lesson, it is very short. It is a mini lesson and I am able to include everything I need to within the short amount of time. If you forget anything, you can pause the class during their practice and work time and remind them of the next steps. There is nothing wrong with that. The goal of this is when students are sitting down ready to learn, they are getting the bulk of the information from you. You are the teacher, you can keep teaching throughout the class time. When I’m teaching with the Engineering Design Process, the mini lesson is when I am introducing each step very specifically. Day one is when I would do the ask, imagine, and have students to start planning their designs. Day two is when students will be finishing up their designs and begin to create what they are hoping to design. Day three and four is all about more creation, experimenting, and improving. I might even introduce a modification checklist so the can see how to make their design better. All of my mini lessons are going to be really focused in on each of these stages. The final day is more experimenting, improving, and how students are going to share their work.

Naomi Meredith 08:41

When I was a classroom teacher, I always taught with a workshop model anyway, and I am always teaching the next step. Some kids might not be ready for my lesson, but they know where they’re going. They can look back in their digital Engineering Design Process notebook from the week and see what they missed and what they need to keep working on to get to where I am teaching for the day. Again, I’m always teaching the next step and I tell my students that it’s okay if they’re not there yet. I’m teaching them where they are headed so they can be successful and know what to work on. This is also a time where I will build a background and the science behind what we are doing. This can be day one, but I will also do this during the week as well because students can always modify and change their design. So there’s nothing wrong with doing background information a little bit each day. This might be a related video that I found, a website, or an article. Again, these are all linked in their Engineering Design Process notebooks. I often have to show the class the videos at the same time because they are linked to YouTube and my district blocks YouTube. So that’s the only way that we can watch them. The kids know that they even want to watch it at home. They have access to these links as well for more specific lessons during this mini lesson.

Naomi Meredith 09:53

If I’m doing a Makerspace project, this is where I would talk about the Makerspace menu and money system. If I am doing a technology project, this is also when I would talk about very specific things on how to get connected to the technology. For example, if I am teaching robotics with a Sphero, or a Dash robot, this is where I will physically show them how to connect to that robot. I also have visual directions that I will post after my mini lesson. I will refer to them when I am teaching. So I will model how to get to that specific technology. But then that digital anchor chart will also be posted with visuals to remind students how to do the steps that I just talked about. I highly recommend making these anchor charts digital and not cluttering your walls with all of them. Unless you’re using the same tool K through five, I don’t have a whole lot of wall space. I’m very specific about the things that I hang up. I want everything to be purposeful in my classroom for all classes. That’s why I will make a lot of these anchor charts digital, of course, they’re linked to my TPT shop. But that way, I can pull up what I need. It’s very specific for that class, and I don’t have to print a million things. I don’t have the time for that either.

Naomi Meredith 11:07

If I’m doing a station rotation, the mini lesson is also the time where I will build the background knowledge and have a related video about the topic. I will also show students how to complete each of the stations. I will do the same process for both days of stations. I do for station rotations, when I do stations with my younger students, I will have a station for each letter of STEM. They will complete two stations a day. Same process. I don’t assume that they remember how to do the stations. Some will and some won’t. Some kids are absent, some kids were new for the day. So I always will review those expectations for my classes who have a hard time with behavior. I will also, during this mini lesson, go over the specific ways of how they can earn their class incentive and refer to each of those expectations as well. This mini lesson is when I am the star of the show. Going over those very specific things I need them to do during their work time. I am not up there for very long. So I really have to get the most bang for my buck during this time. Because the majority of class time they are going to be working on their projects, whatever it is that we are doing for the week. I do realize that it can be tricky when you are using technology as one of your main sources of tools. Then you want to show them how to use the technology. Then you want to show them how it’s going to connect to everything. When this happens, this is usually for me when we are doing a coding platform and Engineering Design Process notebook.

Naomi Meredith 14:14

If that is digital or even logging into 3D printing, I will break up the mini lesson and the practice time that’s student work time. Often I will get their excitement, build a little bit of background, then I will show students how to connect to the tool or how to log in how to get that all set up. So I tell them we’re getting our materials ready first, and then I’m going to show you how to use that. I will show them those steps have the visual directions backup for them. They will go get their materials ready, leave them ready to go and then come back to the floor for students who need a lot more support. There’s only one of you and a lot of them. I will show them all the steps and let’s say it’s a Engineering Design Process notebook I want them to get to, I will have the visual steps on one side and then the page I want them in their engineering notebook ready to go. I will tell them when everybody at your table has their screen matching mine, you will come to the floor, nothing in your hands. So that means that all the kids have to help each other at their table. They can’t do it for them, they have to be the YouTube tutorial and show them how to do it by pointing. Then when everybody is ready to go, then they can come to the floor. This has really helped where students are being more independent and helpful when it comes to technology, and not always relying on me for every single troubleshooting issue. This also frees me up for the students who really are having problems that none of the kids can solve. I’m not running around fixing everything. There are usually at least a couple of kids at each table who can be successful and who are happy to help.

Naomi Meredith 15:47

From there, I will finish off the mini lesson where the kids are on the floor, the materials are ready to go. I’ll show them how to use it, how it relates to the lesson. Then we will move on to that practice time because everything is set up and ready to go. So this is a great way to break it up where the kids aren’t sitting for 20 minutes. You’re kind of merging that mini lesson and that work time together. Now we are officially moving on to that practice time when it comes to the workshop model. And of course, I have all the helpful tools posted up on my screen ready for kids to access. My favorite that I have mentioned before is classroomscreen.com, where you can upload images. There’s timer widgets, there’s a text box where you can type things, you can have everything displayed all nicely in one place. You don’t have to minimize your tabs and make them fit perfectly. Everything is all there for you and I highly recommend checking that out if you haven’t used classroomscreen.com already. I will almost always have a timer up on my screen during the student work time. So students are aware of how much time they have to work in my class. During station rotations, I actually don’t only because I do stations with Kindergarten and first grade. I kind of have to gauge what is going on in the classroom. I will typically set a timer on my watch, and I will use that as a guide noticing if groups are a little bit squirrely. Or if they need a little bit more time, they sometimes will ask me how much time they have left, I will always tell them.

Naomi Meredith 17:21

But this actually worked well for station rotations just based on the class and their experience with station rotations and how they’re feeling that day with the materials at hand. When students are working, they usually want to work with others when it’s on station rotations. I allow them to work in groups of one, two or three. Our projects are usually really small. I’m really big about having small projects because they’re easier to store. I tell them if you want to be a group of four, just do two and two, that way, you have more of a chance to work on everything. This has worked really well. I used to do bigger groups in the past, but I realized not all kids had a chance to participate, there wasn’t enough for them to do. So keeping groups smaller really helps with the collaboration they had can have a voice during their work time and feel like that they are involved in the project. During this time, I will be roaming the room assisting as needed. I’m really big about ask three before me, especially when it comes to troubleshooting or what questions they have. Again, I am the guide on the side, I am not the star of the show during this work time. I am during the mini lesson, trust me, you should see me in action. But during this work time, it’s all about them getting all the work done that they have at hand.

Naomi Meredith 18:36

Finally, the last part of the workshop model that is the smallest and that is the share, reflect and I added in that clean up. For me this is about two to five minutes, it is quick, and I am able to get my classes to clean up very fast here and there. I will have a class who are very, very slow cleaning up, they might need more time. I keep that in mind and balance it all out. But for the most part, most classes can clean up in about five minutes. When it comes to station rotations, they will clean up before they rotate. So again, I’ll have that mini lesson we have the video building background, I show them how to do the stations, they will work in their stations, then they will clean up and stand at their clean station. They’re not allowed to go anywhere. They don’t know where they’re going. They have to be cleaned up before they’re able to rotate. After all the stations are cleaned up, I will have them stand there I will go to that station, I will stay in there with them and show them how to point to their next station. When everybody’s pointing to their next station, they will walk to the next one and work on what they have at hand.

Naomi Meredith 19:39

Again, when the time is up, they will clean up they’ll stand up their clean station and then they’ll come and join me on the floor and we will learn and then we will reflect on the learning for the day. For an Engineering Design Process project we will clean up and then they will either sit at their tables or they’ll all join me on the floor depending on where we’re at with that cleanup. I like to use the same reflection questions that are in their Engineering Design Process notebooks at the very end, what went well? What was the challenge for them? If they were to do this project again, what would they work on? I might even ask them what went well, what would you recommend? So for kids who are going to be on that next stage tomorrow, what advice would they give them. So questions like this are really helpful to talk about as a class, and to really close up everything that happened for the day, you can also make a digital check in a lot like what Jill mentioned in her guest interview and a past episode, but you could do a digital check in as to where they’re at in the Engineering Design Process, or how they are feeling and that part of the process. You could create this in a Google slide or a Google jam board, and there is a little circle that has the kids classroom number, and they can move that little circle as to where they are feeling. A lot of different ways to reflect, you don’t have to go overboard with this. But it’s good to have some sort of closure, where it’s not just clean up, run out the door. When we’re all done for the day, I will let the class know if they earn their classic incentive, and then they will go line up in my green hallway so they are ready to go for the teacher. Again, I don’t have them lineup in my classroom because if the teacher is late or if another class is early, then they are all in the hallway, and they’re ready for that teacher. Then I can clean up any last things prepare any last materials before my next class comes for the day.

Naomi Meredith 21:22

As a recap, here is how to teach a STEM lesson when using the workshop model. First, we talked about what the workshop model is, then you move on to the mini lesson to start it all off. The bulk of your work time is that practice time, then you piece it all together with the share, reflect and clean up time by creating a predictable structure for all of your lessons K through five, not only will this be helpful for you as a teacher, it’ll create that consistency for the students. So when they step into your space, they will always know what is going on with the actual content, but the structure is always going to be the same. This is going to help with your classroom management, behavior management, and even help you get through all of the content, no matter how much time you have with kids, and how often that you see them.

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

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

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

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

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

My First Year Teaching STEM: What Surprised Me the Most [ep. 30]

Check out the full episode on My First Year Teaching STEM: What Surprised Me the Most:

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

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

Episode Summary

While there are a lot of similarities between the general education classroom and the STEM classroom, there are a handful of things that surprised me during my first year teaching STEM.

In this episode, I’m keeping it real and showing you the behind-the-scenes and the not so pretty behind-the-scenes of my first year of teaching STEM.

In this episode, you’ll learn four things that surprised me the most my first year of teaching STEM:

Sense of time and how it’s structured is different compared to teaching general education
Teaching STEM helps you grow your teaching abilities
You are an island, and it can be lonely
STEM is impactful but still very new, meaning there are limited resources and supports

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript:

Naomi Meredith 00:00

I originally didn’t go to college to become a STEM teacher. In fact, my major is in elementary education. Through my six years of teaching in the classroom, my experiences and passions led me to my K through five STEM teaching and coaching position. I eventually did go back and get my Master’s in STEM Leadership and a STEM certificate while always continuing to refine my practice and learn more about this field. While there are a lot of similarities between the general education classroom and the STEM classroom, there are a handful of things that surprised me during my first year teaching STEM, which I will be sharing in today’s episode.

Naomi Meredith 00:40

Whether you are currently a STEM teacher and this is your first year, or maybe you’ve been doing it for a while, or you’re a classroom teacher who’s trying to implement STEM, or maybe you’re even a classroom teacher who is thinking about stepping into a STEM role, I think you’re gonna find a lot of things in this episode that will be relatable to you. I am definitely keeping it real and showing you the behind-the-scenes, not so pretty behind-the-scenes of my first year of teaching STEM. Also, in the end, you’ll be hearing from other teachers who listen to this podcast, and they will be sharing how this show has been helpful to them. Make sure to listen all the way to the end for this special bonus.

Naomi Meredith 01:53

What I realized right away during my first year teaching STEM is a sense of time is different. We always talk about as teachers how we never have enough time to do anything. Well, the same is true as a STEM teacher, just the way that time is structured, it’s completely different. I remember my first few weeks and how fast the time went. I didn’t get any lessons done. Let’s be real, I had a hard time getting things done with my classes. What was really tricky is I only had kids three days out of the week, and it was the same kids three days in a row. But time went by so fast. The luxury of being a classroom teacher is you do have the same kids all day. The downfall is you do have the same kids all day. But you do have the same kids all day as a classroom teacher, and if you don’t finish something in the morning, you can revisit it in the afternoon. As a STEM teacher, you typically don’t have that luxury. You only have that short amount of time with them. Sometimes kids will even forget that even to this day. I still have kids who are confused about why we are cleaning up, and I can’t let them build all day. I let them know, “I have three more classes who are coming to me, you have to put it away. I am so sorry. I’m so glad you’re having a good time, but we have to clean up.”

Naomi Meredith 03:15

Time goes by so fast in a different way. Even that time in between classes, you sometimes get a moment to catch your breath, but not all the time, and you have to gear yourself up for the next lesson. I’m always so sweaty at the end of the day. I used to wear super cute outfits and fancier shoes when I was a classroom teacher. Not to say I look terrible every day, but I pull out a lot more teacher tees and skirts and comfortable pants these days because I am up and down on the floor with K through five years running around all over the place. I even tell people teaching STEM is a lot like hosting a birthday party six times. You have to have the same amount of energy for all six classes and make the experience special and meaningful for every single one. So I am like the cool aunt who hosts special birthday parties all day, every day.

Naomi Meredith 04:11

Something else when it comes to time, I was always stressed out about materials and making sure that everything was prepped and ready to go for every single class. I still get that sometimes when I am implementing brand new lessons or brand new tools that I have never tried before. I have really tried to develop systems and routines, which you hear about in all my other episodes, on how I can get kids to be independent when it comes to gathering their supplies while also being collaborative. I have moved things around in my room constantly to make sure they are at kid height, kid accessible, and that they can do the bulk of gathering materials, being successful during work time, and also putting them away independently. This has given me a little bit more breathing room in between classes. I definitely didn’t have this figured out during my first year teaching STEM. So if you’re feeling it, that’s okay, you will get there. This is just part of the whole process of building your systems and routines.

Naomi Meredith 05:12

Another big thing that I learned during my first year teaching STEM is that it helps you grow your teaching abilities. If you can teach K through five all day and have differentiated lessons for all of them while teaching, think about it, every single kid in the school, I really feel like you can teach anything. It’s funny because when I first got into teaching, when I was deciding on my major, I was really in between elementary education and also early childhood. Well, you know, I went the Early Childhood route, but I really love the littles. I really see their creativity and all of their amazing ideas each and every day. Now, when I was a classroom teacher, I only taught second and third grade. When I got my third-grade role, I actually didn’t apply for that job. I really wanted the Kindergarten job. Funny enough, when I walked into the interview room, I actually knew one of the girls in my interview completely by accident. That’s actually not why I got the interview. I knew her, and she was on that third-grade team. So when it came down to it, she really wanted to work with me. I thought, “Okay, why not, I will take a risk. I need to change.” I ended up loving third grade and taught it for four years.

Naomi Meredith 06:29

However, I still do love the littles. I also really appreciate the older students as well, and how deep we can go in the concepts. I really do love the variety of having all the grade levels and seeing that progression of learning, especially year after year. This has been really eye-opening. It really has been testing my differentiation skills when it comes to particular grades, but also being able to meet the needs of all of my students literally on the fly. Sometimes I will think of ideas right then and there, and it ends up working. Sometimes it doesn’t. But being able to teach all the grades really tests and grows you as a teacher. If you are in a rut and you’re thinking about getting into STEM, it is really hard at first. But also, it’s really exciting because it is so different throughout the day when you have all of those different kids. The cool thing, too, that you don’t always get as a classroom teacher is you do get the same kids every single year. Unless you are looping with your students, which I know some teachers do or some schools are really big on that, as a specials teacher, you do get the same kids year after year. I am in year five of knowing my fifth graders, so I have known them since first grade. They forget they have known me that long. I’ve basically been their only STEM teacher, so it’s really cool to see all of the amazing things we have done together and how much deeper we can get into the projects.

Naomi Meredith 07:54

I really do know those students, even though it is 45 minutes for five days in a row once a month. But really, knowing them over five years, it’s pretty cool to see all the amazing things that they do and know their passions and different things that they want to try. Also, when it comes to testing your teaching abilities, not only do you have to differentiate for their students’ needs, but also adjust to different teaching styles. Now you’re not always teaching with the classroom teachers unless that is the role that you have, which I have had that role before. Also, you may be pushing into the classrooms and helping teachers implement STEM and technology and innovative in meaningful ways. But when you have all the kids come into your classroom, you can definitely see the different styles of teaching that the kids are used to with their homeroom teacher.

Naomi Meredith 08:46

Some are more laid back about things. Some have more strict behavior management. Some are all about collaboration and creativity. Some where kids have to be silent and listen to the teacher all day. It’s very interesting to see how kids will respond to your style, which I am all about being the guide on the side, not the sage on the stage, which the kids think I’m a little bit funny, not too funny. They’re a little more impressed that I have a YouTube channel if anything else, but I’m really all about giving them the information right away and letting them run with it and attack the problems. Not all teachers have the same style as me. I thrive in this controlled chaos. So it really does, again, test your teaching abilities, being able to adjust to different classes and what they’re used to with their homeroom or general education classroom teacher.

Naomi Meredith 09:38

Another big thing when stepping into the first year of STEM is that you really are an island. Now, this can definitely be based on the school. I do have a team of specials teachers who are very sweet. They teach PE, art, and music. We do eat together, and we’re able to talk about kids, but we’re not really planning together all the time. There are moments when the art teacher and I might collaborate on some special projects. But it’s way different than being a classroom teacher, where you have a team and you can even divvy up the work where you can talk about the curriculum. You can talk about the units, or you might even be able to switch kids based on differentiation. As a STEM teacher, you really are an island. Now, this really helps you be a self-starter and problem solver when it comes to building your curriculum, which can be super overwhelming.

Naomi Meredith 10:32

I stepped into a classroom that was brand new and remodeled and had zero curriculum. There were some tools in there, but nothing else. So I loved this challenge because I love writing lessons and trying new ideas, which you can see in my whole year-long plan at naomimeredith.com/yearlongplan, and even get every single lesson that I teach to my students all packaged up together. So you don’t have to do all that planning. But it was super overwhelming because I didn’t know the kids. I didn’t know what tools I was supposed to be using. So you really want to find your community, whether it’s other STEM teachers in the community or even neighboring districts, you can join online groups, find me on Instagram at NaomiMeredith_, or even if you find friends who are online, you can join Facebook groups. I have one as well, the Elementary STEM Coach Facebook group, which will be linked in the show notes. But finding our people can really help you collaborate and not feel so alone because it can get kind of lonely. Even though you see hundreds of kids a day, you really are by yourself, and you’re not always sure if your ideas are really good or not. So being able to talk to other adults can be really impactful. I learned that pretty quickly and reached out and have my STEM teacher besties, which of course, we heard from one and our first guest interview Jen Sevy, and I’m gonna have some of my other STEM teacher friends on future podcast episodes because it’s so important to find your people, especially in the education space.

Naomi Meredith 12:07

The fourth big thing that I learned during my first year teaching STEM is that STEM is super impactful, but it is still very new in the elementary STEM space. There are various perceptions as to what STEM should look like in the elementary space and even in your own building. I realized this very quickly. First of all, the kids were excited to come to my class., but it was rebranded, as you would say. It also depends on if you’ve had a STEM teacher or a similar role before. Kids will bring in their biases as well. For my older students, in my first year, not all of them actually really liked to build and be creative. They were so used to past teachers in this role telling them exactly what to do, and it had to look the same. There was not much creativity within that. Then they did coding all the time. So they had a different experience when it came to STEM. It really took a long time to help build their trust and to create an environment where they wanted to create and try something new while also having a growth mindset. I had a lot more buy-in with my little kids because they didn’t really have much experience with that past teacher. So it will take time to build up those things with your kids.

Naomi Meredith 13:28

If you’re not finding success that first year or if things are failing more often than succeeding, keep going. You are not a failure. It does take time, you’re building a program. It’s like as a classroom teacher, you build the thing the whole year, you were building that community for 180 plus days. As a STEM teacher or specials teacher, if you have a unique role, your time is a lot shorter, and it can take years to get to this high-level place that you have in your mind, and you know the kids can do. Keep trying, keep building that community keeps instilling a growth mindset, it is worth it, I promise you. There are also some biases from the teachers in my building as well. Before my classroom was remodeled, it was actually a legit computer lab. A lot of teachers kept calling my class computers tech, which I am not the computer lab teacher or the tech teacher. The kids kept calling me the tech teacher. I’m like, “Okay, so we really are learning what STEM means.”

Naomi Meredith 14:34

One fun way that I did this is I created something called STEM style. So again, building my brand as the STEM teacher in my building. We really talked about what STEM is and like, okay, well, this is STEM. I am not your tech teacher. I’m not your computer lab teacher, but you do have a STEM teacher. Tech is one of those things in STEM. But here’s what the other letters mean. Here’s how we’re going to be doing them in this lesson. I always try to point out those things even to this day, in my fifth year teaching STEM. I tell them, “Oh, there’s a lot of m in STEM. Today, we’re doing a lot of math when it comes to our Maker money. So I will point out those things, and then they’re like, “Oh, okay!” Sometimes they get a little frustrated with the math, but that’s part of STEM. I did something called STEM style. So we always talked about what STEM means. If kids wore shirts that represented STEM, science, technology, engineering, or math, I would take a picture, and it would go on my digital picture frame. I have all the pictures from the past five years of being in this role. There are hundreds and hundreds of pictures, and kids think if they stand there, they might see themselves. If they do, they’re super lucky, and they should go to Vegas. I know they’re not old enough, but that could be a lucky charm. But they get so excited.

Naomi Meredith 15:46

It’s really helped them build their vocabulary of how there are so many different avenues when it comes to STEM. Then now they’re finally calling my class STEM, and I’m not the computer teacher or the tech teacher. I’m legit, the STEM teacher. Also, when it comes to the admin, there might be a lot of support when it comes to STEM, or there might not be. It could be that there’s a lot of support, and they have no idea what you’re talking about. So when you’re thinking about your evaluations, or who your admin are, and the different people you’re dealing with higher up really showing, explaining the reason why you are doing things. That is why planning with standards and using the Engineering Design Process is important because you’re really building the backbone of what your lessons mean and the why behind that. When you’re thinking about that differentiation and creating your year-long plan while there is a progression of learning, admins understand that they might not understand what coding is, or robotics, but they understand those things. So if you are being more thoughtful in your lessons, you’re gonna have more buy-in for your program. You can really explain the why behind you’re doing things. Of course, that is just a snapshot.

Naomi Meredith 16:58

There is a lot of work to be had in the elementary STEM space, and that is a big reason why I created this podcast because, as of right now, there’s not a whole lot out there. We need more voices to help make a positive difference in this STEM space. Sometimes for me, it can be a little bit awkward just talking into a microphone, and I don’t always know who is listening and how this podcast is even helping. So I put out a call to action for this special 30th episode, where you could leave me a message on how the elementary STEM coach podcast has been impactful to you. You all stepped it up with your messages. They really put a big smile on my face. It continued to instill the drive in me to make a big impact in STEM education when it comes to Elementary in a positive way. So I want you to take a listen and hear all of these awesome words that you all had to say.