What are some ways that you can purposely plan and add math effectively into your STEM lessons? We are here in the last episode of our STEM in Action series, where we kicked off the series with guest experts in the field to help connect together different elements of STEM. And then the second half of the series, I have been sharing my insight and practical lessons that you can implement in your classroom for each element of STEM. And here in this last episode of the series, we are talking all about math.

And this one might be one of those areas that you might be implementing a lot of, or maybe you're forgetting about, and what should we be looking for? So let's jump into this episode. Welcome to the Elementary STEM Coach Podcast, a show that'll help you with lesson ideas, systems, and actionable tips to apply to your classroom. I am your host, Naomi Meredith, a former classroom teacher turned current STEM teacher and coach.

With over a decade of experience teaching and a master's degree in STEM leadership, I am here to coach you throughout the year to help you gain back more time to create innovative experiences for your students. Grab your earbuds and let's get started. We are here in the summertime as the episode is live and maybe you're thinking about back to school.

And if you're thinking about you want to dive in more ways and make sure you're not missing out on anything for setting up your STEM classroom, I invite you to check out my STEM Teacher 101 course. You get to hang out with me during your own time and go through the process of setting up your classroom that is conducive to systems and routines, some lesson planning ideas and structures, and also different ways to help students grow in their STEM skills when it comes to growth mindset, collaboration, and all sorts of things like that. I have the whole entire course available for you.

You can jump right in or if there are just specific areas you really want to target. I am starting to break up the whole entire course so you can zone in on the lessons that you really need and you can find those separated out for you on my Teachers Pay Teachers Shop, Naomi Meredith, and each of those are listed separately. At the time of this recording, all of the first module, it's called module two, but all of that first module is ready to go for you.

So I definitely encourage you to check it out. Every single module has bonuses and things that you can implement right away. So my STEM Classroom Setup module has some maps and layouts for you, DEM posters that you can hang up to help kids know what in the world STEM or STEAM actually means, and a STEM Classroom Setup Checklist.

So check that out. There are videos for every lesson and also transcripts, a written out version of each video so you can take notes and help you out in your STEM journey. All right, we are here in this last part of the series where we are talking about all things math.

And like I mentioned in the intro, math is very interesting in the STEM space where I think it sometimes is forgotten about or just how can we be creative in that math piece where we are having kids really experience the science, the technology, the engineering math. How do you put it all together? So the capital letter of STEM is the M that we are zoning in on. So like the other three episodes, the science, the technology, and the engineering episode, in this episode, I am zoning in on what standards you should look for, what are my top favorite tools, and also some lesson ideas for different types of lesson structures.

For math, what types of standards should you be looking at? So of course, check out your state math standards. They may or may not be linked to the Common Core State Standards, but check out your math standards and this will give you a good idea of what students should really be focusing in on that grade level. If you are worried and thinking about, and I kind of mentioned this too in the science one, oh, I don't want to repeat anything that the classroom teachers are doing.

You are not really repeating it. Think about what you're doing in your STEM space. You are really, you are really giving these lessons a STEM twist.

And of course, with math, the more practice, the better. And of course, if it's in a hands-on way and in a way that kids can really connect with, that's really, really important. And so all types of review, especially in math, can be very beneficial.

So don't feel like you're repeating anything. Practicing those skills in multiple ways is extremely, extremely important and to help build that number sense and how math is used in real life. Also, I want you to take a look at those mathematical practices that are also listed with a Common Core State Standards.

These mathematical practices are really talking about how do you attack math problems. And these really connect with what you are doing in your STEM space. One of them off the top of my head is attend to precision.

Why is that important? Why do we need to be precise sometimes? I can think about coding. Coding actually has a lot of math involved. And when you're thinking about coding, you really need to be precise in the way that you are writing that coding sequence, because if you're not, then your robot or whatever you're programming isn't going to do what you want it to do.

And you will have a bug in your code and you will have to fix it. Same with measurements. If you have to measure things where they fit together perfectly and they are off, it can throw off a whole design.

So those mathematical practices are really, really beneficial and really connect together in your STEM space. So if you're really thinking about a lesson that's all very focused on math, then really look at those Common Core State Standards. But if you're, of course, trying to implement math, but it's not the main, main focus, mathematical practices can really align with everything that you're doing.

All right. So for those top tools, how can you just easily integrate math in what you are doing? A manipulative that I have had in my classroom, actually, ever since I started teaching, it's the same kit that has followed me through the years, is I have a set of tangrams. So it is those shapes that you put together to create other things.

And you might be thinking, oh, that's so old school. That is so lame. Kids don't like it.

They do. It's actually a really, really good challenge. And it really is great for that spatial awareness, noticing what shapes make bigger shapes, how to break things apart.

It does go along with those progressions of learning when it comes to math and how do you see things and break them apart. And so if you need a quick STEM station or a filler, tangrams are a really great option. And you'll be surprised, a lot of kids have not done tangrams before.

Along with that, kind of similar, kind of different. There are tangrams websites. I think there was one on ABC.

Yeah, I like to use. But another one kids were obsessed about that I would use sometimes as a little reward or fast finisher are Tetris blocks, playing the game of Tetris. And I've only had like a couple of kids in each class who had ever played it and heard of it and they were obsessed.

It was really hard for them. And so I know it maybe it's like kind of going backwards, like, oh my gosh, this is an innovative. Some of those simple things we forget kids might not have done them before.

And there is a reason why these things are really, really helpful. Along with that, because tangrams kind of goes with this next one, is I love using Osmos. This is not sponsored at this time of the recording, but Osmos are such a great attachment for your tablet.

So they do have an attachment for most tablets. So just double check the type of tablet you have and the Osmo that you are purchasing. But it is using augmented reality.

So it's combining things that you're doing in the real world and then putting it back into the screen. So there's that interactive piece, but they're using hands-on manipulatives. So kids aren't just sitting and staring at a screen.

They're actually doing something hands-on to build it and solve a problem. And the genius kit actually has some math components. So two out of the three activities in the genius kit have math.

So there actually is a tangrams kit for it. So it's really cool because as the kids are building the tangrams, it actually will self-correct and then it'll kind of give kids tips like flip the shape or move it over this way. So that's really helpful.

It gives that immediate feedback. There also is a numbers game. So there is the dots.

So the subitizing where kids are trying to combine numbers and then it moves into actual symbols of numbers. And so there's different math challenges and they have to combine numbers or sometimes they're subtracting. There's different levels so you can really differentiate the numbers game.

There is a spelling game. I didn't use that one as often, but when I did have time, I actually would use the spelling side as well because hey, why not? Let's add some ELA. Another kit, it's not in the genius kit, but you can get the coding kit.

And this one I was so impressed with and impressed with, and I don't know why these ones are more expensive, but it's actually hands-on coding. So in a way it's kind of unplugged coding, but it's not. And the kids actually have to move the shapes to complete the challenge.

And this one has three different apps that, again, you can differentiate. And I did this all the way from kindergarten to second grade. And you could actually use this for third graders.

I don't know how fourth and fifth graders might like it. They might like some of it. I don't know.

Give it a try. But the coding was really cool because I can remember distinctly, I had these two second graders who needed special supports and I had them in a different game. And they were known to have their own paras who would be working with them one-on-one.

So I actually paired the two girls up together and they were completely independent. They actually were completing the coding challenges and problem solving and getting the pieces and understanding how is the character going to move through this maze. And they were doing it hands-on.

Coding was really hard. It was very abstract for them, but adding in that tactile piece with these pieces was absolutely amazing and worked very, very well for them. Another tool I really like, which you could probably steal from a grade level teacher if you don't have them.

They might not know what to do with them or just borrow them, is I have these foam, squishy, geometric shapes. So they're big versions of like a cube, of a pyramid, of a cylinder. And I use these all the time when I am teaching, especially when I am teaching 3D printing.

And you might be thinking, wait, how is the 3D printing math? It is, especially if you use Tinkercad. I talked about Tinkercad in the technology episode of this series. 3D printing is so much math and geometric observation and recognizing shapes and how shapes fit together.

And also the difference between 2D and 3D. And also if you really are thinking about building something to scale, 3D printing has so much math in it. Maybe I'll throw, well, I'll throw in a bonus lesson here.

I have a whole series of 3D printing lessons, K through five. So make sure you listen to the technology lesson. I talk more about 3D printing, but 3D printing is like a whole math thing.

So that's a whole bonus lesson for you. But I actually use those squishy geometric shapes as a way to teach 3D printing and how to model things and how to visualize what the shapes are doing on the platform. And I pull those out all the time.

And so those are very, very handy. And again, really, really helpful when you're teaching 3D printing. Okay.

So what are some lesson ideas? I gave you a bonus one, but I'm going to talk about a project, a station idea, and a one day lesson that you can do. When it comes to a project. And again, you're like, these are all integrated.

Yes. The way I plan is very, very integrated. One that I really like, and you can modify the type of shape, is that I did robot snowflakes.

And I've actually have done this with different types of robots. At the time I used Sphero, but you could actually change it up based on the type of robots that you have. And what we did, it was during the winter time, it was during my winter robotics theme.

So everybody was working on robotics, but we had a different robot to use in a different lesson. Or maybe you have similar robots, but different lessons. So just a different way to use the robotics.

And in fourth grade, one of their math standards really focuses on lines and angles. And depending on when this lesson would pop up and what they're working on in math, sometimes my groups had background knowledge of lines and angles. Sometimes they were currently working on it, or sometimes they've never done it at all.

So I have experienced all of the above, and it doesn't really matter. And so it works all the ways. Again, it's okay.

I know for sure, 1,000%, they weren't doing this in their classroom. What I'm going to explain to you, so don't feel bad. So we moved all the tables.

I actually move all the tables during robotics anyway. And student, we talked about what symmetry means and how this is represented in snowflakes in nature. And then students had to design a simple symmetrical snowflake and had to measure out the lines and angles to design the snowflake so that their robot could code the path and realistically loop their code.

So once you press play, the robot could actually trace the whole entire snowflake in one go. So that was a really good challenge. It was beautiful.

It looked like Elf from the movie. Absolute one of my favorite movies. Decorated my classroom.

And so we actually, I had tile floors. We use chalk on the floor and students drew the lines using the chalk, and then they covered it up with masking tape. And then at the end of the week, they actually had to pull up the snowflakes so I could do it for the next class.

I would leave a couple just in case, but there's a really good lesson that was heavily math focused. For a STEM station, if now, I plan STEM stations where kids can be very independent. They're quick challenges, but one that could be implementing that technology, but really focusing on how is math used in the real world.

On my other podcast for kids, the STEM Career Quest podcast, I interviewed different people who are currently working in STEM fields and doing amazing things in their real lives. And in particular, I have interviewed two people who rely heavily on math and actually support students in math and why that's important to explain what they do. And so at this station, you can actually have students listen to these podcast episodes.

I have one with Tiffany Layton and then a different one with Christopher Robles, how they use math in their actual career and help impact kids. And so students can listen to these episodes. And I actually have podcast listening guides that go with the episode where students can practice that listening comprehension and also learn about STEM careers that are being used today to solve real world problems.

So you could share these digitally. You can print them out. You can share a segment of the podcast.

So with the guides, you actually get all the whole podcast segmented for you in video format. So you could just focus in on one part, but this is a really great way to help students practicing that listening comprehension. And again, how is math used in our real world? And for our one day lesson, this one's really good for maybe even a sub plan.

If you have a sub, you're very confident in their skills. And also a back to school challenge and also a last minute one day challenge. This was a really good one.

I have done this one in a lot of different capacities, like a whole group with an after school club in my STEM explorers club that I'm hosting in my community right now, but it is a straw maze challenge. And so all you really need for this challenge is, um, hard pieces of cardboard. So I like to cut up Amazon boxes for this one, hard pieces of cardboard, straws, tape, and marbles.

You can use rolling marbles, or you can use flat marbles. And then you can even teach kids like how to create their piece, like into a box and create edges with the cardboard so that the marble doesn't fall off. And so there's a lot of different things.

So there's that engineering piece, of course, but when you're connecting it to the math side, if you're really focusing on math, you can have students time themselves, how fast it takes for their marble to get through the maze from start to finish successfully. And then from there, they can actually keep track of their results to do it 10 times or have their friend do it 10 times, and then they can create a bar graph of their results. And then this can even help them modify their design.

So based on how someone is going through the maze, are there modifications that you can make to make it be harder or maybe make it a little bit easier? And so it really is connecting in why do we have trials through things? How do you use math to actually calculate results? So very low prep, it can easily be done in one day. And there are, there's a video to show you kind of like some tips and tricks to get started. And then also those math and science connections.

As a recap for this math episode in our STEM in Action series, we talked about the standards to really focus on when it comes to the math side. What are my favorite tools that are math-focused? And also some lesson ideas in terms of a project you can try, a STEM station, and a one-day lesson. All of the things we chatted about will be in the show notes, but specifically the lessons that I talked about can be found in my TPT, my Teachers Pay Teachers Shop, Naomi Meredith, where you can get all the things you need to get set up and on your way with these math-focused activities.

Thank you so much again for being here and being a part of the series. This was a fun one to plan. And I was very surprised that I didn't have this one as lessons, or not as lessons, as episodes.

So you guys really inspire me. I appreciate you reaching out and excited for the next series, couple series that I am planning out, where we are going to be talking all about back to school. Thank you so much again for being here and I will talk to you soon.

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

I'll talk to you soon.