(0:00) How do you teach your students what the word STEM actually means? In this podcast episode, (0:06) I’m going to give you some tips and lesson ideas of how you can do this with your students and (0:12) it doesn’t have to take a whole lot of time. In the end, hopefully your students understand (0:17) that STEM is an actual subject and not just the stem on a plant. When I first stepped into my (0:25) K through five STEM role at the school I was teaching at, I had just left the regular classroom.

(0:32) So I taught second grade for two years, third grade for four years. And then I was at a brand (0:38) new to me school with no curriculum. I didn’t know any of the students.

I didn’t know any of (0:44) the teachers. Likewise, they didn’t really have a STEM class. They called it technology.

(0:51) So for everybody in the building, this was new to them. Maybe you’re in a similar position or (0:58) they’ve had STEM before, but you just want to make sure all the kids have an understanding what STEM (1:02) actually means. So here’s what I did.

And also what I still continue to do in my STEM after (1:09) school clubs, because again, a lot of these schools that I teach my clubs at, they don’t have STEM. (1:15) And so I just want to make sure the kids understand what we are doing and how this all connects (1:20) together. So the first and easiest way to get started with this is how do you present this (1:27) in your classroom? I had up on my big whiteboard, there’s a big whiteboard wall, just big cut out (1:34) letters that said S-T-E-M, STEM.

And what I did is underneath those, I created these posters (1:42) that actually show examples of what that word means. So for example, and if you’re watching (1:49) the video, you could see this, but there is a circle that has the word science in it. And then (1:55) there’s different pictures that represent science.

So there’s a balance, there’s the sun, an x-ray, (2:02) weather, animals, just different examples that kids would probably know and understand what science (2:09) is. I did this for every single letter. So there’s one for technology so they can see those examples, (2:16) one for engineering.

If you teach STEAM, I have one for art as well. (2:21) But showing that visual of what those letters mean in STEM, just having it up all year long (2:28) was extremely helpful. Not only did I refer to these at back to school, but I actually referred (2:34) to them all year long.

It’s okay if you don’t go super in depth right now. If you’re continually (2:40) referring to this and what STEM means and how it connects to the learning, then you’re set up (2:47) already. Then I created some slides that I would put on my screen and the kids could see it as (2:53) soon as they walked into the room and sat down at our group meeting area.

Each slide represents, (2:59) again, each letter of STEM. So there is a slide that goes along for science, technology, (3:04) engineering, and math. And there are empty circles that you can fill in.

I’ve also done this with (3:10) kids where they can actually fill out these pages or slides that I’m talking about where they could (3:15) fill them out digitally, or they could draw their responses. But if you want to even save some time, (3:21) I fill them out myself with my own examples. So back to that science example for that science (3:27) slide.

There are different things about science that I love and enjoy in my real life. On my (3:34) science slides, I have butterflies, I have rocks and minerals, I have space, and I have sea lions, (3:41) which I tell kids are like wet puppies of the ocean. They’re one of my favorite animals.

(3:45) So these things are on the slide. There’s visual representations of them. I even have a picture (3:51) of me.

I said, these are my favorite things. And just as a quick warm up before we get into (3:56) anything that day, I share with the kids something like this. Oh my goodness, everybody, these are (4:01) all the things about science that I enjoy.

And in STEM, in this class, S stands for science. (4:09) And these are all of my favorite things that I love about science. Thumbs up if you enjoy (4:15) butterflies.

Oh my goodness, we have some friends in here like the same thing. I like butterflies (4:21) because I think they’re beautiful. They’re so important to our earth and they help with (4:26) pollination.

And then I keep going through each of those things and explaining really quick, (4:31) takes about five minutes. And they really like those connections. And it’s a fun way, (4:36) especially when you see a lot of kids, you see all the kids in the school.

It’s a fun way to (4:41) share those real world things and help them see that you’re a real person too. And the last way (4:47) I like to share about what STEM actually means is showing a quick video clip of actual definition (4:54) of the word STEM. And in fact, I know it’s really hard to find these videos that are quick (5:01) and are appropriate for elementary age students.

So I just went ahead and created some for you. (5:07) They’re there for free all over on my YouTube channel, Naomi Meredith. And there is a video (5:13) that gives you an overview in a couple minutes of what STEM is.

And then if you want to go again, (5:19) in depth of every letter, the same day, multiple days, there is a video that goes along with (5:25) every letter. And there is one for art. And I do mention STEAM in the STEM video.

So if you think, (5:32) oh, you only have STEM, I have STEAM as well in all of these resources that I’m talking about. (5:37) So again, being explicit about what STEM is can be really helpful. You can do other activities (5:43) about it if you want.

But if you’re just looking for a quick introduction and making it meaningful (5:48) for kids before you do any of the other back to school stuff, those are my top tips for helping (5:54) you get started. If you’re interested in any of those resources, those printables, those posters, (6:00) those slides, you can grab them in the show notes for this episode. You can check this out in my (6:06) TPT shop, Teachers Pay Teachers shop, Naomi Meredith, and those are all there ready to go.

(6:11) If you have some other strategies of how to introduce the word STEM to your students, (6:15) let me know. Send me a DM my way on Instagram at Naomi Meredith or put them in the comments. (6:21) If you’re watching the YouTube version, I would love to hear your ideas.