Welcome to the Elementary STEM Coach Podcast. I'm your host Naomi Meredith, a former classroom teacher turned K-5 STEM teacher and coach. With over a decade of experience teaching and a master's degree in STEM leadership, I'm here to coach you throughout the year to help you gain back more time to create innovative experiences for your students.

I wanted to record a spooky episode just in time for Halloween, and if you are watching the video version, I am wearing a spider web shirt to get in the spooky mood. Now, you can actually listen to this at any time. It's actually not specifically Halloween related, but there are some things about elementary STEM that scared me when I was getting into that space.

So let's get into it. One of the first things that was a little bit scary for me getting into K-5 STEM and really continues to be a little bit scary is making sure that my students had up-to-date resources and having the funding to provide those experiences for kids. Sure, you can do a whole lot with recycled materials, and if funding is something that you feel like is stopping you, there is a lot that you can do in Let's Chat.

I have a whole playlist about Makerspace that you can get started. But really, there are some ways to get some funding, and we've also talked about that here on this podcast before. But I always was concerned about, I want to make sure that kids are attacking problems and having experiences with things that are relevant and up-to-date.

When I walked into my K-5 STEM space, when I was a classroom teacher for six years, walked into that K-5 STEM space, I had limited supplies. I didn't have a whole lot of experience. I did with teaching, but not in STEM and no curriculum.

There were some things in there. There were some older STEM kits. There were a lot of things that were meant for middle school students.

There wasn't anything for the little kids. I had an old 3D printer and a broken crayons, and it did scare me a bit. How am I going to create this program really out of nothing? And I really did.

There are a lot of great free resources out there. So even if your school has access to computers for your students, mine did, thankfully. And so I would have students bring in their computers into the classroom so I didn't have to purchase any.

There are some you can do online. Like I said, create with makerspace materials. But there are some ways to write grants as well and creative ways to get some funding.

But that is something that scared me and continues to scare me and is always on the top of my mind to make sure that kids are being able to use resources that are relevant, that are up-to-date, and can really help them make those connections to the real world. So that is something I'm very passionate about, having really good resources. And I really try to bring those up here on this podcast or over on my social media to make sure that we are doing what is really fun and also relevant for kids.

Another big thing that would scare me as a K-5 STEM teacher and also now educator in my community is the amount of time. Time and pacing on projects is really tricky. Even now for me, when I am starting and creating new projects, I feel really bad for my Tuesday afterschool STEM group because they are the first ones to try the project and it always goes better with my Thursday group.

So I always want to make sure that I'm thinking through those steps with my Tuesday group and then I try my best and it goes way better on Thursday. But the amount of time is so tricky. This goes also to those experience and resources.

What do we have kids learning? What can we feasibly do in the amount of time? And I totally get it. A lot of you actually teach STEM to your whole school by Friday. So you see a different group of kids Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday.

I was really lucky. I got to see kids Monday through Friday. Even in my long-term STEM subbing right now, I'm teaching K-5 STEM currently.

Having that luxury of them every single day is awesome. But I know that's not always the case. With my STEM afterschool clubs, I see them for an hour and we're done for the week.

I don't carry on projects. So having that time can be scary and adjusting what works well. And it really is a lot of trial and error and keeping track of what works well and what doesn't.

And bringing this all together, these all really connect. These are always things that I was worried about is having a well-balanced curriculum. It was really interesting when, and I still hear this too, when I talk to kids about what STEM is like in their schools, if they have it.

So I don't even work in this school. Some kids say they only do coding. Coding's awesome.

That's great. But that should just be called a coding class, not a STEM class. And so I really try to ask kids, what do you do in STEM? What kinds of projects? Some kids say they don't even do projects.

I'm like, oh, interesting. We're always on the computer. Interesting.

So my thing when teaching K through 5 STEM and also thinking about your curriculum as well, I have an episode actually about auditing your STEM curriculum and really making sure it has all the pieces that you need because there are really purposeful ways to plan. And then there's some quick ways that I just need to get something out there. But I was always concerned about how can I have a well-balanced curriculum that carries me throughout the year, that has a variety of experiences and also has a progression of learning.

Starting off the first couple of years, kids may or may not have a whole lot of background. However, as you get through the years, you do need to have some more challenges, but you also want to carry through those skills. And so that is scary.

There's a lot of puzzle pieces fitting in. And I do have my K through 5 STEM year-long plan, scope and sequence that you can take a peek at for free. It's at Naomi Meredith.com slash year-long plan.

Super helpful for you. You can grab all the lessons individually or in a bundle, but you can take a peek at the actual year for free and all of the standards that went along with it. Also, if you're needing more support when it comes to setting up your space or a big thing is lesson planning at this time of year, I do have my on-demand STEM workshops that in two hours, I walk you through.

There's a K through two workshop and a three through five that really walks you through the process of how I actually plan lessons using standards and a variety of experiences to bring it all together. Those are linked in the show notes for you, but this is a great time of year to really dive in. Now that you know your kids and kind of what you like and don't like in this space, those workshops are extremely helpful.

There is a certificate that you can turn in if you need professional development hours, but definitely something to not have you be scared anymore and feel a lot of success. What are the types of things that scare you in the K through five STEM space? Let me know in the comments if you're on YouTube or feel free to reach out to me on Instagram at Naomi Meredith underscore. And I would love to hear your thoughts.

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 elementary STEM coach podcast at gmail.com. Also make sure to check out my website, Naomi Meredith.com to see all the show notes from today's episodes and shop my K through five STEM resources. Any questions you have needs for resources or ideas for episodes, get in touch.

I'll talk to you soon.