A STEAM Powered Week!

I haven't created a post on this blog all year, and this week in the EduMatch Voxer group, I pledged that I would create a post this weekend.  So keeping true to my pledge, I had to spend a bit of time to think about what I was going to blog about.  I have several things that have been on my mind to blog about...computational thinking, MakerEd and Passion Time, the Positivity Project, my first full year using See Saw, etc.  However, then I really started to reflect on the entire week, and I realized it was very STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) infused!  So, for my first post of the school year...I am going to highlight the fun we had with STEAM this week at Glengary Elementary!

Next Generation Science Standards FOSS Kit: Motion and Matter
      This is the first year our district adopted the new NGSS Science Kits from FOSS.  I have to say, I have been really impressed with the upgrade and the quality of each of the kits we have had this year.  Our final kit has not disappointed!  Last week we engineered spinning tops and collected data on different variables tested. In addition, we created collaborative table art with the Doodle Tops.  This week we continued with the engineering practices with cart designs.  The students learned about criterion and constraints as they created a cart that could move from here to there. It was super awesome to see the unique ways students used the materials given and experience their problem solving and teamwork.

The Glengary Marimba, Drum, and Dance Group
      We are so incredibly blessed to have Mrs. Colwell lead our music programs at Glengary. She has created one of the only elementary based marimba groups in our state, and she is really giving our 4th and 5th graders such great exposure to percussion skills and diverse music experiences.  She was even able to get her husband to make several of the marimbas they use, which is amazing! During our Family STEAM Night they both opened up the music room and allowed families to play the marimbas and learn how they are engineered to make the sound they do! 

These girls love playing the giant marimba...I am not going to lie...so did I!










The Upcycled Challenge

This student used the packaging from a toy to create a puppet stage and made sock puppets to be the actors. So fun!!

       Typically on Fridays my class has the opportunity to explore their interests during Passion Time.  The theme of the past 2 Fridays has centralized around Earth Day, and I have encouraged the kids to create something upcycled. We had a 1/2 day on Friday, so I chose to dedicate the entire morning to upcycled fun!  Students created pillows after reusing stuffed animal materials and old clothes, while others created games. Interestingly, there were a lot of pretend play creations involving puppets!  Our central administration staff came through my room on a visit, and our superintendent gave the best complement of all..."This is what good instruction looks like!"  Yes, it is great when you give the control over to the students to be able to create, learn, and grow!

Glengary Family STEAM Night

Grid Art Collaboration!

       The week ended with a family evening event at our school.  I was part of the committee to put it on, and it was an awesome, awesome night!  We had stations all over our school involving robotics, art, medical science, engineering, chemistry, and more!  One of the more popular rooms was the BreakOut EDU room, which was a first at Glengary!  Families had so much fun completing the challenges, learning the science behind things, and experiencing learning together.  That is probably what stood out to me most was the joy families had with each other while going from station to station.  Check out the some of the photos below!

Engineering with Zoobs!

Marshmallow Pulse Activity

Fun with Snap Circuits!

The Walled Lake Robotics Team Shared Their Creations!

Reflections From My 3 Day Walk Experience...Part 1

Over the last 3 years, I have had 3 of my childhood friends diagnosed and treated for breast cancer.  

When I went to get my first mammogram last year at age 40, the technician told me jokingly I should get new friends, as we are out of the range of normal occurrences. Since my friendships aren’t going anywhere, I knew we had to tune a bit more into this awful cancer. One of my friends Katie, diagnosed last October, decided she would like to do the Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk this year.  I decided that it would be the least I could do, so I registered to walk.

Not being a person who formally exercises, I was a bit nervous for the daunting 60 miles! I began training here and there during the spring months, and kicked it up a bit once the school year came to an end. My fundraising proved to also be a bit daunting, but I received a lot of donations when my friend Laura was unable to walk and transferred her donations to my account.  Without this, I probably would not have been able to raise the $2300 needed.  In addition to her funds, I had many supportive friends, family, and colleagues that also donated.  

It has now been 10 days since closing ceremonies, and I still keep finding myself going back into the pink bubble of the 3 Day, so I decided to share some of my biggest takeaways from my rookie experience at the Michigan Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk!

There are a TON of Committed 3 Day Walkers

George was a super star walker!

At opening ceremonies you are given a special lanyard if you are a first time walker. In addition, you get a special button that says, this is my FIRST walk! If you are not a first time walker, you can fill in the number of walks you have been on.  One of the first people I met had on a button that said it was his 50th walk!  I was shocked!  He told me that he walked all 14 walks in 2011. I thought he was a rarity, but as I walked and talked, I met several people that do multiple walks each year. In fact, I know some of the walkers I met along the route are gearing up for another walk this weekend in the Twin Cities. (Note...my feet still aren’t back to normal.  I couldn’t even imagine doing it all over again!)  I am so inspired by their commitment to the Susan G. Komen organization. In fact, Jim Hillmann, the man I met at opening ceremonies, actually was awarded a milestone award at camp celebrating his 50th walk!   And then there’s a man named George Nummer who is an 85 year-old celebrity walker!  Check out a local news story featuring him here.

So Proud to be a Walled Lake Educator

When I learned that the opening ceremonies were going to be at Walled Lake Western, I was excited that the school district that I worked in would be a part of my 3 Day experience!  In addition, my fellow teammate’s husband is the principal there!  After we left WLW after the opening ceremonies, we were able to pass our administration building, which had many people outside cheering, offering candy and water, as well as the WLW cheerleaders!  We were able to have one of our pit stops at Meadowbrook Elementary too!  

But the coolest thing by far was coming back to camp on Friday night and getting high fives from Walled Lake Northern football players...even some that I had when they were third graders at Glengary Elementary.  But wait...it gets better!  They carried our bags to our tent, helped set up our tent, and even carried our plates to the table at dinner!  It was soooo wonderful! The next night the Walled Lake Central football players joined in on the fun!  I truly enjoyed it so much and immediately shared thank-you emails to the coaches, principals, and our superintendent, as these young men were very well-mannered and handled themselves with the utmost respect.  They were very appreciated by the 3 Day walkers and staff, and I was very proud to say to others, “I am a teacher in Walled Lake!  Some of those boys were my 3rd graders!”

There are so many things that I learned about myself and this experience...too much for just one blog entry. Stay tuned shortly for Part 2 of my blog series on Reflections of the Michigan 3 Day focusing on the support I received from others!

Embracing and Integrating Fidget Spinners in the Classroom

The fidget spinner craze has entered my classroom and my home, and I imagine, based on the ads and Facebook shares, they have also entered your world too!  I have heard from parents and teachers that many of them have been taken away and most people are annoyed with it.  I’m here to offer a few suggestions to embrace this craze and integrate it with learning!

Spinner Scientific Investigations

I encouraged all of my kids to bring them into our classroom this week and create an investigation to study some aspect of the fidget spinners. Kids were collecting data before and after adding lubrication, measuring the mass of the spinners, coordinating the timing of spinner, and really digging deeper with how these spinners work. One of the things I have to grade on report cards is that kids understand the scientific process. This gave them a great opportunity to carry out an investigation all on their own...and they were motivated! (We will continue our investigations and share our conclusions next week! I'll post them here!)

Spinning and Math Facts

Skip count by a certain number and see how high you can get before it stops spinning. Since my students need to have their multiplication facts memorized by the end of the year, skip counting is a skill they can all use to practice.

Creating Spinners on Your Own

My cousin 3-D printed a spinner for my own kids in January, and then one of my students made one in his garage just cutting and sanding heavy plastic. This led to him thinking of other ways to create them, and he even used an old toy to recreate it into a spinner. After that, I got excited and bought a bunch of bearings for my students to create their own. Even with a bit of hot glue, you can make things work.

My son made this by hot gluing pennies together and then gluing them to the bearing. 

Eye Hand Coordination and Perseverance

Kids are spinning them on their fingers and throwing them up in the air to catch them while spinning over and over. Not only does it develop patience and perseverance, but it also helps with coordination! (Just make sure they have a safe distance around them for flying spinners.)

Update...and my kids have just shared with me that they are also good to spin on other body parts. Here is my daughter sharing her nose balancing skills!

Tuning Into Learning Through the Inventor’s Challenge

My 3rd grade classroom at Glengary Elementary is participating in the Inventor’s Challenge sponsored by the Imagination Foundation and AT&T Aspire.  We launched the challenge by brainstorming What If’s and actually presented them in the January #PasstheScopeEdu event on Periscope.  Here are some slides on our Inventor's Challenge if you want to take a peek.

A few weeks ago the challenge launched, and we began the process of inventing.  I would like to highlight one story from our first day of inventing! 

I was sitting at my desk, and I overhead one of my students say, “Hmmm…how can I attach this?”  I looked over and saw CR trying to attach a blown up fold-top baggie on a white t-shirt she had decorated. I asked her what she was trying to do, and she told me that she was trying to get the shirt to fly so people wouldn’t have to be stuck in traffic. I wished her good luck with the invention.  

Next, I noticed she realized the fold-top baggies were not keeping in the air, so she went and got ziplock baggies. She was super excited to fix the issue of air escaping.  She blew them up and started thinking about the placement when another student started a discussion with her about helium gas.  Knowing she didn’t have access to helium, she moved on to a different idea. 

Again, I heard her say, “Hmmm.  How can I attached these?”  I looked at her and saw her trying to figure out how to attached small flat batteries to the shirt.  I asked her what she was trying to do, and she went on to tell me that she was hoping that the stored energy in the battery to help give the shirt the energy to fly.  She also had part of a circuit board that was from a DVD the some students had disassembled earlier in the year.  She was trying to figure out how she could connect the energy to the board to see if there were any motors, as she thought that could be part of the solution to make the shirt fly. She tried and tinkered with it a bit, but our Passion Time ran out without much progress.  

As her teacher, I was able to witness many curricular connections through her tinkering.  CR was able to compare baggies and find one that sealed in air better. She learned about the difference in gases…and the capabilities of helium.  Her knowledge of batteries having stored energy was evident, and she realized that the circuit was in need of power in order to do work. Since we were at the end of our unit of Energy and Matter, I was able to see that CR had acquired knowledge from our unit.  I was able to assess her without giving a test…just through questioning her while she played essentially. Though she may not be successful making a shirt that flies, she has shown me success with her problem solving, her ability to redesign, and her basic knowledge of energy!  I believe we can do a lot more assessing through play if we pay attention to our kiddos and engage with them! I challenge you to pay attention to play and see what skills you can assess. I bet there are many! 

Here is a quick video with her reflections on her flying shirt invention. 

If you would like more information how your students or your child can participating in the Inventor’s Challenge, check out www.imaginaiton.is. 

Looking Forward to Having Fun with HyperDuino

A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by Roger Wagner, the creator of Hyper Studio, to introduce me to his latest project...HyperDuino.  I am typically very tuned into new products in the STEAM/Makerspace world, but I had not experienced HyperDuino before.  I jumped at the chance to explore it with my third graders, and Roger jumped right in and sent me one within days of our first contact!  I went ahead and opened it up in front of my students, while they were sitting on the carpet, and we explored it together.

Essentially, Roger has created a breadboard... HyperDuino, which can can run off a 9V battery and connect to lights, touch sensors, light sensors, and I believe even temperature sensors.  In addition, it can connect to a computer through a usb, and communicate with a Chrome App that allows students to create multi-media presentations that interact with their makerspace projects or other school projects. Take a look at this example:

My students and I were really excited to jump in and see what the HyperDuino could do. Fortunately, Roger has amazing tutorials on his webpage, and he had a specific one for getting started right away with a simple project using the touch sensors and LED lights.  As we were connecting the wires, it gave me a great opportunity to reinforce our unit on energy and the transfer of energy.  Often kids think that wires have electricity flowing through them at all times, but I was able to point out to them that the wires serve as a means to transfer energy.  We hadn't connected the battery yet, so no power was flowing through them. Once we got it all set up, the kids enjoyed taking turns pressing the touch sensors and seeing the lights light up.  We also noticed that sometimes when I talked (the touch sensors were inches from my mouth) the lights would illuminate, which allowed us to talk about things that conduct electricity...including the water vapor in my breath!

Last week I got another kit sent to me...this time with a project already started for my kiddos.  Roger prepared it for a National Park Project, complete with photos of how to set it up and his own handwriting!  Included were also packets of how-to instructions to walk us through each step of the project! Now I know this is a product that is still in the launching phase, but I actually think there is something to be said about delivering a product slightly ready with an example, as it helped me see the potential right away! The great thing is, I have done Michigan State Park reports in the past and after seeing this example, I believe I know how I will be tackling that project this year!

Another great thing about having it shipped to me ready to go like this, I was able to share it with my colleagues right away!  I also think it made it look user friendly and doable for teachers.  I think I have even convinced my ELL teacher to do a small group project to frontload our next science unit with the third graders using the HyperDuino!

All I can say is kudos to Roger Wagner for knowing how to win over teachers!  Not with fancy swag, but with a great product and awesome support to get started!  I can't wait to see how much fun my students and I can have integrating the HyperDuino with our making, researching, and learning!

For more information on how you can get a HyperDuino, check out the HyperDuino Store!

Camp Invention 2016....What a Week!

Over the past week I was honored to be the director of the Walled Lake Camp Invention! Camp Invention is a FABULOUS camp for students entering first-sixth grades. Over the week I used Smore to build a newsletter for each day. Take a look at all the fun students had with STEAM and Inventing!

Blended Learning in Elementary

I will be presenting at the My Blend Summer Learning Day Camp in East Lansing on July 12, 2016. Here are some of the resources for my "Blended Learning in Elementary" poster session.

Ending the Year with Passion

I have integrated Innovation Days and Genius Hour into my classroom for several years.  This past year, I haven’t been able to have a  consistent time for the kids to work on developing their passions, but I have done a lot of great things involving choice, makerspaces, and STEAM. Even with that, it didn’t feel right ending the school year without having time for passion projects, so I decided to have the last full week of social studies spent on American History Passion Projects.  The students could choose to learn about anything involving American History and create a project about it.  

I tell you...it’s the magic recipe for ending the school year with engaged learners eager to come to school!  I have enjoyed seeing the kids come alive with curiosity and excited to learn.  Teaching three sections of fifth grade Social Studies, each class got 4 hours to work on their projects, however, many decided to work on their projects at home and even during recess.

Interestingly, there were several projects that were themed around September 11. An event that is still so vivid in my mind, was an event they had heard about, but didn’t know many details about.  It was hard to find appropriate information for kids, but we did find a great resource with the 911 Memorial page. Many of my students were interested in learning more about the Twin Towers.  It just so happened that I great up with Minoru Yamasaki’s grandson, Jesse.  I contacted Jesse and asked him if he would video conference with us. He happily agreed, and we had a wonderful time connecting with him over a lunch and recess last week. The kids were able to learn a lot about Min, as his grandfather was commonly called, and the wonderful building her designed...right down to the art he commissioned throughout the building and the 10-foot model that was created when preparing for the build.  Here are some of the projects that were created:

I had the chance to video some of the projects.  Here are our videos.  Enjoy!

On the second day of presentations we did live presentations.  Here is one of the plays that were performed by 2 of my students...believe it or not, these are two of more reserved students.  It brought me to tears to see the risks they took with their comedic performing skills!

If you are interested in ending the year with kids eager to come to school and be engaged, I highly recommend putting the control into their hands. I noticed better behaviors while we were working on the projects, and I enjoyed walking around and seeing the joy in their minds and hearts!  

Making Memories at Maker Faire Detroit

This past weekend, I had the wonderful opportunity to share Maker Faire Detroit with a handful of my students from last year.  During our Goal Time last year, our own version of Genius Hour, there was a group of students who created the T-Spa and began a sugar scrub business.  With the funds collected from their sales over the year at Glengary Elementary in Walled Lake, we were able to purchase materials for Maker Faire Detroit, and teach other people how to make their own sugar scrub.  In addition, a second business was created towards the end of the year making paracord bracelets.  C and J’s Paracord was also able to attend the Maker Faire.  Together, the businesses merged and became SpaCord. Maker Faire Detroit waived the fee to sell things, as the kids wanted the profits to go to foster kids. There is a resource for foster families in Livingston County called Hope's Closet that helps out foster families with getting clothes, hygiene supplies, and bedding for foster children.

We were lucky enough to be able to join together last week to prep our materials for Maker Faire.  We were not sure how many to prep, but we wanted to be efficient at our booth. We spent about 2 hours getting things ready! I was thankful for the help of supportive parents as we planned for the weekend!

My garage became a staging area for the weekend, complete with small 4 oz. cups of coconut oil, 60 pounds of sugar, marketing materials, and more!  I wanted to have a formal banner for our booth, and I lucked out, as Staples Copy Center was having a sale on banners.  I was able to get a grommeted banner for $25.00.

Here are some photos from Maker Faire Detroit!

My students shared the steps in making your own sugar scrub. 2 parts sugar...1 part coconut oil! 

There were awesome glasses that people could geek out with duck tape. 

Here are some members of my PLN making their own scrubs...Rachelle(@Miss Galang) and Mary (@WeverWorld)! 

We all had fun with our geeked out Maker Faire glasses! 

In addition to showcasing our Goal Time projects, I also promoted Destination Imagination, a creative problem solving competition for K-University students. I was fortunate enough to have promotional materials from the Michigan Creativity Association, as well as instant challenges I put together for the attendees of Maker Faire. People of all ages loved trying out the tasks, as well as learning more about this wonderful after-school program.  I am embarking on my 16th year as a team manger/coordinator, and I loved sharing my passion for the program with others! 

The challenge was to create a device that would balance a cup at least 6 inches about the table using an index card, a straw, 2 paper clips, and 1 label. :)

I have to give a special thanks to my family.  My husband had to make a special trip back to Brighton to pick up the banner that I left behind, and he hung out at the booth doing a great job of marketing our sugar scrub!  He's a salesman by trade...so he worked his magic on the attendees of Maker Faire! 

My own children enjoyed hanging out all over the Maker Faire.  They wandered around each day finding awesome things to do, in addition to helping out at our booth.  My daughter loved Theatre Bizarre, as well as taking apart laptops at the MSU/4H booth! 

One of the highlights was having Dale Doughtery stop at our booth!  We had tweeted back and forth at ISTE last month, and I tweeted him again while we were at our booth. 

 He found us and hung out for a bit!  We even sent him off with his own sugar scrub sample! 

Our Maker Faire Detroit experience was cut short due to Mother Nature.  We knew the rain was coming in, and actually it held off longer than I was expecting.  Luckily I had a wonderful family that helped me with our booth materials...even though we all got soaked in the process!  Thank-you Zube family! I left Maker Faire looking like a drowned rat and chilled to the bone, but inside I was thankful for the experience and glad that I participated as a maker! I received wonderful comments from the families that participated, and I am so glad that I was able to continue my impact on their lives...even in the middle of summer! 

My daughter and I were soaked from the rain but still smiling!

The Joys of Scrap Paper

A few years back, I had a Destination Imagination team that was made up of all Kindergartners.  At competition, their instant challenge consisted of cutting out pieces of dinosaur body parts from tagboard and making new dinosaurs. After their creation time, they had to create a play about their new dinosaurs.  When time was called and the play needed to begin, one of the partnerships did not have a new dinosaur created. The other kids began the play and used their new dino puppets.  One of the girls who was unable to complete her new dino grabbed a scrap piece of paper from the floor and started using it as a puppet to engage in the play.  It was a oval that was cut out and she used the edges as a mouth chomping up and down as she spoke. Then another boy grabbed a scrap and joined in.  It was so great to see the lack of barriers to their creativity.  Though they were not successful with the ideal outcome of having a new dinosaur created, they were successful in joining in on the performance.  A scrap of paper became a character to brought to life with a splash of imagination and the ability to take a risk! This has stuck with me for many years, as it was an example of raw creativity.

Today, my class was cutting out circles for our math lesson on mixed numbers.  They had a strip of paper with 4 circles that had to be cut out.  When I saw the pile of scraps in my recycling bin, I was reminded of the DI experience. Since it was also Earth Day, I decided it was the perfect day to have fun with the scraps. After lunch, I told the kids the story about the dino play, and I told them that they were going to have 15 minutes to play with a piece of scrap paper.  We discussed the many ways play could be addressed, from puppets to art work to origami and more! I was curious if anything would be different with 8-9 year olds.  Would they be able to see the opportunities in a small scrap of paper?

I ended up extending the time a bit, as my room became full of imagination, joy, and innocence.  The play I witnessed reminded me of the days observing preschool rooms, yet with a hint of sophistication, as many of the students were using their devices to create videos.  I was reminded of the hearts and minds in all of our students and the spirit of childhood within each of them.  They had a blast either playing with their 1 scrap of paper or collaborating with others. We had videos, live performances, and art work shared. One boy even created a soccer game with his scrap.  We will be doing this again, as it was a hit.  Not only did they have a bit of time to discover the possibilities of a simple object, but they also discovered that expensive material objects are not always the ultimate in entertainment.  I videoed some of the activity, and I encourage you to see the joys that a scrap of paper can bring to children!

(If you are curious to hear the reflections from the students, they begin at 3:35.)

Creativity is part of my soul, and I am always striving for ways to integrate it into my classroom.  To get a peek into the other things Team Bond and I are doing, please check out my website: Cheers to Creativity and Innovation! 

Reflections from the Audience

Last night at the Glengary Variety Show, I took a moment to reflect and create a post.  Below is what I wrote.

One of the ultimate highlights of each school year is the Glengary Variety Show.  For 12 years I have led my class in acts, as well as participated in the staff acts.  From "Kung Foo Fighting" to "Hot Chocolate" from Polar Express and Boom Sticks played to "I Gotta Feeling"  to "Be True to Your School", I have always loved getting creative and having a night of fun. This year has been no different.  My class is doing a parody of “Call Me Maybe” but doing “Tweet Me Maybe.” (Which we changed a bit from  http://youtu.be/wWGY7Q67grc . We are ending it with, “We’re Techie and We Know It!” My students each have created shirts with app icons on them.  They look great!  For a staff act, we are doing a Just Dance song and utilizing the choreography from the game! 

I was in Florida for the Florida Educational Technology Showcase (FETC) this week, and I missed the dress rehearsal.  So as I sit here, I am watching these acts for the first time, and I have to say…this show has evolved over the years!  I am so impressed with the creativity that is coming from these students!  71 Acts…and variety is completely apparent!  I am impressed that 23 of those acts are solos!  There are hundreds of people in the audience, and the children are showing such great stage presence!  There are 2 acts that are in complete makeup to look like KISS, ballet dancers, a Polynesian dance act, gymnastics, magic, drama, etc. The costumes have been awesome and the theme is FUN!  Sitting in the balcony with all of the kids, I have also been just as entertained by them enjoying the acts.  What a night of celebration!

I also have to admit that I have gotten emotional a few times this evening.  (Thank goodness I am in the dark balcony.)  Over the last few days, I have thought about my educational beliefs a lot, and they always come back to the importance of creativity and confidence!  I have seen some of my current and former students get up there and rock the stage...students that were not always the ones in the class that would jump in and participate, students that were sometimes the ones having behavior issues, and students that would worry about what others would think and avoid situations because of it.  Pride!   That is what my heart is full of right now!  I have hugged many of them tonight and shared my pride with them.  These are the moments that I hold dear!  Moments that are far away from percentages and state test scores…but so valuable in the scope of life! 

 

Our class did a great job, and they were so proud of themselves!  Our staff had a great time showcasing our moves...and great new styles as well!  (See Below) A grandmother came up to me and told me that she looks forward to my acts each year and loves how I have clever acts.  It made me smile!  I even had one of my former students come up to me and tell me that he worked 5 hours tonight just to be able to see me. (He's a 9th grader on the tech crew for the stage.)  Again...this night had nothing to do with curriculum or assessments, but I can assure you important skills were gained tonight.