17-18 week 9

And yet another whirlwind week! This year is racing away; can you believe there is only one more week until Thanksgiving break? 3rd-5th started work on the Bebras Challenge -  it is our second year to participate in this international, online, critical thinking program! They are working in the STEM lab and Ms. Karna's computer lab to complete the puzzles during ancillary.
This week the STEM lab hosted:
Ms. Sato's Pre-K
Ms. Rifle's Kindergarten
Mr. Arzola's 2nd grade

PPES STEM Lab week 9 from Kimberly Boyce-Quentin on Vimeo.
Pre-K's sunflowers are growing and growing! Even though the weather here didn't get the memo, we decided to start work on seasonal changes! They began work on recycled material panels showing how a tree changes through the year. Kindergarten had their computer petting zoo and learned that code is what tells a computer what to do. They got started in Code.org and are making excellent progress! Mr. Arzola's class made a mini play about changing states of matter and also made fantastic progress in their coding course - two students actually completed their code.org level and will get started with Scratch on their next visit to the lab!
Ms. Hatchell's 3rd grade, Ms. Giron's 4th grade, and Ms. Cain's 5th grade were welcomed back to the lab just in time for Free Build Friday!
As promised, here are some more of our STEAM arts integration projects:
Changing States of Matter mini play by Mr. Arzola's class:

20171110_111924 from Kimberly Boyce-Quentin on Vimeo.

Plant Song by Ms. Brown's 1st grade:

plant song from Kimberly Boyce-Quentin on Vimeo.

17-18 WEEK 8

This week was full of unfinished business for the best of reasons - celebrating the ASTROS' World Championship! I was sorry to lose time with this week's wonderful students from:
Ms. Aguilar's Pre-K
Ms. Allende's Kindergarten
Ms. Mosquera's 2nd grade
Ms. Guzman's 3rd grade
Ms. Welch's 4th grade
Ms. Purvey's 5th grade

PPES STEM lab 1718 wk 8 from Kimberly Boyce-Quentin on Vimeo.

but we will make up for it next time! The week was further truncated by Universal G/T screening for K & 5th grades, and lots of fantastic field trips! 2nd, 3rd, & 5th were all off campus for wonderful learning adventures! In spite of such little time at our disposal, the students spent their STEM lab time well!
Here are a couple of our new STEAM Arts Integration activities:
Butterfly Life Cycle retell with BeeBots by Krisha from Ms. Thormodsgaard's 1st grade:

beebot monarch life cycle from Kimberly Boyce-Quentin on Vimeo.
Seasons mini play by Ms. Welch's 4th grade:
seasons from Kimberly Boyce-Quentin on Vimeo.
Check back to see more of our student's Science Theater!