STEAM Lab 2019-20 week 1

What an outstanding first week back! I am so glad I have Monday to recover from such a whirlwind of student creativity, problem solving, and just plain awesomeness!

I am bringing back several things I introduced in the lab last year that were successful such as the Daily Wonder via Wonderopolis, and Classroom Q for organization. I also picked up some new tools and ideas over the summer such as Flipgrid, Daniel Barash's Shadow Stories, and the documentation wall.

Code.org – all grades K-5 got started on their new levels. The updated 2019 courses are streamlined and  look good!
Wonderopolis - 3rd-5th start every class with the Daily Wonder. They read, watch, and explore the topic and then record their response. This is a great way to promote curiosity and investigation.
Flipgrid - K-2nd set their personal goals and then evaluated their performance for the week with this app. They loved it and I love the way it lets them express ideas that are beyond the scope of their writing skills (for the moment!).

The Shadow Stories were fantastic at all grade levels. K-2 did a great job with their shadow stories based on Leo Lionni’s Inch By Inch, Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Rolf Myller’s How Big Is a Foot? 3^rd-5^th had some issues with adequate time for research due to internet outages,  but did a great job on their life cycle and food chain science stories.

Eco-Schools – Ms. Colmenero’s Kinder Green Heroes learned their song and earned their capes with their first clean-up, 1^st grade students from Ms. Lowery’s class started work on the Monarch Song and were introduced to several local species of butterflies. Ms. James’ 2^nd grade learned their song and had their recycling training.





We finished up with a fantastic Free Build Friday!