21-22 STEAM Lab week 11

 This week the lab hosted Ms. Allende, Ms. Nicholson, Ms. Mosquera, Ms. Pena, Ms. White and Ms. Mulry's classes.

Another great showing on the Math Stories activities and Robo-Retells! 

K-2 continue to progress in their coding courses and 3-5 complemented their robotic unit with the Code.org Dance Party & AI Hour of Code.

G/T started work on their November Journals and 4th & 5th grade completed the research for their Galapagos Mini Museum projects.

5th grade put in a habitat work day in their roles as Hero Helpers, cleaning up and putting our cardboard and pallets to help condition the ground for the new beds.

After school enrichment completed their Recycled Orchestra project and it was a phenomenal success!

We were thrilled to have entomologist Ms. Nicole Martinez join us for our Guest Speaker series! We all learned a great deal about insects in general, but also some really useful specifics about pollinators that our Monarch Heroes will be putting to use for this year's habitat plans!

And, as always, a very enthusiastic celebration of creativity and collaboration was on display for Free Build Friday as Keva, LEGO, and Chain Reaction kits took over the lab!

21-22 STEAM Lab week 10

 A great week with some very creative work done by Ms. Hernandez, Ms. Maldonado, Ms. James, Ms. Martin, Ms. Lee, and Mr. Fakhreddine's classes!

We started off strong with our Math Stories: Eric Carle's Rooster's Off to See the World, Marilyn Burns' The Greedy Triangle, and Ann Tompert's Grandfather Tang's Story. Students did a great job on the art activities and interactives, and, after an exploratory play day with the Bee Bots & Ozobots, the Robo-Retells we're a smashing success!

K-2 continued work on their coding courses and 3rd-5th got reacquainted with Code.org through the Dance Party & AI Hour of Code. 

Ms. Hernandez's Green Heroes did a fantastic job with their campus clean-up!

G/T spent some time learning games promoting spatial reasoning, pattern recognition, and visual problem solving: Rush Hour, Quirkle, and Q-Bitz.

In their after school enrichment they make a spectacular start to their Recycled Orchestra with excellent designs and construction of their instruments. 

We lost power Thursday afternoon, so creating their Scratch programs & connecting the Makey Makeys had to be postponed, but no one seemed too upset about a bonus Free Build with LEGO, Snap Circuits, and Meccano!

21-22 STEAM Lab week 9

 This week saw the start of a new rotation! The second cycle will feature a Math Story/ Robo-Retell mash-up where we explore math concepts through art, literature, and robotics. Ms. Colmenero, Ms. Maldonado, Ms. James, Ms. Martin, Ms. Lee, and Mr. Torres' classes absolutely hit it out of the park with these projects this week!

In addition to the math story robo retells we had: code.org, Bee Bot and OZOBOT exploration days, & Free Build Friday, a Green Hero Clean-up, and Monarch Hero Migration Exploration

First grade GT students from Ms. Montoya and Ms. Thormodsgaard's classes staged their adaptation of Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Live Arts Experiences returned to the building with our beloved Arts Partner DACAMERA! 5th grade loved their "Friendly Debate" Music Encounter

@PineyElem we were thrilled to welcome back beloved Arts Partner @DaCameraHouston! 3 of our 5th grades enjoyed a Friendly Debate Music Encounter as they worked on facts vs opinions@artsconnecthtx @HISDFineArt #ArtsIntegration pic.twitter.com/xwXea1PxaG

— kimberly boyce (@kboyceq) October 20, 2021

We held our very first Student Decathlon!

@PineyElem it's our 1st Student Decathlon! 1st-5th grade students are testing their skills in a range of events from spelling, to dramatic reading, to map interpretation, to listening!
Thanks to proctors @ms_bridgewater @csalas2912 @thompsonmonical & Ms. Accavallo!@HoustonISD_GT pic.twitter.com/nvpi8NDDMV

— kimberly boyce (@kboyceq) October 20, 2021

And last, but not least, we started after school enrichment for 4th & 5th grade students!

 

@PineyElem after school Special Projects class was really productive! They painted 24 recused aluminum can butterflies for a new garden art piece & blended polymer clay to make new butterflies for the library mural!
A little wiring & baking and these will be ready to install! pic.twitter.com/QACXriuL9U

— kimberly boyce (@kboyceq) October 20, 2021

21-22 STEAM Lab week 8

It's the end of the first rotation! Everyone had been introduced to the coding environment they will be using this year, the Green Heroes and Monarch Heroes have all completed their first unit activities, and we are all looking forward to the next activities. This last group for unit one did a fantastic job; It was a pleasure having Ms. K. Keahey, Ms. Pineda, Ms. E. Keahey, Ms. McCord, Ms. E. Guzman, and Mr. Cruz's classes in the lab!

We also made a little acknowledgement of Ms. Bailey's 1st Principal Appreciation Month! 

@PineyElem we are the most privileged to have such an amazing principal and we - every student & staff member - are so pleased to celebrate @kendalrbailey this month!@HoustonISD @ELEM1_HISD pic.twitter.com/zdLm2AZnyN

— kimberly boyce (@kboyceq) October 13, 2021

4th grade GT treated us to a fantastic presentation of Tomi DiPaolo's The Legend of the Bluebonnet

We wrapped up a splendid Hispanic Heritage Month with a digital field trip from our beloved Arts Partners at Houston Ballet!

STEAM Lab 21-22 week 7

Coding with Code.org and Scratch, electrical circuits, spatial reasoning Math Stories, Keva engineering challenges, LEGO, Green Heroes, Monarch Heroes, G/T October journals, chalk art, 4th grade play rehearsals, Monarch Money fundraising campaign kickoff, and participating in the Journey North Symbolic Migration - and that was just 3 days!

Ms. Tran, Ms. Thormodsgaard, Ms. Martinez, Mr. Garza, Ms. Alonzo, and Ms. Purvey's classes were in the STEAM Lab and I need a nap just thinking about how much they accomplished!

STEAM Lab 21-22 week 6

 Another great week in STEAM Lab with Ms. Caro, Ms. Stevens, Ms. A. Sato, Mr. Briceno, Ms. Reyes-Guzman, and Ms. Limon's classes. 

It was unfortunately too wet for Ms. Caro's Green Heroes to have their kickoff, but Ms. Steven's Monarch Heroes did a splendid job and definitely earned their wings!

A short week next week - only 3 days for STEAM Lab, but I am sure the students will do great things!

STEAM Lab 21-22 week 5

 A great week in STEAM Lab! Ms. Nesmith, Ms. Santana, Mr. Arzola, Ms. Kale, Ms. Miranda, and Ms. Mulry's classes were here and it was 5 days of Code.org & Scratch coding, Eco-Schools Green Hero/ Monarch Hero/ Hero Helper work, investigations into the sun, play rehearsals and performances, GeoInquiry observations and developing of good questions, and some Free Build Friday art/ electricity/ bulding!

STEAM Lab 21-22 week 4

A short week curtailed even more by Hurricane Nicholas! Still, in two days Ms. Almanza, Ms. Montoya, Ms. Arriola, Mr. Torres, Mr. Fakhreddine, and Mr. Willman's classes put in some excellent work!

Ms. Almanza's Kinder weren't able to start their Green Hero work due to the weather, but they did make an excellent start on their Code.org course.

Ms. Montoya's Monarch Heroes didn't get to start Code.org , but they somehow managed to learn the Monarch Song, the stages of the life cycle and to identify the 5 most common butterflies in the habitat to earn their wings!

Ms. Arriola's class made a lot of progress in their Code.org course and classes in 3rd-5th grade explored Scratch - especially the sound library and editing tools!

5th grade GT staged our first performance of the year with their Constitution Day celebration.

The weather shut down any chance of our sun activities this week, so we will try again when these classes return to the lab!

STEAM Lab 21-22 week 3

 Coding, and Science, and Art, Oh my!

Another set of awesome classes doing excellent work made the short week fly by. Ms. Allende, Ms. Nicholson, Ms. Mosquera, Ms. Reilly, Mr. Torres, and Ms. Pena's classes were in the lab this week. K-2 got acquainted with Code.org while 3-5 let their imaginations run wild coding in Scratch. 

All classes went out to do the sun investigations: sun print, shadow clock and a comparison of temperatures in the shade vs. the direct sunlight. Students were shocked how very dramatic the difference was! When we reviewed all our results the next day we acted out the rotation and revolution of the earth as well. 

Green Heroes completed their first campus clean-up and 4th grade Hero Helpers did all their data collection and calculations; Monarch Heroes toured the habitats, learned the Monarch Song, the life cycle, and to identify the 5 most common butterflies in our area! 4th and 5th grade Hero Helpers stepped in to assist all 8 Monarch Hero classes with their Monarch Money envelopes. Hopefully, cooler temperatures will allow these Helpers to get outside and assist in the habitats as well.

GT classes have been hard at work preparing for their various performances. 5th grade is staging a mini-show for Constitution Day, 4th grade finished the props and has their lines memorized, so just a few more touches to the set are required. Second grade is in full rehearsal and can't wait to take the stage. First and 3rd grade won't be far behind! GT finished the week with a fantastic guest speaker, Ms. Lily Dove, a polar oceanographer from CalTech. She sent us an  experiment to do beforehand that was an excellent review of mixtures, solutions, and density as well as a great introduction to her work on sea ice changes.

Next week is only 3 days, but I am sure our Panthers will accomplish all sorts of amazing things!

STEAM Lab 21-22 week 2

Another week packed with fantastic student effort!

This week Ms. Hernandez, Ms. Brown, Ms. Giron, Ms. Mallona, Ms. White, and Mr. Cruz's classes were in the lab. The K-2 settled into their Code.org courses while 3rd-5th were introduced to Scratch.

All classes participated in this rotation's sun themed activities - making sun prints and a solar clock. 4th and 5th graders also visited Nasa Space Place to investigate the solar system and created images of their favorite planets for our mini reused material planetarium.

Ms. Hernandez's Green Heroes and their 4th grade Hero Helpers from Ms. White's class completed their first campus clean-up and data collection activity and Ms. Brown's Monarch Heroes earned their wings by learning to recognize common butterflies in the habitat and to sing the Monarch Song. Unfortunately, it was still far too hot to take any other classes to start their Eco-Schools' roles - here is hoping next week brings a break in the heat!

 

STEAM Lab 21-22 Week 1

 A stellar start to the new school year!

I was delighted to welcome: Ms. Colmenero, Ms. Maldonado, Ms. James, Ms. Martin, Ms. Lee, and Ms. Purvey's classes - the first classes in the lab since 3/12/2020!

This year's theme in STEAM Lab is GROW

and our first rotation is focused on investigating and exploring attributes of the sun. We made sun prints, a shadow clock, and 4th and 5th created mini planetariums. Of course we worked in Code.org (K-5), pushed our creative coding with the new Getting Unstuck curriculum for Scratch (3-5), and had a blast on Free Build Friday with blocks, LEGO Bricks, or art.

Kinder Green Heroes, 1st Monarch Heroes, and 4th grade Hero Helpers were introduced to their Eco-School Green Jobs, but it was just too scorching for 5th grade Monarch Mentors and 3rd grade Water Wardens to be out for theirs unfortunately.

Galapagos GeoInquiry Fund For Teachers Fellowship

 Track our progress!

Detailed posts will appear on: The Tortoise and the Finch as wifi is available.

G/T students in 3rd and 4th grade researched the Galapagos and recommended locations and species that were "must see", justifying their choices by answering the Nat Geo Education GeoInquiry guiding questions. Mr. Quentin from Sinclair Elementary and I built our itinerary based on these recommendations as far as possible. 

Their second step was researching the locations we had booked and drafting interview questions for the naturalists, biologists, conservation staff, and museum guides we would encounter on our expedition.

Looking Ahead

 Thanks for all your hard work, creativity, problem solving and planet protecting wonderfulness Panthers! Enjoy your summer, and I will see you in August!

STEAM Lab week 36

 

STEAM Lab week 35

 

STEAM Lab week 34

STEAM Lab week 33

STEAM Lab week 32

STEAM Lab week 31

 

STEAM Lab week 30

STEAM Lab week 29

 

STEAM Lab week 28

STEAM Lab week 27

 

STEAM Lab week 26

 

STEAM Lab week 25

 

STEAM Lab week 24

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STEAM Lab week 22

 

STEAM Lab week 21

STEAM Lab week 20

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STEAM Lab week 18

 

STEAM Lab week 17

STEAM Lab week 16

STEAM LAB week 15

Welcome back to a new year of making, exploring, and learning!