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Ms. Walsh's STEAM Class Site
"The earlier we encourage children to think creatively and to innovate, the more natural this mindset will become."
This is what Kindergarten-2nd Grade is working on:
Week 7-10: Over the next couple weeks, classes will be looking into what it means to animate (a movie-making/ story telling technique). They will start by looking at Thaumatropes and flip books before moving onto techniques of Stop Motion animation (walk cycles and morphs).
Week 10-12: Students will learn what it means to code, or speak the language of a computer! They will practice coding on a website called Code.org and celebrate Computer Science Week. They will even get to create their own character and animate that character using code on an app called ScratchJr.
FINAL WEEKS: Students will be introduced to robots and connect design process problem solving, electrical circuitry and coding to make the robots complete tasks. They will experiment and play with static and current electricity. They will participate in "unplugged" coding activities as well as explore connected coding on Code.org and MakeCode.com. They will see 4th and 5th grade demonstrations of Lego EV3 Mindstorm robots coding, play with Scribble Bots and get a chance to drive Sphero+ around.
Week 1: Students will learn what STEAM is, the expectations of the room, and practice using materials with quick building challenges using Legos and Keva planks. The 4 C's will be introduced: COMMUNICATION, COLLABORATION, CRITICAL THINKING and CREATIVITY.
Week 2: Students will practice the 4 C's with a building challenge using recyclable materials (ex. bridges, towers, haunted houses, etc).
Week 3: Students will rotate through building stations to work together, utilize a variety of materials and persevere through failure and challenge. Materials available include Legos, Keva planks, K'Nex, PVC pipes, cardboard and tape, etc.
Week 4: Students will start to look more closely at the design process. They will be introduced to a man who designs mazes for a living and then be asked to work with a group to design a maze using Legos. Ask your child what the difference between a maze and a labyrinth... they should know! Students will look at examples of mazes on paper and use a pencil to solve a few simple mazes before being asked to design and create their own.
Week 5-6: Up to this point all students were pretty much doing the same thing although their work was tailored to their developmental abilities. This week, however, project work will start to diverge as we focus in on projects that will take more time and be more in depth. Students will learn about artist Picasso and how he used shapes and colors to create art. Then they will transition from using 2D shapes to learning what 3D shapes are.
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