Remote Learning: K-12 STEAM

Remote Learning can also include some engaging Science – Tech – Engineering – Art – Math lessons and activities.

• 77 Simple STEM Activities for Families – curated collection offers a variety of activities.

• Bee Bot Emulator – comes with a variety of mats, students just click on the left/right/up/down arrows + Go and watch where Bee Bot will go.

• Code – have students learn computer science. Teachers register for free and create a class to invite students.

• Codingville

• Coding stories – https://www.elementari.io/

• Everfi – Digital Wellness & Safety with Ignition (6-9) found within the catalog. Free for teachers to register and create a class.

• FlipGrid – use to connect learners via your defined discussion prompts. Check out how to get started with Remote Learning on Flipgrid

• NASA – resources for K-12.

• Scratch – block-based coding lessons and activities for early and middle years students. Teachers can assign specific lessons with a specific link or copy/paste into GClassroom.

• Tynker – curriculum (lessons, projects, etc.) and platform free for closed schools. Computer coding curriculum for grades K-8.

• Virtual Code Clubs – in French and English by KidsCodeJeuneusse.

• Wonderville: Free lessons (English)

• Wonderville: Free lessons (French)

 

December – Connecting Picture Books to STEM

 

Book Suggestion	STEAM Activity	Extra Tech Tips
Gingerbread Baby Video	Create a bridge sturdy enough for the Gingerbread baby to cross the river or create a raft to float him over the river or design and new vehicle for the Gingerbread Baby to escape in. The Gingerbread cut-out must be supported by the bridge fit in the vehicle as it rolls down a ramp or stay dry in the water.	Stop Motion Animation (Chromebook with Stop Motion Animator app) – Students (with created props) will retell the story from the point of view of the gingerbread baby, explaining why he didn’t want to be eaten and how he felt about the world he explored.
You Wouldn’t Want to Live Without Coding!	Make an Anagram with CODING and have students write a phrase beside each letter of what they wouldn’t want to live without…	HourofCode.com > Activities then click the filters you want based on your students. Then choose the activities which will give links for students to go and code.
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind	Students will team up to build houses for the Three Little Pigs out of index cards and masking tape. See Three Little Pigs STEM lesson plans.	Code/create a windmill with micro:bit or even Scratch. Lots of great ideas on both sites – have students choose one to either recreate or design their own.
When Sparks Fly	Students will build and launch a foam rocket. Lesson plans from JPL NASA included. OR Create a balloon rocket and graph its movement.	Students will create a Scratch rocketship game. Rules and lesson included.
Kamik Joins the Pack	Make 6 pointed snowflakes – need paper and scissors. Check out the instructions at https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-6-Pointed-Paper-Snowflakes/.	Go to https://bitsbox.com/ and find a way to make one of the apps make snow fall in the background.

 

November – Connecting Picture Books to STEM

 

Book Suggestion	STEAM Activity	Extra Tech Tips
STEM Day (Nov8): The Most Magnificent Thing	Create a prototype for your own magnificent thing that improves the school or classroom using the materials provided. Students should follow the steps of design thinking. (Individual or small group.)	Adobe Spark Video (let IT know student grade level access and connected to a teacher). Have students take pics of their prototyping and then they can add their voice to show their design thinking steps.
H is for Honor	Although American, this book honors military families. Students could write letters to Canadian troops. See Write to the Troops.	Have students learn the different parts of the Canadian anthem. Record students singing.
Strange But True from DK	Create an unusual animal or place with Modular Origami. Draw out the item, create the 3D version using 15cm x 15 cm Origami sheets, take photos and add to a GSlide with a text reflection on the creation.	Use Screencastify to discuss an unusual Canadian animal or place. Have a GSlide ready with an image.
Secret Coders by Yang and Holmes	Decompose and then recreate one the Bitsbox apps found at https://bitsbox.com/blog/our-favorite-apps-from-summer-2018/.	Develop a robot that follows your coding in Scratch. Have it unveil a secret message.

 

October – Connecting Picture Books to STEAM

 

Book Suggestion	STEAM Activity	Extra Tech Tips
‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving Video	Students could create a Handprint Turkey Hat Craft. OR Create a new type of balloon powered vehicle that the turkeys can use to escape from Farmer Mack Nuggett’s Farm before they become someone’s Thanksgiving feast.	The class could do a retelling of the story and perform it while some records it using iMovie or Video Camera (Lesson). OR Pic Collage Edu – with iPads students take photos documenting the steps of the design thinking process and put them into a layout and adding effects, titles and filters.
Halloween: Skeleton for Dinner	Build a skeleton out of Q-Tips, Pipe Cleaners, etc. Skeletons can be 2D or 3D depending upon grade level and ability to use glue guns, playdough, tape or staplers.	Chatterpix Kids – a 30 second animation tool. Have students take a picture of their maker skeleton, draw a mouth on the skull and record their voice telling about the most exciting part of the story or a part they would like to change.
Skeleton Creek (series)	Create a collage inspired by the events from the novel. Don’t forget to use some of the literary allusions from the video passwords and don’t feel compelled to stick with two-dimensional objects either. Explain your choice of symbol, subject, color, form and texture in a brief artist’s statement you also include with the project. OR Create a playlist for at least two scenes of the book. Which music would you choose for the background? Why? If lyrics were used, which ones would be best?	Via a GDoc with a small group – Try writing a short screenplay inspired by Sarah’s personal uploads of the discoveries. What footage would best describe a day in your life? What details would be important to capture? What would you let people see from your home? Your room? Yourself? Consider how you will use the elements of media to enhance your production: light, sound, screen angles, and close-ups. OR  Use FlipGrid to work with a partner to tell a local ghost story in alternating words and video. Be sure to create intensity between the two mediums (print and video) and make the two parts of the story rely on each other as in Skeleton Creek. Don’t forget to let the mystery unfold in more than one episode so your reader/viewer discovers information along the way. Teacher creates the FlipGrid topic and invites students to add.
Get Moving! Or En Route! from Pearson Turtle Island Voices	Race your car (hot wheels) from one end of the table to the other. This can be a head to head race or simply who can make it to the end. You may not touch your car or alter the track. You also can not lift the table. (no ramps) Have supplies like balloons, string, magnets, paper/cardboard available.	Use Audio Voice Recorder Pro (chrome extension) to record a play-by-play of one of the car heats/races. OR Discuss how you created your car. Share with the teacher.

 

September – Connecting Picture Books to STEAM

Librarians/Learning Commons personnel and teachers  are always asking me for ideas on how to incorporate Makerspaces or easy Technology implementation ideas when they are working with students. Below you will find some Early and Middle Years ideas for one month. 

Book Suggestion	STEAM Activity	Extra Tech Tips
Back to School: Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! Teacher Guide	Use a box to design the Fastest bus for Pigeon to drive on his own. Bus must be powered with only one push from the designer. Measure the distance in little student feet or centimetres and larger feet and metres for older engineers. Have small Pigeon cut-outs for students to include in their design. (See How to Draw the Pigeon pp5-6 and Reproducible p9)	Digital Portfolio – a good time to start using/adding to digital portfolio in whichever platform for K-4. Do an introductory activity or have them reflect about this STEAM Activity.
The Dot	The book’s hashtag #MakeYourMark will have a whole new meaning with this maker project. Use paper plates to have students use maker supplies to create a DOT that represents them. Add a different element by having partners interview each other and design a maker DOT for their new friend.	Sign up for the International Dot Day Celebration. There are many activities found on this site. As well, if you have access to iPads with the Quiver app, print off a Quiver sheet for students, have them create their dot and then see how it is transformed into 3D with augmented reality.
Matherpieces	In this innovative picture book, add an “A” to STEM to make STEAM. Using fine art, students practice mathematical problem-solving with four basic principles: keep an open mind, form unusual number combinations, use multiple math skills, and find patterns. Students are asked to find solutions to the questions poised for each painting.	Have students either video or create audio excerpts discussing their painting. Connect the video/audio to a QR code and attach it to the original student painting. Parents can scan the QR code with their smartphone to view/listen to their child.
Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women	Have students use cardboard (or other supplied materials) to create their own invention.	Using Google Keep or other online drawing tool, have students draw out their own invention before creating it.