S.T.E.M. Family Night a Success!

The first S.T.E.M. Family Night for the Lower School 4th grade families was a great success. It was held on the evening of April 10, 2013, in the Ells Conference Room. It was rescheduled from the original date of February 27th because of our snow day. Eleven families of 4th grade students, including older and younger siblings, and grandparents accepted the two challenges presented to them. The first challenge was called the "Penny Challenge" in which the participants had to predict how many drops of water they could place on a penny. Each family member accepted the challenge and carefully worked to see who would win. The family member that had the least difference between prediction and actual won a prize. This challenge was just the preliminary for what was to come. The "Tower Challenge" was next. The families again put their heads together and developed a plan to build the tallest, free-standing structure (tower) from a single sheet of copy paper and 30 cm of tape. They were given a practice round, then time to modify and redesign, and then it was the official "challenge". Each team had 20 minutes to complete the challenge. The winning family, the Norman family, built a tower that stood 108cm tall, for at least 10 seconds. The family won a $25 gift card to Applebee's Restaurant. A good time was had by all, and the families all left wanting more activities like this. The Norman family even tried the challenge again at home and created a free-standing tower that reached 146cm. Fantastic! What does S.T.E.M.education do for our children? In today's work world that our students will be entering, they will need a mastery of science, technology, engineering, and math to be successful in a career in any one of these fields. It makes sense that these skills be taught as one, so that our students acquire a deeper understanding of them all. These skills need to be embedded in our math and science lessons daily. By using the engineering design process of: (1)asking what the problem is and what others have done; (2)imaging possible solutions; (3_planning and designing a solution; (4)creating (building) this solution; and (5)improving the solution by testing and revising. This all needs to begin in our PK classes and continue throughout USM. S.T.E.M. generates curiosity, interest and confidence in these topics. Mastering these skills will enable our students to enter our global world proficient and prepared.

Where is Spring?

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of some warm, sunny and dry weather so we can get outside. The garden needs to be readied for our spring planting of pumpkin seeds by JK and 3rd graders. JK is also waiting to discover what has happened on the nature trail in the last few months. April showers do bring May flowers, but it needs to warm up soon. The first graders are still studying the weather (a year-long unit)so this month brings up a lot of questions. What is normal weather? How long will this last? When will the flowers start to bloom? Can we see our shadow on a day like today? Next week the first graders will be up in the lab to explore the water cycle and discover what makes it rain (or snow, or sleet, or hail). Maybe we can do a "sunshine" dance to make the clouds go away. The second graders celebrated their return to school after spring break with a delicious pancake breakfast, featuring our own USM maple syrup. We collected 20 gallons of sap from our 4 maple trees, and that boiled down to 2 quarts of thick, amber brown syrup. It was the best crop yet, and was a fun learning experience for all the second graders. The 3rd graders are finishing up their space travels. Just before break, they studied what happens to astronauts' bones while on long space flights. They designed an experiment to see how bones can be made stronger. They tested their designs using 3"x5" index cards, a little tape, and some gravel. Their bone models supported at least 4-5 reams of paper (about 20-25 pounds of weight). The 3rd graders will finish up their year with a unit on mass and volume. The 4th graders are busily preparing for the annual science fair, which will be held in Mellowes Hall on May 1st. They are very excited about preparing a poster session which they will be able to share with everyone on the 1st. The students are also getting ready for the 4th grade Wisconsin trip, which will bring to life their studies of caves and glaciers. Lastly, on Wednesday night, April 10th, some 4th graders and their families will participate in the first-ever S.T.E.M. Family Night. The families will be given an engineering challenge to be completed together. So, you can see that there are lots of activities going on throughout Lower School science. Stay tuned to this blog to find out more.