Valentine's Day STEM Challenge

Can you make a Cupid's bow that will accurately shoot an arrow at a heart? We can! Using water, Popsicle sticks, floss and a Q-tip we built a bow that could shoot a paper heart accurately. I'm not sure what was more fun... the building or the shooting! 

After completion, we collected data of how many times we accurately shot our heart and created a graph. Lot's of Valentine's Day themed science and math fun!

You can check out the lesson HERE.

Heat Energy and Solar Ovens!

I just completed my first "big" science unit. It's a heat energy unit that includes my solar energy STEM challenge. I'm really excited about this one!

Here is a peek:

 Vocabulary posters for 6 important words!

 Reading passages for 5 important topics!

 Science inquiry and investigation experiments!

 Task cards for review!

 Plus my entire Solar Oven STEM Engineering Challenge included in the unit!

You can check it out by clicking HERE!

Igloo Building STEM Challenge

One of my favorite winter activities ever is building a sugar cube igloo... it's a classic! This week my third graders took on the challenge.
We started with some conversation about igloos and their purpose. We did a little research and found out that the igloo must be made with ice bricks that lean in a little. This was important to our building.
Next, we prepared our materials. Each group was given one box of "ice blocks" (sugar cubes) and a cup of icing. We used Popsicle sticks as our tools.

Finally, the kids got to work! You would be shocked at how difficult this challenge really can be!
Next week we will continue with more winter themed STEM challenges!

Winter STEM Challenges

Are you looking for ways to incorporate the Next Generation Science Standards into your winter themed learning? Or are you interested in a hands on approach to integrated science, technology, engineering and math? Try out a STEM Challenge! 

In this bundle of 5 STEM challenges students will use their science, math, engineering and technology skills to build a variety of snow, winter, ice themed challenges.

Here is an example of one of the five challenges:

 In the tallest snowman challenge, students will be asked to build the tallest snowman only using certain materials. 

 They will go through the engineering process to work with a team to accomplish this feat. After completion of the challenge, teams will measure and collect data on the other team's snowmen. 

This data can be used to create graphs and have class discussions.

If you are interested in trying out a STEM challenge... Check it out HERE! 

Georgia habitat fun!

My third grade students are required to learn all about the different habitats of Georgia. We researched daily about each habitat and ended the unit by making an invented Georgia animal that could survive in one of the many Georgia habitats. Here are some pics of the amazing creatures they created:















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Snowball Fight!

Can you build a snowball catapult with these simple materials?

Have lots of winter, indoor fun with this snowball fight catapult STEM challenge! Students can engineer a catapult, measure, collect data and graph the data on a line plot all while having a blast! 
Check it out here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Snowball-Fight-Catapult-STEM-Engineering-Challenge-1556007