Each week Marla Rosenthal and I are making these fun STEAM Challenges for our students to keep creating at home during distance learning. I put the challenge on Google Classroom along with a Flipgrid post. I love hearing about their engineering design process and seeing them proud of their creations. I encourage them to take their Flipgrid selfie only with their creation and their smile (no Flipgrid emojis, etc) so I can download their pictures to share with our DPS community. They can even earn a badge for their digital sticker books! So much fun!
Here are the STEAM Challenges (linked on pictures below) you can copy for your own students. I'll keep adding them here so check back often if interested. Happy Making! We designed this Fairy Tale Choice Board to align with ELA Benchmark Unit 6 (Learning from Characters who Solve Problems) but it can work for any integrated STEAM & Language Arts focus. My friend & colleague, Marla Rosenthal, and I created these choices because we know students gravitate towards certain innovation activities over others. The activity options include the following:
Better Together, ~Christine
Here is the Life Sciences Virtual Makerspace and Innovation lessons I co-created with Marla Rosenthal for the 4th and 5th grade teachers in our district. This ties in with our ELA Benchmark Unit 3, however, can be used in any grade level or curriculum.
The virtual makerspace is full of read alouds, videos, games, coding and innovation links with the focus on nature and our natural resources. The STEAM and Innovation lessons are linked on the TV in the makerspace as well as below. The 4th grade focus is on our National Parks and the 5th is on renewable energy. Both lessons have students learn about the content then have them "show what they know" by creating an infographic or video commercial (PSA). We have three more units we are sharing:
We are sharing all of these because we are passionate about spreading innovation and sharing with teachers. I hope it brings some sort of relief to you in your planning...our work as teachers is hard enough right now. ~Better Together, Christine Virtual MakerspaceSTEAM/Innovation lessons
Here is the Animals: Habitats & Adaptations Virtual Makerspace and Innovation lesson I co-created with Marla Rosenthal for the 2nd and 3rd grade teachers in our district. This ties in with our ELA Benchmark Unit 3, however, can be used in any grade level or curriculum.
The virtual makerspace is full of read alouds, videos, games, coding and innovation links with the focus on nature and our natural resources. The STEAM and Innovation lesson is linked on the TV in the makerspace as well as below. This lesson has students learn about the content then have them "show what they know" by creating a Google Slides presentation. However, teachers can modify this for whichever edtech tool they want. I plan on having my own students code their understanding using Google CS First and Scratch coding. We have three more units we are sharing:
We are sharing all of these because we are passionate about spreading innovation and sharing with teachers. I hope it brings some sort of relief to you in your planning...our work as teachers is hard enough right now. ~Better Together, Christine Virtual MakerspaceSTEAM/Innovation Lesson
Here is the Animals: Habitats & Adaptations Virtual Makerspace and Innovation lesson I co-created with Marla Rosenthal for the 2nd and 3rd grade teachers in our district. This ties in with our ELA Benchmark Unit 3, however, can be used in any grade level or curriculum.
The virtual makerspace is full of read alouds, videos, games, coding and innovation links with the focus on nature and our natural resources. The STEAM and Innovation lesson is linked on the TV in the makerspace as well as below. This lesson has students learn about the content then have them "show what they know" by creating a Google Slides presentation. However, teachers can modify this for whichever edtech tool they want. I plan on having my own students code their understanding using Google CS First and Scratch coding. We have three more units we are sharing:
We are sharing all of these because we are passionate about spreading innovation and sharing with teachers. I hope it brings some sort of relief to you in your planning...our work as teachers is hard enough right now. ~Better Together, Christine Virtual MakerspaceSTEAM & Innovation lessonUnit 2 Characters: Virtual MakerspacesPart 1: Virtual Makerspaces- Literature Themed These innovation virtual spaces are full of clickable links to videos, read alouds, online games, coding, edtech activities and more! There are 3 makerspace versions (K/1, 2/3 and 4/5) all with a Literature and innovation theme. These makerspaces were created to tie into the ELA Benchmark Unit 2 Characters theme, however, they can be used even if that is not your curriculum. (See here for Unit 1 Government themed Makerspaces) Teachers: The following linked in the Makerspace need you to create a FREE class account so students have logins. If you do not set up, please delete from Makerspace
Unit 2 Characters : design thinking challengesThis Design Thinking engineering challenge has been designed with the goal students can learn asynchronously, however, it would be beneficial for teachers to guide students along the process for accountability. The pacing and how you use this lesson is completely up to your discretion. Part 2: Design Thinking Asynchronous Challenges: Teachers can assign through Google Classroom and encourage students to learn and play with the many innovation activities throughout Unit 2. Kinder/1st Grades 2nd/3rd Grades 4th/5th Grade We hope these help teachers and encourage spreading innovation during distance learning. Please feel free to make a copy and modify for your own student innovators.
Stay tuned for more coming soon! Happy Innovating, Christine and Marla San Marcos Unified- TOSAs Are you looking to include some Innovation & edtech into your Benchmark plans with your students??
My friend and colleague, Marla Rosentha and I have you covered! We are creating Virtual Makerspaces and Innovation Lessons that tie into ELA Benchmark unit themes. You can used these with your students even if you don't use this ELA curriculum. This first unit is on Government and Citizenship. We are both Innovation TOSAs who work with teachers and students on all things technology, coding, robotics, engineering, design thinking and more! We want to help all teachers interested in continuing innovation for students even during distance learning! For each Benchmark theme, we will create a Virtual Makerspace full of clickable activities as well as a robust Innovation Lesson students can learn asynchronously. Below links are a one-stop shop for all grades. Notice the 1st link is the PREVIEW so you can check it out, the 2nd link is your very own copy. Please feel free to modify for your own students and instruction. Let me know how it goes and stay tuned for more coming soon! Happy Innovating, ~Christine Preview Copy (all grades linked) Your Copy (all grade level Virtual Makerspace and Innovation Lessons are linked in Speaker Notes): I have always been an advocate for giving students a choice in how they present their knowledge. Whether it is showing what they learned from a math lesson, a book they've read, or their cumulative understanding of an ELA unit of study, giving students the freedom in choosing the "how" to present the "what" is so crucial.
I've made many versions of "Show What You Know" choice boards throughout my journey as Innovation Coordinator for TK-8. I so enjoy teaching students ed-tech tools in the Innovation Lab and Makerspace and then seeing them use their tools in their toolbelts all year in their classrooms. It also honors the unique personalities and strengths of our diverse students as well as the different ways they learn. If students all learn differently, shouldn't we give them a choice in how they represent this learning? So as I try to plan for this next school year, I knew I needed to create a choice board that would continue to build and evolve no matter where we are on the distance learning journey. Below are two versions of my "Show What You Know" choice board you can make a copy of for your own teaching. Notice the Choice Board has a LOT of choices. You definitely do NOT want to give all of these choices at the start. It also depends on the age and grade-level of your students. Most importantly, it depends on your lesson and what knowledge you want students to show. The idea is for the teacher to use the lock at the bottom left of the board to cover up those options that are not appropriate to the task or grade level. I believe students will enjoy this gaming aspect and will also enable them to continually learn new tech tools throughout the year. Show What You Know Choice Boards (click on the links for your copy) Version #1 (without student tutorials): This was my 1st version and wanted to leave it without tutorials in case teachers, TOSAs or coaches wanted to modify for their own users Version #2 (with student tutorials): This version is a prototype, meaning it will continue to grow and evolve throughout the year as I work with my students. I have many more tutorials I need to create so check back often if you are interested. Lastly, I'd like to thank all of you for your overwhelming response to this labor of love! I am blown away with how many educators have reached out to me and are excited to use this with their students and schools. It makes me so happy to know that so many students may benefit from this choice board. My Twitter and Instagram post responses are a testimony to my strong belief that we, as educators, are all in this together! The collaboration & sharing is crucial and even more important right now with distance learning. Thank you for being a part of my PLN! Better Together, Christine
As we quickly and without warning pivoted to Distance Learning on March 13, 2020, it weighed heavily on my heart that all my plans for innovation TK-8 would halt abruptly. I knew that no matter what distance learning looked like we MUST keep innovation going for our students. Therefore, my counterpart and friend, Marla Rosenthal and I dove into creating these Thematic At-Home STEAM Distance Learning Resources we could share not only with our schools, but our districts and beyond. We are very happy to share these freely because we want to spread innovation and we know as educators, we are absolutely Better Together! Click on the links below for the lessons, feel free to modify for your own classrooms, schools and districts, and keep innovation happening in every students' education!
I love EVERYthing about this Makerspace experience from start to finish! As the Innovation Coordinator for our TK-8 school, I have the great privilege to be able to work with all grades and all content areas, both students and teachers.
My goal is to bring in the innovation to their content areas (design thinking, STEAM, technology, coding robotics, engineering, etc) to prove how learning can be hands-on, innovative, & incorporate the 4Cs. It's TRULY my jam! SO....2 weeks ago, knowing 7th History was slotted to be in our Makerspace, I met with the 7th History teachers and we started brainstorming what Makerspace experience students could have to go with their learning of Medieval Japan. The History teachers started thinking of STEM activities (build the tallest pagoda, make their own paper, etc) They started to get overwhelmed and so I guided them to shift the focus on what the TEACHER would create for students to make, to what the STUDENT would make to show their learning of the content. I asked for a list of topics (12 total ranging from origami, paper lanterns, puppet theater, sumo wrestling, Samurai, sushi and more) ð These topics got me ALL excited! What if we could have design teams pick the topics they are interested in, research more deeply, then create an exhibit to teach others in an engaging, interactive way?? Fastforward, the entire week in our Makerspace blew us away and made my innovation teacher heart SO big! Most importantly, I guarantee they'll retain a lot of this history content because they had so much fun, were engaged and 100% ALL in!
This is one of the last Makerspace Design Challenges we did before leaving due to COVID19 and I am cherishing the memories of the collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, perseverance and major content knowledge involved in this one robust lesson! I first taught this lesson to 3rd grade due to their area and perimeter content standards but after "skimming the surface" I KNEW I had to bring it to our upper grades math students to truly prove how much content+innovation is critical! Read below. LISTEN to the creative chaos of the Makerspace and learning, and click on the link below to access the lesson to use for your own students. Let me know how it goes!
I truly enjoy our after school Lego Robotics Club! The collaboration, across-age friendships, the critical thinking, and hands-on practice in computer science and engineering...it's so impressive and I wish it could be done during the school day. However, due to the amount of time to build and our Innovation schedule, it works best as an after school club. Historically, I have had more girls involved and it made me so sad we just had a handful this Spring. My plan was to market it and showcase to future students (girls and boys) but we were cut short due to COVID19. So these are the few highlights of my rad little innovators who quickly surpassed my computer science/robotics knowledge and impressed me beyond words!
Stepping up from the Makey Makey Interactive Posters and moving from the Innovation Lab to the Makerspace are the Interactive Museums and Prototypes lessons. These focus on making prototypes interactive, engaging and teachable. Most importantly, this can be used with ANY subject and content area. Read more below and check out the resource links to try for yourself. SUCH a fun Makerspace lesson!
Managing a school-wide Makerspace is a huge job! It definitely "takes a village" to keep it running smoothly in regards to organization as well as procedures and the success of the lessons. Here is my latest iteration on what works well for us so far. There is a student contract and also a Makerspace Tour Video that may help. âFeel free to modify for your own STEAM Lab, Makerspace, or even classroom. Happy Making!
Got a School Makerspace? I highly suggest NOT accepting supplies/recyclables all year long. Instead celebrate a week-long Innovation Drive where you can enlist parent helpers (or students, volunteers, whatever youâve got) to help manage & organize it all! Making it a fun event with all involved brings in the donations (sometimes even NEW Innovation resourcesð) & you only have to deal with the #creativechaos of managing it all a couple times a year!
Click on the link for an editable Parent Donation Request list.
This was such an exciting activity in our Makerspace stepping up the building of prototypes with littleBits AND tying in to 4th graders learning in their English Language Arts Unit. Read more about it below. Click on the links for the lesson and student Design Journal and feel free to modify for your own classroom!
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