Materials Needed Per Group:

• Six sharp pencils (have a pencil sharpener available)
• Ziplock Baggie
• Water
• Handout, Team Spear-It (one copy per student, click here for a printable version)

Procedure:

1. Brainstorm and discuss: What are some important rules for group work and why?
2. Distribute handout and allow students to fill out the six essentials of group work as you go over them in class:
   1. Get along with each other
   2. Respect Others
   3. On Task All The Time
   4. Use Soft Voices
   5. Participate Actively
   6. Stay with Your Group
3. Inform students they will be putting the rules to the test today and will see that, when you take one of the rules away, things could get messy.
4. Divide students into groups and hand out supplies. (Note: Baggies should be filled approximately half full.)
5. Students say one of the group rules for each pencil they as they poke it through the bag.
6. Once all six pencils are in place, students show their bag to the teacher.
7. Groups go to sink and remove one pencil at a time.
8. Answer discussion questions in their group and then together as a class.

Why didn’t the bag leak?

Baggies are made of a material known as a polymer. Polymers have long chains of flexible molecules. When you poke a sharp pencil through the baggie,  the pencil slides in between the chain of molecules that make up the polymer. The molecule chains will make a seal around the pencil that won’t let the water out.

The post STEAM Lesson Plan: Team SPEAR-IT appeared first on Inventionland Education.

Materials Needed

• Tablets (or computers or smartphones) with internet access
• Website: www.treebenefits.com
• Large balls of yarn or twine with scissors
• Tape Measure (or another measuring tool) that can measure 4.5 feet
• Pencils
• Value Of a Tree Handout (below)

Procedure

1. Ask students if they know the names of any of the trees they see around school.
2. Tell them that today they are going to learn facts about the trees around the school. Using their school’s zip code, species of tree and its size, they will learn the environmental and economic value trees provide on an annual basis.
3. Distribute handout (click here for printable version).

The post Arbor Day STEAM Lesson Plan: The Value of a Tree appeared first on Inventionland Education.

Sometimes the best-laid plans…are for subs

First, if you are the one that is sick, make sure you set your sub up for success.  There are a lot of ways to ensure that your classroom will still run smoothly just because you aren’t there. I know we like to believe we are the only ones who can execute a lesson, but there’s also something to be said about leaving lesson plans so incredibly detailed that your sub can deliver the lesson flawlessly as well.

Re-visit your future lesson plans

Next, look at what you’re teaching in the immediate future. If you have a hands-on activity scheduled that normally takes an entire class period, but your class has been reduced to a 30-minute block of chaos, you may need to re-organize your week. Is there a future lesson you can switch with today’s lesson that may work better with the shortened time? If you were supposed to do a lab, can you do any of the prep work or initial calculations today? Collect background information? Make predictions?

Be aware of the amount of time you (really) have

Remember, if classes have been shortened to thirty minutes, you’re not going to have your students’ attention the full half hour. There will be late students because some teachers are determined to fit a 50-minute lesson into 30 minutes, or because the time between classes has also been reduced and there’s no way a student can get to your class on time from the other side of–or a completely different–building. There will be more small talk than you’ve ever had with your students about weather, roads, and disbelief that they even had to come in that day. Your 30 minutes is likely closer to 25 minutes (minus two minutes at the end of class because they’re going to pack up early even if they never do. Shortened schedules are so hard for students to wrap their heads around, and they’re anxious about getting to their next class on time.)

If you had a test scheduled, reschedule it.  Even if you think students will have no problem completing it and you planned to begin a new unit that day anyway, it’s not fair to the students. If a class has been shortened, they will come into class feeling anxious and worried that they won’t finish in time. If a large chunk of students are missing because they’re sick, the students who are there will air their concern that it’s not fair that the “sick kids” get an extra day to study. Use the day for an extra review or give a sneak preview of the next unit. But, no matter how much they beg you to take it, wait until they are on a regular schedule again before you give them the test.

No sniffles left behind

If most of your class is home sick with the flu,  have an activity on hand for smaller class sizes. Make it something fun–you don’t want to “reward” students who made it to class with a worksheet. No matter how much fun you think your crossword puzzle of anatomical terms is, kids want to stand up and move. And no, working with a partner does not make it more enjoyable. It’s still a crossword puzzle of anatomical terms, no matter how many people work on it at once.  Can you play a game? Take the anatomical terms crossword puzzle and make it a game where students get to write on the dry erase board. Pictionary with anatomical terms? Now we’re getting somewhere…

What’s your emergency plan?

One last tip: create emergency lesson plans for yourself. Yes, it’s extra work and we know many teachers don’t enjoy making them, but if you can create different lesson plans for different circumstances, you’ll be much better off on days that aren’t quite typical. Find a 25-minute hands-on activity that will get your students out of their desks and moving around the room. It should still be related to your content, but if you have a basic skeleton of a lesson plan that can be applied to different units, you’ll be ready for whatever scheduling curveball is thrown your way.

The post Teaching When Your Schedule Changes appeared first on Inventionland Education.

Lesson Plan Title: Exploring the Effects of Salt on Ice Grades: K-12

Baby, it’s cold outside. And that means it’s also icy. Many times, school is canceled if the roads are deemed dangerous for driving, but that can be avoided by salting the roads.  We see salt trucks everywhere during the winter months, and our cars definitely take a beating as a result, but how much does salt really help?

In this lesson, students will test the effect of salt on ice.   They will predict how the temperature of the can holding ice will change when different types and amounts of salt are added.

Materials Needed (per group)

• five clean tin cans
• ice cubes
• table salt
• coarse rock salt
• measuring spoons
• no-contact digital thermometers
• pencil and paper to record results

Procedure

1. Set up five tin cans with the same amount of ice.
2. Set one tin can as your control.  You will not add salt to this can. (Can 1)
3. Add one teaspoon of salt to the next can. (Can 2)
4. Add two tablespoons of salt to the next can. (Can 3)
5. Add one teaspoon of coarse rock salt to the next can. (Can 4)
6. Add two tablespoons of coarse rock salt to the last can. (Can 5)
7. Gently shake the cans to spread the salt.
8. Make sure cans have enough space between them that no can is touching another.

Results

Use a digital thermometer to start taking readings. At the beginning of the experiment, the readings will be similar. But after about 20 minutes, there will be major differences between the temperature of each of the cans. Salt lowers the freezing point of ice, causing it to pull heat from the air and the tin can. This will drop the temperature on the can’s surface and in the air, thus giving low-temperature readings.

Note: For this particular experiment, you are measuring the temperature of the surface of the cans. Younger grades can perform this experiment by predicting and measuring how much ice melts in each can (you would do this by measuring the amount of any ice that turned into water). You can also perform this experiment measuring the effectiveness of other additives: cornstarch, sugar, detergent, etc.

The post STEAM Lesson Plan: Exploring the Effects of Salt on Ice appeared first on Inventionland Education.

It’s almost time for winter break and chances are your students are having a hard time sitting in their seats and staying focused. Here’s a fun STEAM lesson plan to keep them motivated and focused while bringing in a little magic of the holiday season.

In this lesson, students will work in teams to design as light-weight a container as possible that will allow them to “ship” two candy canes without damaging them.

Materials Needed 

• 2 candy canes per group (be sure you have extras in case of any break while they are making their shipping containers)
• wooden craft sticks of various sizes (skinny popsicle sticks/thicker tongue depressor size/etc.)
• pipe cleaners
• cotton balls
• marshmallows
• scissors
• tape
• balloons
• sandwich bags
• any other soft materials you can think of!
• paper bags
• markers/stickers/crayons to decorate the bags

Preparation (before students arrive)

1. Remove candy canes from any container they came in. You don’t want to unknowingly influence your students’ designs!

Opening Activity

1. Ask students if they’ve ever received a package only to find out that the contents were broken (could also start class by showing opening to Ace Ventura):https://youtu.be/2Q6_9A90cUk.
2. Tell students their mission is to create packaging that will allow two candy canes to withstand the perils of delivery and arrive unbroken, in the most light-weight container they can create.

Procedure

1. Assign students to groups of four.
2. Give students 15 minutes to build the most light-weight shipping structure they can create for their candy canes using the materials you’ve provided (students don’t have to use everything).
3. Weigh their shipping method BEFORE they put it in the paper bag.
4. Once the shipping method has been weighed, students will put their package in a brown paper bag and seal it. Students are welcome to decorate the bag before putting their package inside (great activity for teams who finish before other teams).
5. Students will place candy canes in a bag and then candy canes will have to be “delivered.” This can be via a desk drop, stairway drop, or throwing across the hallway. Whatever your delivery method, however, make sure the students know this ahead of time, as that may help them plan their design!

Discussion

1. Each group will have a chance to present their work, discuss their process, and give their weight before their package is “delivered.”
2. Have students try to predict whether each team’s candy canes will break and why or why not.
3. If you would like to continue this challenge, you can then have students whose candy canes broke re-work their design or, if the candy canes did not break, challenge them to create an effective shipping method that weighs even less (75% of the final weight, for example).

Note: As students work in teams, circulate the room to see how well they are working together. Are all students contributing? If not, ask students who are not working to make a suggestion for their team to try.

The post STEAM Lesson Plan: Candy Cane Calamity appeared first on Inventionland Education.

And if you’re teaching in a STEAM classroom, you are also teaching students how to use new equipment and creating a hands-on environment that not only gives students a chance to create on their own…but is so because it’s carefully monitored. You’re teaching, exploring, creating, and troubleshooting one class period at a time.

But eventually….you’re going to need to take a day off and that means you’re going to need a sub. While many teachers try to leave subs instructions with an “easy” lesson of showing a video or giving students a test, it’s actually these hands-off lessons that cause the most problems. And if you’re teaching in a STEAM classroom, chances are you’re on a tight schedule to get a project completed. Students may have to sign up in advance to use different equipment, and if they can’t use it because you’re gone, it may throw the entire semester off.  That’s a lot of pressure.  

So how do you prepare for a sub when you’re in a STEAM environment?

Have a little faith in your sub

For many school districts across the country, substitute teachers need to not only have a bachelor’s degree but also have a teaching license in order to work. That being said, if you know you are going to have a sub who is a trained professional, give them a little credit and an opportunity to use their teaching chops. If there is a handbook for using equipment, leave it out for them. If there is no handbook, consider working with your school to create one that explains how to use the equipment easily; it could even be a good class project. Substitute teachers don’t just want to sit back and play solitaire for eight hours. They want to teach. Let them. 

Overplan your lessons

If you normally teach in 45-minute blocks, give subs enough activities for a 90-minute class. This way, if the class breezes through each mini-lesson, subs don’t have that awkward 20 minutes of letting students “talk quietly as long as they stay in their seats” (This is just asking for trouble!).

Develop relationships

Find your go-to sub. Seriously. The most jarring part of having a substitute teacher is that it messes with a student’s idea of routine. If students enter your classroom and see a substitute teacher that they’ve had before, it helps with that transition. New subs take a while to warm up to students. But subs that have been working in your school district awhile are worth holding on to. Also, if you teach a specific content area or age, look for subs that specialize in that area as well. If you are teaching in a STEAM classroom, find a teacher with a background in education technology. 

Revise your emergency lesson plans

Yes, they’re usually due before the first day of school, but it’s always a good idea to revise them once you know your students. Maybe a worksheet and video were what you started with, but as you get to know your students, you learn that they enjoy creative writing or scavenger hunts. You already know that one-size-fits-all lessons don’t exist, and that applies to your emergency lesson plans, too. Once you know students feel comfortable with the technology they are using in the classroom, make sure to incorporate that as well.

Tell your co-teachers

Whether your co-teachers are by grade or by department, let at least two of them know you are going to be out. They can check on the sub to see how it’s going and also make sure students are staying on-task. At the very least, let the teachers who teach next to you know you are out.  Also, if you have teachers use the same technology in their classroom that you do, see if they can help the sub out when needed.  If a 3D printer suddenly isn’t working, then make sure your sub knows who to call. 

Have a backup plan

Any lesson involving technology needs a backup plan.  Whether students are using high-tech equipment or conducting research on the internet, you need to have a backup plan. 

Talk to students about expectations

Let them know what behaviors are allowed and what the consequences are for not following classroom rules.  Also, if students are going to work in groups, go over expectations with students for group work BEFORE you have a sub. The first time students work in groups should never be when you’re not present. If you’re in a STEAM classroom, students should feel comfortable using all of the equipment on their own. In the same vein, never let the first time someone uses a piece of equipment be when you’re not there to help. You can also check to see which students excel with different pieces of technology and assign them as “helpers.” They may know how to troubleshoot tech better than adults do. By giving students responsibilities in your classroom, you are helping to build their self-esteem and creating leaders.

Welcome subs to your class

Leave a note with expectations as well as a teacher’s name they can contact if they have any problems. It can be scary to walk into a classroom as a substitute teacher. It can be even scarier to walk into a STEAM classroom filled with technology they’ve never seen before. But if you set them up for success and let students know your expectations, you can set the bar higher for your subs and your students. Then, when you finally DO have to be away from the classroom, you won’t have to spend the day worrying about what’s going on in your absence. After all, every teacher hopes to come back to a positive note from their sub accentuated by smiley faces, not an all-caps account that was written in frantically-illegible handwriting of how the day went.

The post How To Properly Prepare Subs For a STEAM Classroom appeared first on Inventionland Education.

You know summer energy. It’s different. It’s magical. It’s based on carefree days at the pool, nights capturing fireflies, and adventures fueled by ice cream and lemonade. But now, we’re asking kids to sit at a desk for eight hours for the next 180 days, even though they’re still filled to the brim with the magical energy of summer.

As a teacher, how do you use that summer energy to your advantage?

Here are three activities that you can use in the first weeks of school to not only get to know your students but also get them out of their desks and let them hold on to that summer magic just a little longer.

Grades 3-8: Snowball Fight!

Yes, it’s the end of summer, and I can almost guarantee that none of your students have had a good snowball fight in the past few months. Why not have one in your class?  Give each student four pieces of paper and instruct them to write four facts about themselves (favorite musician/tv show/movie, if they went on vacation/where, siblings, what they want to be when they grow up, birthday, favorite food, etc.).  Then throw on your favorite version of “Winter Wonderland”  and let your students have a good old-fashioned snowball fight. After giving them a chance to play (make sure you get in on the action, too!), each student has to pick up four snowballs, walk around the room, and find out who wrote the information on each.  Each student will then share the information with the rest of the class.

Grades 3-5: Blobs and Lines

 This gets students out of their seats and a chance to learn what they have in common with other students. Students will either have to line up or form a blob based on what you are asking. Here are some examples:

• Line up in alphabetical order by first or last name.
• Line up in order of birthdays with January 1 as first in line (of course, you can also use the school calendar, which might help you…)
• Form groups (or “blobs”) with students who have the same hair color
• Form blobs based on favorite seasons
• Form blobs based on how many chores you have at home: a lot, a few, none

Grades 6-8: The Mingle Game

Give each student an index card and ask them to them write a question for other students in the class. Questions should be easy to answer, such as “What’s your favorite movie?” or “What’s your favorite subject?” Have your students walk around the room and after a few seconds call out “Stop!” and have the students ask the question to those closest to them. They need to write down the student’s name and answer on the card. This is a great activity because it encourages sharing personal information without opening up to complex topics. Use topics such as sports and movies to increase finding things students have in common.  After you complete the activity, you can have students make graphs or pie charts of their answers or even find percentages and hang their findings up in the room.

And remember: icebreakers don’t just have to be used during the first days of school, either. If you want to keep that summer energy going year-round, then find ways to get students exploring the world around them. The easiest way to lose the magic of summer is to sit anyone in the same spot for eight hours a day, five days a week. You don’t need an ice cream social to keep the magic of summer alive, simply giving your students an opportunity to get out of their seats might reap rewards that are just as sweet.

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