Here are a couple pics from round one of Duct Tape Boats. The scoreboard as well. Congrats to Fatima and Layan! Their boat held 64 pennies before it finally sank into the depths of oblivion. Round two with reworked craft will be friday.
Week of January 7th
Welcome back to everyone! I hope you had a refreshing and wonderful vacation. I sure did
8th grade is finishing up with Thomas Jefferson’s Presidency and we jump into James Madison next with The War of 1812. we will be looking into the power of propaganda during this lesson and the posters are always fun.
7th grade did great with their Egypt projects! I am super excited with how they turned out. I will tackle grading those this week and they will start on their reflection tomorrow for the summative grade. this will be due friday. Next on the map will be The Greeks.
STEM Apps has been researching how boats actually stay afloat and how their different shapes affect this. We will begin the construction of their first round of duct tape boats tomorrow and i am aiming for their first float thursday. They will have two attempts to see which team’s boat can hold the most pennies before sinking.
This wednesday 1/9 is a Student Council meeting after school.
Week of 12/17
Hello everyone and happy holidays! We are almost to the new year.
8th grade has been working on learning about why the Louisiana Purchase was such an important event in American History. We worked on using primary source documents to answer questions about how, why, and what the Louisiana Purchase was all about. Currently they are finishing up a short essay reflecting on how they feel about the topic.
7th grade is wrapping up their Egypt Scrapbook project this week. I am super excited to go through these this vacation. They are looking amazing!
STEM APPS has finished up redesigning the LEGO instruction manuals and built another students set with their instructions. I will be introducing their next project tomorrow which will involved some research on the engineering of water vessels and weight distribution.
I hope everyone has an amazing holiday! See you all in 2019!
Week of 12/10
Hello everyone!
I hope this chilly weather is treating everyone well. We have been super busy here at STEM as I am sure you all have been reading. Our fundraising has gone splendidly and I want to thank everyone for their constant support! We have two more days in our canned food drive if anyone has been hesitating on sending in donations.
7th grade has been working very hard on making scrapbooks about an imaginary trip to Ancient Egypt. They are turning out super cool and I can’t wait to delve into them over the vacation.
8th grade is learning about the Presidency of Thomas Jefferson. We are working on some primary source document questions and research about The Louisiana Purchase. Next week the students will take on the role of Lewis and Clark while playing a “choose your own adventure” style game about the trek across the new lands.
STEM Apps is finishing up their Lego project this week and we will trade their newly written directions with each other to see how they did as well as beginning creation of their future city models.
Next week is Spirit Week here at STEM. The main blog will have the attire for each day posted on friday.
Week of 11/26
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and long weekend!
First I would like to remind everyone that we have two wonderful charity events happening at STEM. The holiday can drive and pennies for patients. I am running both events along with Mr Theisen
8th grade finished up the Federalist Era with the presidency of John Adams and the introduction of the now rather famous Alexander Hamilton in the mix. Next week we get into the Thomas Jefferson era and deeper into the Hamilton/Burr events.
7th Has made it through Ancient China and will begin their exploration of Ancient Egypt next week. They will have an awesome scrapbooking project to go along with their lessons.
STEM Apps is working on their off brand LEGO isometric directions that we started before the holiday and we will continue into next week as the drawings take time for sure. I am getting excited to see the finished products as the original from the company were not the best. I have full faith these students will write up far better ones as a team.
as always, thank you for the support!
Week of 11/19
Week of 11/19
First let me say how absolutely amazing it was to sit down and chat with so many parents during conference week. You all definitely have made me feel very welcome for my first year here at STEM
8th grade US History is in The Federalist Era learning about George Washington’s presidency, Alexander Hamilton’s contributions, and John Adams. We have been listening to a few tracks from Hamilton:The Musical as well to supplement the learning.
7th Grade is finishing up their learning on Ancient China. Currently they are taking on the role of a Silk Road trader and are researching an item to sell us that was invented in Ancient China.
STEM apps has been building Lego sets of different Pokemon. When they finish they will be doing a mechanical dissection of their set and writing their own step-by-step directions in isometric views. here are a few photos so far.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Week of 11/5
Happy new card marking and election week!
I did my due diligence in voting with possibly too much excitement… might be that social studies teacher thing.
8th Grade is wrapping up The Constitution this week with a test and moving onto The Federalist Era of American history. This includes George Washington and Hamilton so expect lots of singing from your kids as we will be listening to Hamilton in class a few times.
7th Is on the third, and largest, lesson of ancient river valley civilization. China. Lots of amazing information, ideas, and inventions will be presented to them this chapter.
STEM Apps has been working on 3d drawing in 1 point perspective and orthographics in preparation for their next project. They will be creating mechanical dissection drawing of a lego set.
See you all for conferences next week!
Week of 10/22
Hello everyone!
So this week we wrapped up a lot and are wrapping up a lot, including the first semester as next week is our last week for semester one.
8th grade finished up The Articles of Confederation and took their test today (tuesday). We delve into The Constitution tomorrow and the Bills of Rights
7th took their test over The Mesopotamian Civilizations and begin The Indus River Valley Civilization tomorrow (wednesday)
STEM Apps has a guest speaker from DTE to talk about power grids to help bring everything they have been learning together from an expert point of view.
Have an excellent week!
week of 10/15
Hello everyone! I hope this fall weather is as pleasing you as it is me! I love this time of year.
8th grade is on pre-constitution America with The Articles of Confederation. We focused a lot this week on Shay’s rebellion as that was a major turning point in the creation of our country’s most sacred document. Their next test is scheduled for tuesday next week
7th grade is wrapping up the first civilization in the world in Mesopotamia. We have been focusing on what conditions are required for a civilization to thrive and cities to evolve. Their next test is also scheduled for tuesday next week.
STEM Apps is pushing on with the Future Cities research. We have finished up picking the natural disaster their group will focus on protecting a power grid from. This week has been learning more about the intricacies of how a power grid functions to give them a better background on what they will be dealing with when it comes time to innovate ideas.
Have a great weekend and for those of you watching the big game enjoy!
Week of 10/8
Sorry for the late post everyone, Had a wedding out of town this past weekend and it threw off my entire schedule.
This week 8th grade is getting into pre-constitution America with the Articles of Confederation. Learning those all important amendments and The Bill of Rights is right around the corner. I am seeking to have the students make the connection between early America fearing another king/tyrant in power and their need for a government to help keep things running smoothly
7th grade is in Mesopotamia and the first civilization that humans created. They will be seeking to understand what a civilization needs to be successful and how Mesopotamia impacted the world.
Stem Apps is continuing the Future Cities project. Groups have chosen their Natural Disaster to deal with and are learning about how power grids work. They will connect the two and determine how their chosen disaster effects a power grid.