STEM Road Runner Lab
December
Hello STEM Families,
Students have continued with outdoor education and direct instruction on a variety of topics. From the relationships between wavelengths of light, temperature changes, and our seasons as applied to agriculture—to watershed studies grounded in our sense of place—students have been receiving instruction in STEM topics swirling around their PBL units. We continue to remediate and enrich simultaneously for the benefit of all students with flexible modes of representation of learning along with multiple modes of presentation of content.
The primary grades have created infographics on plant form and function, integrating letter-sound correspondences and structured literacy techniques. The upper grades have produced infographics on fossilization, animal form and function (focused on arthropods), or water (molecular structure, connection to the metric system, weights/measures, etc.).
New stations are launched to guide students further through Project Based Learning units, target skill areas identified as needing intervention, and enrich their understanding of STEM as a core academic discipline. All in all, we’re balancing time for the kids to be kids with preparing them for the rigors of future years.
Keep Stem’ing on.
November
Hello STEM Families,
The Roadrunner Lab is overflowing with donations of recycled materials! Thank you for the overwhelming support in providing students with the opportunity to utilize repurposed materials across campus (as they are not only consumed in my classroom space but also in other settings, helping us meet a variety of needs). At this point it would be beneficial to pause donations until we return from Thanksgiving Break in December.
The Garden has yielded a variety of produce this year and is now in seasonal decline. Thank you to all community members who partook in the parsley, oregano, and rosemary that was available at the Fall Bash. It’s always nice to know they don’t go to waste and that the communal efforts of our student body pays off.
At this point dill, marigold, flint corn, jalapeno, milkweed, and sunflower seeds have all been replenished for the next planting season thanks to the diligent efforts of grade levels K-5. During our Bern Co Solid Waste Dept Campus Clean-Up event pinecones were collected, later rigged for hanging by our older students, and were made into bird feeders by our K-1 classes to support our migratory friends on their journey.
The Star Party was a great success thanks to the significant foot traffic from Fall Bash. According to our sign-in sheets, we had at least 155 participants! Thank you to everyone who came through and played cornhole, used the Lite-Brites, or viewed the stars.
As a reminder outdoor education will continue throughout the winter months when the weather conditions are fit for student health and safety. This ultimately means that if outdoor recess is still taking place, outdoor education may still take place. As the temperatures drop please consider having students arrive at school prepared for being both indoor and outdoor—even if just for recess. This will help promote their health and full participation across settings on campus, whether it be the playground, P.E. sessions, completing cool-season tasks in the garden, or engaging in campus beautification through service learning.
October
Hello STEM Families,
What a busy time it has been! With new Kindergarten students learning the ropes, and our upper grades refining their skills, there has been a range of tasks taking place across campus. In the Lab we completed a design charrette connecting different meanings of the word “balance” to provide students with a grounding vision for their self-management strategies or coping skills to promote self efficacy (social emotional learning) while learning about the nuances of fulcrum points, weight, and gravity (physical science).
Stations are now underway, with the younger students practicing functional skills and basic core academic skills to reinforce their classroom learning. The upper grades are getting into materials crafted to supplement their classroom Project Based Learning units, which have all been launched and are gaining momentum.
In the garden students have reset the circumstances posed by the hail storms this summer, and transitioned the garden to cool weather crops. Radish and Dill seeds have been gathered to restock the school supply, with our lovely marigolds following closely behind. Flint corn is maturing into blue and red glimpses of the traditional past in our region, and our water catchment is being used for max effect.
Keep STEM’ing on,
Aug/Sep
Hello SASM Families,
I hope you all had a wonderful summer, and am looking forward to working with our students again this year!
The RoadRunner Lab will begin this year with a focus on routines, expectations, and school culture. Students will be introduced to, or refamiliarized with, the practices within the RR Lab that lead to student success and achievement. Reasonable boundaries and limitations will be outlined and enforced to reaffirm our collective commitment to a culture of inquiry, creativity, and student health/safety.
After our introductory period is complete, students will be working in the school garden and/or outdoor spaces on learning tasks appropriate to their level of development. Continuing with our school tradition of environmental science instruction through outdoor education, there will be weeks dedicated to student learning as manifested through gardening, campus service/beautification, or direct instruction utilizing the realia of our unique campus setting. During outdoor education sessions families may want to consider sending their students to school prepared for the weather conditions; a hat, water bottle, and clothing items fitting for the temperature. Ultimately, these are items that are beneficial to consider year-round to be prepared for physical education, the playground, and campus events which may take place outdoors.
The RR Lab will continue with the practice of receiving donations of recycled materials for student repurposing. This does not only give students the opportunity to execute the design process at an age appropriate level within the RR Lab, as these materials are also used by various grade level classrooms for projects throughout the school year. Without these materials, many of the engaging seasonal tasks tied to project based learning units across campus could not take place.
Student safety is an absolute priority. Due to this, items donated must be clean of food debris in order to eliminate the risk of allergen exposure. Unsure of what is acceptable? I’ll look through everything myself before providing for student use, so don’t worry. The most popular items for student use, based on their ability to manipulate materials, are paper-board and clamshell plastic. Examples of paperboard include paper-towel/toilet-paper rolls, cereal boxes, tissue boxes, etc. Examples of clamshell or light-duty plastic include produce containers (like berries or salad greens often are packaged in), yogurt/sour cream containers, single use water bottles, and what consumer electronics or small goods are packaged in for hanging on store display hooks.