We're just a week out from Thanksgiving! 🦃🥧 Check out this fun Pie Preference Pictograph activity from Data Science Learning Progressions. This activity, designed for grades K-5, walks learners through the data collection and analysis process in a fun, hands-on, relevant way.
Try this activity before or after the holiday, or change up the theme based on your students' interests!
Full STE(A)M Ahead! This Saturday, November 8th is National STE(A)M Day!
Thank you to all of the incredible teachers, STEM professionals, and families committed to encouraging children to explore, create, experiment, and be problem-solvers every day. 🧬🔬🚀🔎🐛🛠️
Where might STE(A)M take your students next?
It’s always a joy to bring hands-on STEM experiences into classrooms! Recently, I had the opportunity to lead a STEM + literacy integrated activity with a class of bright, creative third graders.
After reading "21 Elephants and Still Standing" by April Jones Prince, students explored what makes a bridge strong, then applied the engineering design process to create their own bridges using simple materials. The challenge: build a bridge that could hold 21 pennies.
Their designs showed so much imagination, problem-solving, and perseverance. See them hard at work! 💪
👀Stay tuned to see these Storybook STEM lessons published to our website. Want me to come and visit your class? Send me an email at cfelderman@cgesd.k12.or.us and let's schedule something!
Fall is a great time to connect students with place-based and phenomena-based learning. BirdCast’s Live Migration Maps use radar data and machine learning to track bird movements across North America in real time. 🐦⬛
This tool gives students the chance to:
Observe migration patterns as they happen
Analyze how weather and geography influence movement
Practice reading and interpreting data visualizations
It’s an accessible entry point for introducing data literacy and systems thinking in the context of a seasonal phenomenon. Even younger students can make simple observations, such as noticing when and where migration is most active. Older students can dig deeper into trends and relationships.