STEM & Blossom: March

I can't believe it is March already! The weather lately sure has us all a bit confused, but Spring is quickly approaching whether we're ready or not!

March is one of my favorite months for projects in The Innovation Lab! Kinders are learning all about plant needs and creating projects that showcase their needs, first graders are exploring animal adaptations and creating their own hybrid animals with clay or Makers materials and second grade is learning all about Lake Oswego history and transportation and will build boats that meet specific criteria and constraints. Third graders explore animal and plant cycles of life and create interactive board games that educate the players on their animal/plant of choice, while fourth grade completes a highly anticipated eye dissection and build prototypes of eyewear that serve a specific purpose. Fifth grade has wrapped up their Smart Home projects and are now learning all about The 4 Spheres and creating interactive museum displays that are created with a budget (and audience) in mind! We will be inviting guests throughout the next three weeks to explore and interact with their amazing displays!

Chatting with your children, I start to get sad when I tell them "We only have 3 projects left in STEM!" They can't believe it (and honestly, I can't either!)!

Stay tuned for a tentative new date for STEAM Night! We are hoping for a date with warmer weather, where the garage door can be open, outdoor STEM activities can commence and we can celebrate the spring growth of our beautiful community garden!

Wishing you a fabulous March!

With love, care and respect,

Nickie Doran

• Kindergarten: Plant and Tree Needs Kindergarten students explore plant needs this week. All plants need food, water, soil, sun and space to grow! We make connections between plants and ourselves, then students get the opportunity to show plant needs through a variety of project options! Students choose to create plant needs books, make a Stop Motion movie or "Be a Maker" and create a visual that shows plant needs!
• 1st Grade: Animal Adaptations: Create your Own Animal I LOVE LOVE LOVE this unit! Students learn about animal diets as well as physical and behavioral adaptations of animals. They start the week studying an animal of their choice and their adaptations. Following this, students make a plan to create their OWN hybrid animal, equipped with its own unique diet and adaptations! Students have the choice to build their animal out of Makers Materials or create a clay project!
• 2nd Grade: LO History and Transportation 2nd graders spend the week exploring Lake Oswego history and how many had to travel BY BOAT to get to school! Then, teams are given specific criteria and constraints to build a boat that must safely carry 13 students (pennies) without sinking or getting the students wet! We spend our week doing sink or float experiments, creating blueprints and building and testing our boats! 2nd graders end the week creating a boat-inspired story using an app called Book Creator!
• 3rd Grade: Life Cycle Board Games 3rd graders dive into animal life cycles through board game creation! We start the week introducing SAM Labs and Ozobots as teams will have the option to utilize either technology in their board games. Then, teams study and research a specific animal and their life cycle and create a plan for their game. After their research, students work diligently with their teams creating their interactive board games! We enjoy Friday together with a Game Party where teams get the opportunity to play other teams games!
• 4th Grade: Eyewear Engineering The HIGHLY ANTICIPATED EYEWEAR ENGINEERING WEEK! 4th graders start the week with an eye dissection and completing a diagram identifying all parts of the eye. Then, students explore various eyewear and develop a plan and blueprint to create a unique set of eyewear that serves a specific purpose! They will bring their eyewear design to life as they create a prototype with their teams. We will celebrate our hard work on Friday with an eyewear "Fashion Show!" I LOVE this week!
• 5th Grade: The 4 Spheres: Interactive Museum Displays Oooooh! Another hit! This week, 5th graders explore the 4 spheres of Earth (geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere). Teams will study a specific item to model the 4 spheres (an animal, a plant, a volcano... possibilities are endless!) and develop a plan to create an interactive museum display! Teams will utilize Scratch (our go-to for block-based coding) AND Makey Makeys to create their interactive museum display! They will also be given a budget of $30 to PURCHASE all materials needed for their displays! This project incorporates crucial science concepts, budgeting, teamwork, artistic expression/creativity, computer science and coding skills and MUCH MORE! I'm excited to see what this group of 5ths create!

Email: dorann@loswego.k12.or.us
Website: https://www.instagram.com/stem_and_blossom/
Location: Hallinan Elementary School, Hawthorne Drive, Lake Oswego, OR, USA
Phone: (503) 534-2353
Twitter: @nickie_doran