Congratulations to Judie Beccaro, 4th grade teacher at Arbor Springs Elementary, for being named the Georgia Science Teachers Association's Elementary Science Teacher of the Year. Judie won $1500 and free conference admission to the GSTA Science Conference in Columbus.

LeAnne Cheatham, REACH Teacher at Willis Road Elementary, won a GSTA mini-grant. LeAnne will receive $750 towards her project the "Willis Road Wolfpack Weather Howl" installing a weather station for her students to explore weather phenomena.

Sharon McClellan, STEM Teacher at Welch Elementary, will be headed to the GSTA Conference this year using the GSTA Conference grant she won last year.

Find out more about the GSTA awards by exploring the GSTA Awards Website.

Attention, K–5 Teachers!

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR), The State Botanical Garden of Georgia and The Environmental Resources Network, Inc. (TERN) encourage you and your students to participate in the 29th annual Give Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest! As part of DNR and TERN’s “Kids For Conservation” initiative, this art contest provides a unique opportunity for kindergarten through fifth-grade students to explore the wonders of Georgia’s native plants and animals through the 2018–19 theme: Pollinator Power!

Poster Contest Rules and Flyer

Do you remember the toy HESS Gas truck? Well they're making a comeback with a new FREE STEM curriculum! And if you act before February 15, you could win a free set of HESS trucks for your classroom that you could use to implement the free lessons! This STEM program is a collaboration between HESS and the Baylor College of Medicine. There are 3 sets of lessons dating back to 2016. The lessons focus on upper elementary and middle school. See the website for more details.

The Georgia DOE is looking for nominations for science, technology, engineering, computer science and mathematics teachers working in grades 7-12. Nominate your colleagues at this website https://www.paemst.org/nomination/nominate or start your application here. Nominations are due March 1, 2019 with applications due May 1, 2019. This is a great honor...even just to be nominated!

Are you interested citizen science? Do you like taking trips in the summer...for free? Might I suggest you check out Our2Swamp.

In summer 2019, up to 20 teachers and 10 current Georgia Southern education majors will have the opportunity to visit and study the Okefenokee Swamp. The following summer, up to 30 teachers and 10 students will partake, including some participants from year one to help serve as facilitators and guides for the new participants.

“Our goal for the summer development is for the teachers to determine what they would like to study in their own schoolyards, something in their local ecosystem that they want to focus on,” Huffling said. “If they are not near a stream, they may look at birds, pollinators, plants or insects. There are so many different citizen science projects they can do, and we want the teachers to help us design and develop what the week will look like. We want it to be something they need and can envision using in their classrooms.”

The University of West Georgia is hosting their 3rd Annual Hackathon, Coding for a Better Community, for teens 13-17 (older HS students are encouraged to join in) interesting in coding. The event will have students build a small application with the theme of the applications focused on an issue from a local community stakeholder (last year's topic was suicide prevention). This year competitors will use AppInventor to build Android apps, and mentors will be present throughout the event to assist students developing their apps. The flyer for the event is attached.

Also, below is a link that has a set of tutorials available for learning AppInventor.

http://explore.appinventor.mit.edu/ai2/tutorials

The Georgia STEM Scholar Award recognizes teachers who are working hard to integrate effective STEM education in their classrooms. STEM Scholar teachers demonstrate a passion and determination to provide students with innovative and challenging STEM experiences. STEM Scholars create an atmosphere of exploration that excites, energizes, and equips their students to pursue enhanced educational opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math.

We encourage you to apply as a STEM Scholar or nominate a colleague who you think is deserving of this award. Winners will be recognized at the GYSTC 30th Anniversary STEM Education Celebration on March 23rd, at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. Winners will also receive a $500 grant to purchase STEM education materials for their classroom.

Qualifications:

A STEM Scholar should be:

• A teacher who demonstrates a passion and determination to provide students, parents or educators with innovative and challenging STEM experiences, for example
  • Improvements on student success, classroom, school, district or state STEM data.
  • Engagement in receiving or delivering STEM professional development opportunities.
  • Engagement in family or parent activities that promote STEM education.
  • Engagement with local, state or national STEM organizations.
• A certified classroom teacher in kindergarten through grade-eight.
• A dedicated, knowledgeable, and skilled teacher who is planning to continue in active teaching status for at least two years.
• A teacher who inspires students of all backgrounds and abilities to learn.
• A teacher who has the respect and admiration of students, parents, and colleagues.
• A teacher who can provide at least one letter of recommendation for this award.

Don't miss out on new resources and freebies! Join the Science Google Classrooms! Use the class codes listed below.

Elementary: uz7l4 (that's a lowercase L...not a 1)

Middle: wumkvdb

High: s0ei0d (those are zeros...not Os)

Are you interested in obtaining or renewing your Coweta STEM Recognition? The process is simple!

1) Teach 5 STEM lessons. A STEM lesson typically includes some sort of design challenge for your students. Designing a poster or Google Slide presentation does not count as a design challenge. Teachers may collaborate on lessons together. For example, if your STEM lesson calls for writing (which it should!), partner with an ELA teacher to help!

2) Fill out the STEM Activity log. Briefly describe the 5 lessons on this form.

3) Post one exemplar lesson with student work samples. Pictures or videos of student work so other teachers and students can understand what the assignment leads to using this http://bit.ly/CCSSSTEMRecognition form.

4) That's it! Now sit back and enjoy the admiration of your colleagues and community.

If you have more questions or would like to discuss lesson plan ideas, contact donald.white@cowetaschools.net or michelle.clarke@cowetaschools.net. You can also find more info at www.cowetastemrecognition.weebly.com

Looking for ideas for your STEM/STEAM lessons? Check out some of these!

150 STEM & PBL Activities

https://www.teachengineering.org

http://www.novelengineering.org

https://www.eie.org

http://www.stemcobb.com/lesson-links.html Elementary STEM Lessons

http://www.stemcobb.com/ms-stem-lessons.html Middle School STEM Lessons

239 STEM Resource Websites

Please contact Dr. Donald White with any questions or comments.

Email: donald.white@cowetaschools.net
Website: bit.ly/CCSSScience
Location: 167 Werz Industrial Boulevard, Newnan, GA 30263
Phone: 770-254-2800
Twitter: @dwhitesciguy