CLEARWATER STEAM NEWSLETTER
Clearwater Elementary STEAM Families
What a week! From our PBL Showcases and Retirement Celebration to Red Ribbon Week, the Character Parade, and Trunk or Treat, our campus was filled with energy. A heartfelt thank you goes out to our incredible teachers, staff, and volunteers whose hard work made every single event a success. This amazing teamwork is what makes the Clearwater community so special.
We also want to extend a special thank you to all the families and community members who joined us for Trunk or Treat! Your creative trunks, fantastic costumes, and high energy made it an unforgettable evening for our students. We are so grateful for your ongoing support in building such a warm, vibrant school community.
Want to relive the excitement or catch up on what you missed? Be sure to check out our highlight videos of the week!
Our 3rd grade classrooms recently showcased their incredible learning in their PBL unit: The Ultimate Playground Showcase! Demonstrating the dedication to continuous learning and high-leverage instructional practices, this unit connected physical science with real-world engineering. Teachers collaborated to transition traditional force-and-motion lessons into an interactive, inquiry-driven experience where students stepped directly into the roles of playground engineers, designing and building physical models to solve authentic design challenges.
Throughout the unit, students anchored their learning in Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for Forces and Interactions (3-PS2-1). As they constructed 3D community playground models, they actively researched forces; such as pushes, pulls, and gravity.
Our school community gathered to celebrate our young engineers' hard work. Attendees experienced hands-on demonstrations of balanced and unbalanced force designs, took student-led walkthroughs of physical playground models, and engaged directly with students as they proudly explained their scientific choices and learning process. It was a wonderful celebration of science, creativity, and student leadership!
Did you know your child might already have money set aside for their future education? Through California’s CalKIDs program, eligible newborns and low-income public school students (grades 1–12) are automatically granted up to $1,500 in free seed funds for college or career training—no family deposit required!
Scan the QR Code for CLICK HERE or help to sign up!
