STEM OLYMPICS

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Who Participates?
▶ VTfT I and II Students
▶ Call on VTfT I Class (2A) when necessary
▶ Mrs. Houlihan’s Kindergarten class from
Linkhorn Elementary School (24 kids)
▶ Mrs. Nardelli and Mrs. Houlihan
▶ Dr. Kelly and Mrs. Scarborough
▶ Mrs. Sanders
▶ VBCPS
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What are we doing?
● Mrs. Houlihan’s class will come to Cox every
week (A days, 9:30-11:30 AM)
● YOU guys are tasked with planning STEAM
(STEM plus the ARTS!) activities for the
group.
● The K-students will be divided into groups
with _________ interns per group.
● Each time they come, we will plan at least
three STEM activities to complete in groups
(we can go outside, too) 3
Full S.T.E.A.M Ahead
 What is the purpose of
S.T.E.(A).M stations?
Providing hands-on and minds-on
tasks for students that help build
skills needed to become successful
in the future.
Fancy materials are nice to have,
but you don’t need them.
Sometimes it’s the simple things
that give you the best results.
S.T.E.M materials in an ideal
world
What we really have to work
with
 Setting Up Stations/What Do
They Look Like?
• Everybody’s stations will look different.
• Do what works for you.
• Model stations and expectations (be
careful modeling tasks)
• Be consistent—be prepared to stop
stations and revisit expectations
• Only some stations should have tasks—
leave some open-ended too
 Ideas
• Marble painting
• Tower building
• Bridge building • Block painting
• Velcro craft • Inventor’s Box
sticks • Cup stacking
• Zipline • Clothespins and
• Self-Portrait cups
• House building • Anything
EDIBLE!
Inventor’s Box
Have a box with random items
in it for kids to
build/create/explore
 S.T.E.A.M

A=art
Don’t forget to incorporate the art into your
stations. Art doesn’t have to always mean
paint. Art can making something, drawing,
cutting/taping, etc. Art opens up many
doors to creativity. Embrace it and
encourage it; don’t be afraid of it.
STE(A)M 5 C’s Connection

It’s time to

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 Tasks
*Task #1-Free Fallin’-Using given
materials, find a way to get your Lego figure
safely down the zipline. How many different
ways can you come up with?

*Task #2-Look Mom, No Hands!-Stack 21

cups using only the materials provided-NO
HANDS! Once your tower is created, put
the Lego figure at the top-NO HANDS!
 Reflect
Reflection is a vital part of S.T.E.M
stations. It allows students to talk
about what they did in their stations that
day. It also helps students become
more vocal and excited about what they
did/created.

This is also a great chance to revisit the

5 C’s so the students can make the
connections.
Curriculum Organization
5 C’s

Critical Thinking
Communication Collaboration Creativity Citizenship
Curriculum Organization
*displays curiosity, explores or seeks information
Critical Thinking *analyzes and evaluates information to solve a problem or form an opinion
*re-evaluates a solution or an opinion based on new or additional information
*expresses information, ideas and opinions clearly and appropriately,
regardless of the context, medium and audience
Communication *listens actively to the ideas and opinions of others
*asks clear and appropriate questions to better understand the ideas and
opinions of others
*cooperates with other students and makes meaningful contributions to a
shared outcome
Collaboration
*values the ideas, opinions and contributions of others
*builds on the ideas of others to enhance the outcome
*generates original ideas and unique solutions
Creativity *uses imagination to expand upon existing ideas and solutions
*views topics and information from different perspectives
*demonstrates ethical behavior
*acts unselfishly and has compassion for others
Citizenship
*understands the need to contribute to a community (school, local, national or

international)
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What is SEL: Social Emotional Learning?

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What and Why: SEL

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Practice and Value of Social Emotional Learning

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SEL Explained...Hmmmm

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Social-Emotional Learning
 Social Emotional Learning
⮚ Intentional instruction of SEL
skills to occur on the first day
of school and reinforced and
practiced throughout the year
⮚ Creating a positive and
consistent environment
⮚ Model, and then model some
more!
● Greeting students at the door sets a positive tone and can
increase engagement and reduce disruptive behavior.
Spending a few moments welcoming students promotes a
sense of belonging, giving them social and emotional support
that helps them feel invested in their learning.
In the study, when teachers started class by welcoming students
at the door, academic engagement increased by 20 percentage
points and disruptive behavior decreased by 9 percentage
points—potentially adding “an additional hour of engagement
over the course of a five-hour instructional day,” according to
the researchers. 30
SEL Skills in Kindergarten:
“Can have long-term academic benefits on students’
reading and vocabulary, including in high poverty schools,
suggesting that SEL may assist in closing achievement
gaps.” It also stated, “researchers at Columbia University
concluded that for every dollar a school spends on social-
emotional learning programs, it sees an eleven dollar return
on its investment,” indicating the investment in SEL is
worthwhile.
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The development of these skills:
overall positive results
better academic performance
improved attitudes, behaviors and relationships with
peers
deeper connection to school
fewer delinquent acts
reduced emotional distress (student depression,
anxiety, stress and social withdrawal) 32
Social-Emotional Text Integration
Acceptance Self-Control Respect

Stick and Stone, You Get What You Get, Rude Cakes,
by Beth Ferry by Julie Grassman by Rowboat Watkins

Patience Good Listening

My Mouth is a Volcano, Lacey Walker, Nonstop Talker,

by Julia Cook by Christianne C. Jones
Social-Emotional Text Integration
Consequences Honesty Empathy and Resilience

What If Everybody Did That? Lying Up A Storm, Too Shy For Show and Tell,
by Ellen Javernick by Julia Cook by Beth Bracken

Perseverance Tattling

The Most Magnificent Thing, Don’t Squeal Unless It’s A Big Deal,
by Ashley Spires by Jeanie Franz Ransom
Extended Integration
Opportunities
Technology Integration
Coding in Kindergarten
STE(A)M Integration
⮚ Opportunities for student-driven STEM and
STEAM investigations and creations are
provided daily as a transition between lunch
and afternoon instruction.
⮚ During this time, students are encouraged to
work collaboratively in open-ended tasks which
promote scientific, mathematical and creative
thinking and problem solving.
⮚ Personalized learning occurs through the
student-led choices of materials and product
creation.
⮚ Teacher remediation, enrichment, and
assessment occur through individualized
instruction during this time.
STE(A)M Integration
The use of everyday materials and manipulatives used as
learning tools are encouraged.
Legos Bristle Blocks Magnetic Building Dominoes

Wooden Blocks Build A Bridge Ramps and Rolls

Thank
You
IDEAS...
● T-shirts: design them
● Tally board
● Groups? 24 kids
● We need something with all kids’
names on it (cubbies? elephant
themed?)
● Prizes
● Culminating activity? Field Trip
together? IFLY?Roller Rink? NASA?
● Guest Speakers? 41

● Budget (grants)
Requirements
▶ Collaborate (work together) to plan
▶ Lesson plans are due for each
activity: how do we want to divide
the work?
▶ Grading
▶ Other ideas???
▶ Have FUN!
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Our Open House

We will run an Open House for parents

with food on Sept 25th, 6-7 PM

Kids will come once a week on A days

starting Oct. 3rd!

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Committees to form:
● Shirt Design and Order with welcome bags, tally
board, team names, colors
● Open House (Sept. 25th) (food and plans: ppt for
parents)
● Noe and Shumate’s class involvement, field trip
plans
● Field Trip Committee
● Schedule Guest Speakers and design something
with kids’ names on it (cubbies? board?)
● What else?
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EACH COMMITTEE MUST ALSO COME UP WITH ONE

Resources (check out links and books)
Stem Laboratory
STEAM Plans for Kindergarten
NASA STEM
Science Buddies
Playdoh STEM
The Ultimate List of STEM activities

Kindergarten SOL Objectives:

Science and Math 45
Committee #1: Open House
Chrissy, Sarissa, Greta
- Plan one stem activity and write a lesson plan
- Come up with Open House agenda (greeting
kids and parents, Icebreaker, activity?
powerpoint?) Open House is Sept. 25, 6-7 PM
at Cox in our room
- We need donations of subs and pizza for night
of Open House
- We need information sheets for parents to let
us know more about their kid
- Create a VTfT II Powerpoint to introduce all
of you to parents on open house 46
Committee #2: Design Committee
Becca, Lexi, Charlotte
- Plan one stem activity and write a lesson plan
- Design T-shirts for kids and VTfT II
- Stem Olympic Tally Board
- Create board for entering classroom (dance,
hug, high five, etc.)
- Help with the Open House Welcome Bags

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Committee #3: Field Trip and Guest
Speaker Committee (Community)
Emma, Olivia,
- Plan one stem activity and write a lesson plan
- Call and talk to people about STEM related
field trip experiences and any guest speakers
who can come talk or do a STEM activity with
our kids (like zoo or something)
- Open House Welcome Bags for kids and
parents

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Committee #4: Prize Committee
Michael, Abbie
- Plan one stem activity and write a lesson plan
- What prizes will we give kids (oriental
trading? VTfT bucks and at end they can buy
things? Ideas?
- Order prizes
- Team Names and colors?
- I need a list of STEM items to purchase for a
grant like coding robots and things like that.
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Committee #5: SEL First Day
Brynn, Kaitlyn
- Plan one stem activity and write a lesson plan
- Plan a first day SEL day where we all get to
know each other. Look up SEL activities for
Kindergarten students and plan an activity so
we can start building relationships
- Look at SEL books on the shelf and assign
each committee an SEL skill to focus on
during their STEM lesson (respect, lying, etc).

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Committee #6: Math and Science Involvement
Kaya, Ashlyn

- Plan one stem activity and write a lesson plan

- How can we involve Noe and Shumate’s
science and math class?
- Figure at a task for them to help with: plan a
STEM related activity each? Ideas?
- Document with pictures all that VTfT II is
doing as we do it. Put them all in a Google
Drive folder and share with me.
- Coding Robots?
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