STEM Day Extravaganza

I wanted the last day of the quarter to be educational, meaningful, and structured (well, as structured as you can get with 25 nine year-olds who know two weeks of freedom was right around the corner). Anyways, the idea of an ENTIRE day of STEM came to mind and I knew it would be the perfect way to end the quarter the way I wanted to! PLUS the amount of team building that happened this day was insanely awesome...my class grew closer because of it. Here's an exact how-to to creating this magic in your own classroom!

SETUP 

Let's start with decorations! Now, my kids would have been JUST as excited for this day without the extra decorations... so don't think that you need these, this is just what I felt like doing.

What I used:
Plastic Lego Table Cloths (Dollar Tree)
Lego Pennant Banners (Dollar Tree)
Lego Box 4 for $1 (Dollar Tree)
Cardboard STEM Letters (cut out from foam poster board and painted)
Lego Supply Holders (Amazon)
Lego Glasses (Amazon)

BEFORE GETTING STARTED...

Before starting the actual STEM challenges, we all know as teachers how important it is to set the expectations up first. I created a power point that goes over what each letter of STEM is, discussed why it's important in our world, and brainstormed words that related to each letter in STEM. (the foldable I used can be found for FREE on my TPT: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/STEM-Reflection-Questions-4120281 ) I also discuss the behavior expectations and what I want to hear and see from them as they are completing the challenges. This was VERY helpful in setting the day up for success. To help manage behavior throughout the day, I also gave students who exceeded the expectations a lego piece to add to their lego glasses. (They all started with zero pieces, and I never took away any, only gave pieces for positive behavior). Finally, no lesson of mine would be complete without a SONG to help remind us of the STEM definition. :) Here's a video of the song:

LYRICS:

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math! 

Helping our brains problem solve and that's a fact!

MY BEHAVIOR EXPECTATIONS:

All teammates must:

- Use kind words 

- Be patient

- Respect others' ideas and be willing to try them

- Participate

- Do not give up or get frustrated 

* I had some students model a few of these and we discussed whole group WHY these are important. 

TIPS/ACTIVITIES

My engineers definitely put their team building skills to the test today! I added some extra excitement by putting the 4 challenges into these little lego boxes I found from Dollar Tree and displaying them on the board (envelopes would also work just as well). I had our MVP of the week read the next challenge out loud to the team.  SUCH A SIMPLE THING turned the engagement/excitement level WAY up! My class would drum roll, cheer, and smile in anticipation of what the next challenge would be. It was amazing.

We completed 3 group STEM activities in the morning and spent our afternoon with a few great read alouds: Have Fun Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell and Iggy Peck Architect by Andrea Beaty.

Here are the STEM challenges we did and the materials needed for them:

#1
What I put in the Lego box:

TOWER OF POWER CHALLENGE #1

Hello Engineers and welcome to your first official challenge of the day! It’s time to put your building skills to the test! You and your partner will have just 30 minutes to create the tallest tower possible using ONLY pipe cleaners. Good luck… you’ll need it!

Materials: pipe cleaners (about 50 for each pair of students)
Directions: Give students 30 minutes to create the tallest tower possible using ONLY pipe cleaners.

#2
What I put in the Lego box:

LEANING TOWER OF….SPAGHETTI? CHALLENGE #2

Good work on challenge number one engineers… but that was just a warm up. Your teamwork will really be put to the test with this one! You and 2 other mathematicians  must make the tallest tower possible... using only spaghetti sticks and one foot of tape. Oh yeah, your structure must also have 5 mini marshmallows somewhere on their structure. Challenge accepted?

Materials: 2 boxes of spaghetti, 1 bag of mini-marshmallows, masking tape
Directions: (I suggest groups of three) students must build the tallest tower possible using only the materials listed. I give them 30 minutes, and at the end I use a meter stick to measure each tower.

#3
What I put in the Lego box:

CANDY BRIDGE… SAY WHATTTT?! CHALLENGE #3

Welcome to challenge number 3 builders. I hope you’re hungry for a challenge. Where would the world be without bridges?! You and a few other teammates will have to construct a one foot bridge using only toothpicks and gumdrops. Oh yeah, did I mention this must be done in complete SILENCE? *evil laugh* Don’t speak unless you wanna spend a full minute in “jail”. Good luck and SHHHHHHHH!

Materials: 1 bag of gum drops for each group (I did groups of 3), and 1 giant box of toothpicks, small stuffed animal
Directions: Groups will have 25 minutes to build a bridge that is one foot in length. (I separate two desks one foot apart). The bridge must be made using only the materials listed, and their bridge must be able to hold a small stuffed animal. Students may not talk! This is a silent challenge, however, I do let them use their whiteboards to communicate if they choose to do so. If a student talks, they get a 60 second "jail time" (lol). In "jail" they have to sit in a separate chair and watch.


In the afternoon I also introduced STEM bins created by @TeachOutsideTheBox... my kids LOVED these SO much! Taking the time to explicitly teach the expectations of the bins ensured that they would be taken care of and would not be misused! I purchased the labels and challenges from her TPT and created my own actual bins. The bins can also be purchased already made. Check out her website for more information on STEM Bins: http://teachoutsidethebox.com/

 At the end of the day I made time for my students to answer a few reflection questions in their foldable and we shared our answers in a group discussion. (*the foldable is a free download on my TPT! https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/STEM-Reflection-Questions-4120281 ) I feel that whole group class discussions are so powerful! I know this is a day my students will never forget and I am already looking forward to doing it again towards the end of the year with new challenges. 😄
- Julie