NASA Contest! Space Games!!

Hi All

Ok... this is due next Friday (3/16, so it is a tight turn around, but why not propose to your students the chance to submit their idea for a Space Game to NASA? I am sure some kids could brainstorm this and writ it up quickly!

Here is the link from NASA. Lets get some kids from Stamford to do this!

Spaced out sports!- http://education.ssc.nasa.gov/spacedoutsports.asp

Sounds like a fun concept.

Jim

FREE Engineering Lesson Sources

Hi All!

Here are a few great web sites with access to FREE lesson. Now, we all realize that in order to do the lesson you need to gather equipment and supplies so they aren't really FREE to do but many of them are inexpensive and VERY well thought out.

1) Engineering is Elementary- Created by the amazing Boston MOS (Museum of Science) this set of lessons is simply amazing for elementary level experiences. Purchasing the materials is not cheap but look at all of the supporting documents and mine the site for ideas. Maybe a grant could help make this a reality?

2) Teach Enigneering- A simply mind blowing resource. Search through activites, lessons, and units! You will encounter many great opportunites here!

3) Inel "Design and Discovery" Curriculum- 18 sequential lesson designed to help you teach engineering. Make sure the copier have a full load of paper before you start printing this resource. This is a must see.

4) The Dayton Regional STEM center- I wish I lived near this place! You will find some of the most well written and comprehensive STEM lesson plans on this site. They might provide a model for original lesson you might create in the future. There is definitely something STEMy in the water in Dayton, Ohio!

There are more lessons on those four sites than you can shake a stick at!

Also see my earlier post to all of the suggested activities promotes through the NSTA science scope magazine's Everyday Engineering column! Click Here to access those from my NSTA collection of links.

Lastly, I have been saving any and all STEM links on-line. So if you really feel like digging through some resources head to my delicious STEM links!

All the best...not let's get kids creating, failing and creating again!! :-)


Jim :-)

Need STEM activity ideas?

Hi All,

I created this resource collection on the NSTA Learning Center and wanted to share it with you all. Most of the articles within it are from the Everyday Engineering column produced for teachers by NSTA.

Click Here to access the collection!

Drop me a note if you find it useful.

Jim :-)

Click here to see the It's Relevant video about our Connected Math program! Way to go Kris S.!

Rippowam Disease Unit presentations!

Click here to read the Stamford Advocate story on the Rippowam Disease Unit culminating activity.

Way to go Ripp!

Cloonan Math Night!

Imagine kids and their parents coming to school at night to engage in fun mathletics! That is what happened last night at Cloonan Middle School! Kids read essays on, "What Math Means to ME', awards were distributed to Mathletes, and a myriad of math activities were open to families all over the building! There were even prizes for families that estimated quantities correctly! This is definitely a fun way to promote Math and to get families engaged in the process! Kudos to the entire Cloonan team, but in particular, teacher Shanna Esposito who worked tirelessly to make this event a reality. Way to go!

Here are some images from the event!

A students shares her thoughts on why math matters!


A living bar graph to help teach mean, median and mode!


Math games!

Promethean Board and Science Workshop

Hi All,


On 1/24 from 4 - 6 PM some very hard working elementary school teachers learned more about the use of the Promethean Board in support of science teaching. It was one of the best attended Promethean workshops ever!

The idea was to review some basic skills and expose the team to "flip charts" that directly related to elementary school science topics. Brian Byrne, a gifted flip chart creator and curriculum associate for elementary Math, produced two exceptional examples for science tasks relating to "Soggy Paper" and "Magnetism" for us to utilize at the workshop.

We can't wait to see the results of the workshop as these talented educators start to generate their own content via ActivInspire! These Promethean Boards are widely available in the SPS due to the generosity of the GEF Developing Futures™ Grant. We hope that workshops like these will continue to unleash their power!

I truly enjoyed working with you all...as did Beth, Louise, Paula and Lori!

Jim :-)