STEAM, Social Studies, and Language Arts! Oh, My!

I will be teaching a series of Saturday Enrichment Program classes this month.  I'm so excited to be invited back for the second year by Highland School!  Last year, I worked with 2nd and 3rd-Graders on this project.  This year, I will be working with 4th and 5th-Graders.

Teachers get to pick the topic of their class, and I chose STEM.  I also love art, so STEAM was my inspiration.  It was from this inspiration that my "Solve Architectural Problems in a Science Lab!" unit was born.  It's a 5-part unit that's designed to be taught in 2-hour increments.

The first lesson introduces students to what technology really is.  I call this one the "Paper Bag Technology" experiment.  A lot of students think technology is only things that require electricity.  This lesson shows that anything that is designed to solve a problem is technology.

The second lesson focuses on the concepts of team-building and engineering.  I call this one the "Build an Index Card Tower" experiment.  It is the first experiment in the unit in which they fill out the "STEAM Planning and Report Sheet" that follows the five steps of the Engineering Design Process.

The 3rd lesson is the "Build a Longhouse" experiment in which students work together to build a scaled longhouse.

The 5th lesson has the students building a bridge of manila folders in the "Build a Bridge" experiment.

This unit includes:

~Lesson 1: "Paper Bag Technology" experiment. A lot of students think technology is only things that require electricity. This lesson shows that anything that is designed to solve a problem is technology.
~Lesson 2: "Build an Index Card Tower" experiment. It introduces the concepts of team-building and engineering that will be used throughout the following experiments.
~Lesson 3: "Build a Longhouse" experiment in which students work together to build a scaled longhouse.
~Lesson 4: "Build a Covered Wagon" experiment.
~Lesson 5: "Build a Bridge" experiment.
~Instructions for "Parent Visitation Day" to showcase student work

All lessons include:
~"STEAM Planning and Report Sheet" that follows the five steps of the Engineering Design Process.
~Enrichment questions and/or activities. 
~Suggested reading titles for further research. 
~Answer Keys for worksheets

I'm so excited to use this for the SEP!

You can pick up a copy by clicking here.