Dec. 6

Phone a Friend



For the past two weeks fifth graders at Keeney have been investigating sound.  In this investigation they were challenged to make a phone using paper clips, cups, and fishing line.  Then they had to explain how they thought their sound made it to their partner's ear, how they could stop their sound from getting to their partner's ear, and how to make their sound louder or clearer without changing their voice.

Getting Ready for the SFWIC

Science Fair With Invention Convention



The past few weeks have included lots of time spent encouraging students to participate in the district's Science Fair with Invention Convention. We featured six students in our Humans of Manchester (Public Schools) gallery ...







... and also added one STEM teacher -- Bill McDougal of Bowers ...













The best part was this hype video (CLICK HERE TO SEE IT), which featured taped segments made by students who took part last year:

Thursday, Nov. 3

At Washington, Some Friction Action

 

Here are some pictures and student work samples from a first grade lab on friction. Students learned about friction by testing out cars on sandpaper and construction paper.

Moonlighting

Moonlighting

That's John Niemann of Martin (far right) demonstrating to colleagues how he teaches his students about phases of the moon during a PD session for the entire STEM department earlier this week. The photos above show Martin fifth-graders using their observational skills to learn why the moon's appearance changes over time. The worksheets helped them capture and process the information.

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Tuesday, Oct. 11

STEM at Martin

Students at Martin Elementary have been been busy (something that surely can be said at the eight other elementary schools as well) and we have a bunch of photos that seemed to be best shared via video.  Enjoy!

Sunday, Oct. 9

Snapshots from  Keeney and Washington

Here is a mini-collage of some of the work we are doing in 4th grade at Keeney around biomes and biotic/abiotic interactions.  In two of the photos Miss Gordon's class is observing biotic and abiotic components outside our school.  In the other two photos Miss Gordon's class is researching biotic and abiotic interactions within specific biomes.  Over the next couple classes they will be working on a presentation to teach the class about their biome.

Farther down are the Washington 4th graders closely examining the interactions between the biotic and the abiotic components of a given environment (inside the area of a hula hoop). Students used magnifying glasses, thermometers and trowels to study the total physical response of the biotic components of the ecosystem.

Monday, Oct. 3

Gooey, Sticky and Slimy!


Second grade scientists at Robertson are beginning a unit​​ on Matter in their STEM classes. To start thinking about the question "What is Matter?", they examined a mysterious white substance. Students could not use their imaginations to guess what it was. Instead, they took their role as scientists seriously, using their senses of sight, touch and smell to make careful observations. They recorded what they noticed, as well as adding some awesome questions. Most students noticed it was gooey, sticky and slimy -  but so much fun to touch! (By the way, if you're wondering the solution was corn starch and water.)

Monday, Sept. 26

Verplanck's STEM Scholars

Using "Noodle Blocks," kindergartners created models of a variety of things.  Pictured at top is a castle and a jet plane.  Through a brainstorming session,  the scholars decided they could do even more with these blocks if they used something to stick them together!  So, the next creative building class will include masking tape. In the lower row, first graders are shown practicing engineering skills by building bridges to take the Gingerbread man safely over the river.

Sunday, Sept. 18

PHOTOS FROM BOWERS AND WASHINGTON

We've got pictures of STEM stations at Washington's Open Houset and Bowers scientists making observations .. and  You can see more in a gallery on our FB page.

Thursday, Sept. 8

"SAVE SAM"

Here are a few pictures from the first few days of Ms. Knight's 1st and 2nd grade classes at Washington. The first two are of a second grade challenge called "Save Sam" where students are challenged to work together to get Sam the worm into his life raft without using their fingers to do so:

The other two pictures are of first graders building a shelter for Mr. Knight's hermit crab. They were challenged to do so after measuring and seeing how big her hermit crab is:

We'll have more snapshots from other schools and other grade levels as the year unfolds.

Wednesday, Sept. 7

The STEM staff

Here's the STEM team -- and here's a chart with everyone's name and assignment (school/grades) soon. This was taken at a department meeting on Tuesday (Sept. 6) held at Highland Park.

Monday, Aug. 29, 2016

Pari Ghetia (left) is director of the STEM program.

And So It Begins ...


Monday, Aug. 29 was the first day of the 2015-16 academic year for teachers, and 18 STEM specialists spent the day at Central Office planning for the 10 months ahead.

They discussed a wide range of topics -- exciting things like an the creation of after-school robotics clubs (much more on that later) to mundane-but-critical things like dealing with purchase orders.

Leading the meeting was Pari Ghetia, the new STEAM director (the 'A' stands for Arts). Pari was a resident principal at Bowers last year and has taken over for Santosha Oliver, who is now assistant superintendent in Windsor.

Manchester's elementary STEM program is in its second year. It's part of the district's commitment to ensure that students enjoy a rigorous, relevant, inquiry-based education that emphasizes 21st Century skills including critical thinking, collaboration and problem solving.

At the start of the 2015-16 school year, two STEM specialists were hired for each of our nine elementary schools -- one to serve K-2 students and the other to work with third- through fifth-graders.

STEM specialists spent their first day back
meeting at Central Office.

As a rule, STEM specialists see students once every three days, with class lasting 45 minutes. They cover a lot of ground -- and we will try to cover much of this experience in this blog as it unfolds over the year. A spoiler alert though: The highlight for many students includes preparation of the town-wide Science Fair with Invention Convention in the spring.

Well, that's enough for now. Please check back throughout the year as we use this blog to examine "STEM and its many branches."