Hi Families!

This week we are learning all about STEAM! STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math!

I was inspired by the students’ amazing recycled material creations, as well as so many of them showing me their Lego during our class meetings. We have some talented builders in Div. 27, and I’m excited to see what fun things you can explore and create this week.

Here is a picture of something that my daughter created out of recycled materials! She made a cafe for her Playmobil characters – thank you, Div. 27, for the great inspiration.

This week, I have attached the learning plans in PDF format, as well as provided a “text only” version in this post for those wanting to use the translate function on the blog. To access the “text only” learning plan, click “continue reading.”

Weekly Learning Plan for April 28-May 1

Optional Challenges for April 28-May1

Making 5 Worksheet (optional)

 

 

Week of Tuesday, April 28 to Friday, May 1, 2020

 

Theme: STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics)

STEAM Week!

Inspired by some of the recycled materials creations, we are focusing on STEAM this week.

You can do bits and pieces throughout the week at the pace that is best for your family.

Watch!

What is STEAM? Check out this short video! https://youtu.be/wxCfEnZD-d0

Each letter in STEAM represents a different word!

Science

Technology

Engineering

Arts

Math

Create!

So many of our friends love building with Lego at home and at school!

Watch this Lego Bridge Building Challenge! https://youtu.be/jAOtP4KjOYc

Can you use Lego to build a bridge to go over a river?

Can your bridge help a character go across the river?

Can a boat still go under the bridge?

No Lego? No problem! Use any building materials that you have around your home! Even nature items will do – sticks and rocks make great bridges!

Move!

Having trouble making your Lego bridge stay up? Can’t quite figure out how to tie your shoe? Accidentally making some of your letters backwards?

So many things we can’t do… yet! 😊

Instead of getting frustrated, take a break, get moving, and try again!

Check out The Power of Yet song: https://youtu.be/XLeUvZvuvAs

Read and Build!

Read Down Here on Epic! It’s a book about a child who plays make believe games and builds an amazing fort. Can you build a fort in your home? You can use pillows, blankets, chairs, and other household items!

Watch and Explore!

Let’s explore forces of motion – pushes and pulls!

What kinds of pushes and pulls can you find in your home and around your neighbourhood?

Go on a Forces of Motion hunt in your home and/or neighbourhood! Find:

  • Something you can push
  • Something you can pull
  • Something you can spin
  • Something you can swing
  • Something you can roll

Read and Count!

Check out Making 5 With Kittens on Epic! and read together.

Making 5 is an important part of getting to know numbers. How many collections of 5 can you find in your home?

Example: 5 toy cars, 5 apples, 5 books, 5 rolls of toilet paper, 5 socks

Draw what you find and label the items with the numerals 1 to 5!

Explore!

How many letters are in your name? Write each letter of your first name on small pieces of paper (like a notepad or sticky notes). Find objects around your home that start with each letter. Place them in a row and take a picture! Here is my example:

I have 6 letters in my name!
O is for Orange
S is for Sock
I is for Ice King
R is for Rabbit
I is for Ice Cream Cone
S is for Sid the Sloth!

Move!

Get your body moving! There is one for each school day this week.

Have a Zumba Dance Party with Go Noodle! https://youtu.be/FHo9QaJ1DyI

Stretch with the alphabet! https://youtu.be/VFa0b_IIRac

Shake your sillies out! https://youtu.be/NwT5oX_mqS0

Build a robot with this fun dance along! https://youtu.be/jLePoipMxDk

Play!

Use your spring math counters you made last week to play Hide It!

  • Ask an adult to play with you! Close your eyes and have them hide some of the counters under a cup.
  • Open your eyes and count how many counters are not Use what you know to guess how many are hiding under the cup.
  • For each correct guess you make, you get 1 point. Play until you reach 10 points!
  • On a piece of paper, record your score using tally marks. Don’t forget that 5 tally marks make a bundle! So your 10 point goal is 2 bundles!

Watch!

Check out the Syllables video by Scratch Garden on Epic!

How many syllables are in your name? Clap them out! Try the names of your family members and friends!

 

Optional Activities

If you find yourself wanting some extra tricky jobs, here are some extensions to add to this week’s activities!

Draw!

After watching this video: https://youtu.be/wxCfEnZD-d0

Broadcast Cal mentioned some big juicy words in his STEAM video! But what do they mean?!

Take a piece of paper and draw two lines to split the paper into 4 sections, like this:

4 Big Ideas behind STEAM are:

  • Teamwork (collaboration),
  • Exploring (inquiry),
  • Asking Questions (critical thinking), and
  • Trying Things Out (process-based learning).

In each box of your paper, draw a picture showing each of the “big ideas.”

(example: a picture of you working to build a tower with your friend [teamwork]; a picture of you exploring moss on a tree [exploring]; a picture of you asking your parent something you wonder about, like how butterflies fly [asking questions]; a picture of you experimenting with balls and ramps at school [trying things out])

Create!

Can you create your own marble run at home to explore the forces of motion?

Check out this Science World video! https://youtu.be/JmXPgwqFepo

Here is an extra “how to” if you need it: https://youtu.be/XM-l7qM1KB8

Supplies:

  • Paper tubes (like from paper towels or toilet paper rolls)
  • Other cardboard (like egg cartons, small boxes)
  • Tape
  • Scissors
  • Marbles or other things that move and roll (like toy cars, small balls, etc.)
  • A wall or cupboard space, safe for taping

If you can’t use a wall, try it:

Optional math activity:

Exploring ways of making 5 is an important part of getting to know numbers. Check out the Making 5 worksheet on our blog!

Read!

Love making things out of recycled materials? Check out How Do We Get To The Moon on Epic!

Draw and Create!

Having fun with the Lego bridge building challenge? Try drawing your bridge after building it! Show which pieces you put where, and post a picture to Fresh Grade so I can share it on our blog and challenge your friends to recreate the same bridge from your drawing!

Create!

Enjoy the Lego building challenge? Try to make these Lego creations!!

  1. Make a Lego flower
  2. Build a home for a frog with Lego
  3. Make a self-portrait out of Lego
  4. Spell your name with Lego
  5. Build a Lego classroom

Read and be inspired!

Interested in more Lego learning? Checkout The Lego Zoo book on Epic! Learn how to make 50 different Lego animals.

Watch and explore!

Want to know more about pushes and pulls? Watch this video about simple machines, called STEM Activities with Kindergarten https://youtu.be/mKX8EXrcj7Y

Can you create any simple machines?

Watch this Kindergarten class exploring motion! https://youtu.be/c4xbSY2fwLE

Can you do any of the experiments that they tried?