STEM – travelteachlove

Slip and Slide, Forces and Motion

March 3, 2019 No Comments

With a new science topic to teach, comes new STEM lessons to try out. Students are learning about forces and motions in physical science and I’m loving all the opportunities it provides for hands on discoveries. At this point students have built up their background knowledge on the basics of force and motion. They have learned new vocabulary words, watched short video clips and BrainPop Jr. videos, listened to stories, read information on their own and participated in several discussions with peers based on what they have learned. All this has prepared students to use new knowledge to complete a […]

STEAM, Uncategorized

May Flowers STEM Fun

May 29, 2018 No Comments

With real Spring weather (some warm days!) finally upon us I decided it was time for a more bright and colorful activity for the STEM lab. The saying, April showers bring May flowers was inspiration for a Tulip STEM challenge for students. The lesson fused social studies, science and reading beautifully. We are studying the seven continents so we were able to explore a place in Europe (The Netherlands) famous for their tulips, while creating using the STEM process. This week in reading our anthology featured Gail Gibbons, From Seed to Plant, so the tie in was perfect. Gotta love […]

Science, STEAM, Travel

Earth Day STEM Challenge

April 25, 2018 No Comments

We may have been finishing up April Vacation on the actual Earth Day, but when we returned to school I took the opportunity to celebrate this important day with my students. Students watched a few short video clips about Earth Day, did quick writes and completed a mystery picture math page, but the big Earth Day project was a STEM lesson in the STEM Lab. With Antoni Gaudi as my inspiration, I tied in recycling old things to make something new in a way that connected to students. After learning a bit about Gaudi and his artwork, which recycled many […]

Classroom Connection, STEAM

End of the Year STEM

April 13, 2018 No Comments

I have been working like crazy putting together new STEM lessons to do with my students as we wind down the school year. With a few holidays coming up I knew there would be opportunities to tie in STEM activities to reinforce student learning. First up, it’s finally Spring! (sort of) While the weather may beg to differ, it is indeed officially spring. With the start of a new season I thought, what better way to celebrate than with a Spring themed STEM lesson making windmills. Students had a blast constructing and testing out their windmill designs! It was a […]

Classroom Connection, STEAM, Travel

Travel Spring STEM Challenges

February 26, 2018 No Comments

With a week off, I had a lot of time to think about ways to incorporate more travel into my teaching in the coming term. Recently I have created several STEM lessons that connect animals and their habitats and the seven continents, but I was thinking, there has to be more! It was as I was pouring over old photos from previous trips, to create a gallery wall over my couch, that I was struck with inspiration. Earth Day STEM challenges! Spring is right around the corner, and with it comes Earth Day. Many of the places I have seen […]

Science, Social Studies, STEAM, Travel

STEM Fun: Building A Home For Pecky the Puffin

January 29, 2018 No Comments

I was thrilled when our science curriculum changed to include information about animals around the world and their habitats. Not only does this dovetail with our social studies curriculum perfectly (the seven continents), but it inspired me to write new STEM lessons to do with my students. As an avid traveler, as many of you know, I have had the pleasure to see animals around the world in their natural habitats. I have amassed a rather large photo collection of these animals that I am anxious to share with students in a meaningful way. After much thought of how to […]

Classroom Connection, Social Studies, STEAM, Travel

Travel and STEM Lessons

January 4, 2018 No Comments

Traveling sparks inspiration for classroom lessons long after my suitcases are put away and pictures have been posted on Instagram. Sometimes the ideas come as I begin to investigate new curriculum. Other times it is a comment from a student that reminds me of somewhere I have been. Or sometimes it is just a connection to a story we are reading. But if I’m being honest, recently my inspiration has been spurred on each time someone discovers one of my products on TeachersPayTeachers. There is something exciting when another teacher (ones I don’t even know!) think lessons I have created […]

Classroom Connection, Social Studies, STEAM, Travel

STEM Challenge: Landmarks From Around the World

May 22, 2017 No Comments

It was another busy week as we wind down to the end of the school year. One of my favorite activities this week was a global STEM Challenge. I mean come on, what’s not to love combining travel with STEM? I found a couple great resources to do this activity. First I bought STEM building cards on TpT from one of my favorite sellers, Brooke Brown of Teach Outside the Box. It was a bundle set, so we will have other STEM goodies to use, but for Friday’s lesson the landmarks were our focus. After looking around on TpT more […]

Classroom Connection, Science, Social Studies, STEAM, Travel

Finland STEM Boating Challenge

April 30, 2017 No Comments

What a week back from spring break! It was go, go, go from the moment we returned. We received our eggs to hatch, students wrote a class book of poems to send off to Student Treasures to be published, we started a new unit in math on money, Thursday was poem in your pocket day, and we had boat building and a big boat race on Friday for STEM. There was a lot to be excited about but the STEM lessons were some of my favorites. We kicked off the STEM lesson with a social studies connection. I wrote a small […]

Classroom Connection, Social Studies, STEAM, Travel

Simple Machine STEAM/STEM Lesson Brings Amsterdam to Massachusetts

April 21, 2017 No Comments

With a loud and clear love for travel, it was probably no surprise to my students that I would find a clear connection between travel to another area of study, STEAM. It all started with our study of Europe. After talking about places around Europe, I gave students a small book I wrote about Amsterdam (which you can grab for free on my TpT store). The book gives general information about this major city in Europe based on my travels there. One particular section of the book, about gables on homes and buildings in Amsterdam was the link to STEAM. I still remember […]