St. Joseph Parish School

The third graders have been studying economics in their Social Studies classes by working together to establish a small business.  Some of the groups were assigned to participate in a pretzel business.  So, we thought it would be fun to actually make the pretzels as well as practice reading fractions and some measurement skills in STEM lab.

Pretzels
1. Mix together the following:
1 package of dry yeast
1 1/2 cups of warm water
1 Tablespoon of sugar
2 teaspoons of salt
2. Then add 4 cups of flour, mix well
3 Now knead the mixture for 5 minutes
(you may want to flour your hands)
4. Cut into 16 pieces and shape.
5. Place on a foil lined cookie sheet.
6. Mix 1 egg yolk with 1 Tablespoon of water
7. Brush on pretzels and sprinkle with salt.
8. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes.

After learning about Medieval Europe in Social Studies class, the seventh graders began designing and building siege weapons.  Initially, the students worked on this project with their parents but completed it in small groups.  The groups were able to chose a ballista, battering ram, or siege tower to construct.  All the groups really practiced the design cycle, as well as the Engineering Habit of Mind, resilience, as they tested and reworked their designs to adhere to the constraints of the task.

This week in STEM lab the first graders made it rain!  Using a mason jar of water and a shaving cream cloud, the students added blue colored water to their clouds using a pipette.  After a short time, the water droplets began to sink to the bottom of the jar, simulating rain.  After this was cleaned up, we began to practice a short Readers’ Theater about the water cycle.

The kindergarteners have been practicing counting and reading numbers to 20 in their math class.  In STEM lab this week they worked together in small groups to build these numbers using Zoob Builders.

After learning about the planets in their Science class, in STEM lab, the students worked together to create a visual model of the planets showing the distance they orbit from the sun.  Even though Pluto is considered a dwarf planet, we included it in our activity.

This week the students invited their parents to attend STEM lab with them.  The turnout was great!

Grades 3 and 4 introduced their parents and grandparents to Dash.  They spent their STEM lab time working through stations where they used different apps to navigate Dash to accomplish various tasks.

Grade 5 built a model of a solar and lunar eclipse.

Kindergarten chose from three design challenges pertaining to weather and seasons.

Grade 7 has been learning about Medieval Europe.  They worked in small groups to design and build siege towers or battering rams.

Grade 8 designed shelters to build on Mars.

Grades 1 and 2 collaborated to build dog sleds.

Grade 6 designed and built balloon cars.

Can you design and build a device to help a frog (origami frog) carry a valentine (candy heart) on its back across the swamp?

The third graders have been working on using the Xylo app with Dash in STEM lab.  First, they worked in small groups to compose a song.  They then choreographed Dash’s movements to their song as he played it on the xylophone. This week, the entire class collaborated to compose one song.  The students then decided to program four Dash robots with the same song and movements.  All 4 robots performed the same song and synchronized movements, creating a Dash marching band!

This week, the third graders used the Xylo app to collaboratively compose their own music.  After their songs were written, they attached a xylophone to Dash and coded him to move as the piece was performed.

Can you build a six sided/pointed snowflake that is unique?  The second graders learned that this was more difficult than they thought.  They spent last week working on building very beautiful, unique snowflakes.  Some even built stands to showcase their 3D masterpieces.  However, many redesigns were necessary as when they counted the points this week, they realized their snowflakes had 8 points, and did not meet all the constraints of the challenge.  It was more difficult than they thought to maintain the symmetry of a snowflake and only use 6 points.