Last year I would pass out "STEM Breaks" to each classroom teacher about twice a month.  I would also provide materials to use that were cheap and easy to find.  The purpose of the STEM Breaks were to get the students to explore and ask questions about a variety of materials.  The first STEM Break is about Bubbles!  I found regular bubbles and touchable bubbles both at my local Dollar Tree store.  I gave one of each to each classroom with the STEM BREAK note.  Classroom were encouraged to experiment and share what they discovered in some way.  Many of the classes made posters and books based on the STEM Breaks!

Click here for the FREE google doc of this STEM Break sheet!  Just add bubbles and you are ready to go!

As we ended the year, my students became fascinated with pill bugs!  We decided to learn about these unusual creatures and then we created habitats for a few of them using 2-liter bottles.  Did you know that pill bugs are not actually bugs?  They are arthropods!

This is a really easy lab and you can find most of the materials you need for this lab outside or in the recycling bin!  Once our pill bug habitat were constructed, the students kept a pill bug journal and recorded their observations of the pill bugs in their habitat for about 2 weeks.

I have created a Playing with Pill Bugs lab packet that you can download for FREE!  The fall or the spring are great times to get busy playing with pill bugs!