Growing a lima bean is something that completely WOWS my students every single year!  They are completely fascinated by the process of seed growth, and it really is quite amazing.

Click here to check out this pack!

We use a sandwich size plastic bag, a wet paper towel, and 3-5 dry lima beans.

We leave our bags open just a little and hang them on a bulletin board inside the classroom.

My classroom has NO windows, but the artificial light is enough to get those beans sprouting in 5-7 days.

I spray some water into each bag after about 3-4 days.  They kids are always so surprised that a plant can out of a dry bean.

This is one of those "simple" experiments we used to do many years ago.  My kids today are so excited about doing this lab!

We opened our bags today and the kids chose their BEST sprout to plant into a small clear cup with potting soil.  If they had other good sprouts they could gift them to classmates who needed a better sprout, or they could take them home and plant them.

Here are some of our sprouts!  The lima beans will grow throughout the month.  Kids will either take them home at the end of the month or we will plant them in our school garden.

Why not try growing something in your classroom?

Have you ever tried to make a life-sized squirrel?  It is tougher than it looks!

While this is a January STEM challenge, we are reading Flora and Ulysses, so this one worked perfectly!

All you need is some white bulletin board paper and squirrel measurements.  You should have students look these different measurements up on-line.

There are lots of parts you can measure on a squirrel!

There are different types of squirrels you can use for this challenge!

Measurements are included in the file for each of these types of squirrels.  

 

Look at all of those squirrels in the picture above!

Kids had a great time with this one.  It was a lot harder than they thought it would be and they got to do some measurement!

You can check out this STEM challenge by clicking here!

Squirrels are EVERYWHERE around us right now.  Why not learn a little more about them?

Are you looking for some things to do during the first week or month of school to get your kids working cooperatively and learning to recover from failure?  These 3 STEM challenges may be just what you are looking for this year!  Click here to check out this pack in my tpt store!

This pack has three different challenges.  They are:

- Personalized Name Card

- Paper Crayon Carrier

- Team Drawing

You can also buy these challenges separately, but the bundle will save you money!

These challenges are a great way to get your kids thinking right away!

Frogs may be one of my favorite things!  I have used them as a classroom theme a few times and I absolutely love them!  Click here to check out the collection of frog challenges in my TPT store!

I decided to make up a set of STEM challenges to go with Frogs!  All you need to do is grab some rubber frogs from Amazon or the dollar store and you can find most of the other supplies in your classroom!

I grab the rubber frogs we use from Amazon!  These frogs are about 2 inches across.  You can REUSE the frogs for the different challenges.

The following challenges are included in this bundle:

Frog Rescue

Materials Needed: (per team)

- 2-3 plastic cups

- 6 wide popsicle sticks

- 2 index cards

- rubber frogs

Largest Lily Pad

Materials Needed: (per pair)

- one sheet of colored copy paper

- scissors and tape

- ruler or tape measure

- rubber frogs

Tallest Frog Slide

Materials Needed: (per pair or team)

- toilet paper tubes

- copy paper

- scissors and tape

- ruler or tape measure

- rubber frogs

Foil Frog Boat

Materials Needed: (per pair or individual)

- 6 inch x 6 inch sheet of foil

- tub of water (shoebox tubs work well)

- rubber frogs

Longest Frog Launch

Materials Needed: (per classroom)

- craft sticks (thin, thick, or both)

- rubber bands

- plastic spoons

- rubber frogs

- tape and scissors

- ruler or tape measure

These challenges are a great way to encourage teamwork at the beginning of the school year.  They could also be used at any time!

Jump into some STEM Challenges this year!

Looking for a way for your students to keep track of the things they learn doing STEM challenges, breaks, and/or activities?  Why not try keeping STEM notebooks this year?

Just grab either a spiral notebook or a composition book for each student!  I print the lab sheets, vocabulary sheets, and posters at a 90% zoom so they fit perfectly into the notebook!

This STEM notebook should last the entire school year!

My students find it to be a great resource for recording their ideas, successes, and failures.

You can add photos, illustrations, and other items to the STEM notebook, too!

We focus on a specific STEM topic each month in our classroom, so students can learn from previous failures as they work on figuring out new tasks.  We usually start the school year with towers!

I have a STEM bulletin board in my classroom each year and we use these notebook packs to fill the board up over the course of the month.  

Each of the notebook packs contains vocabulary cards related to the topic, background information about the topic, different posters, diagram, bulletin board title letters, and a couple of notebook pages to record information about it.

We add information and materials to this bulletin board throughout the month.  We even attach some of our best towers to the board (or at least pictures of them)!

We find this to be a great resource to have in our classroom!

We use the following schedule for our monthly STEM topics:

August - 3D Shapes (This one is FREE in my TPT store!)

September - Towers

October - Paper Airplanes

November - Roller Coasters

December - Structures

January - Rockets

February - Catapults

March - Bridges

April - Vehicles

May - Boats

June - Parachutes

You can move these topics around so they work for your classroom and your curriculum!  As these packs are made, I will link them and bundle them!

These packs are BUNDLED in my TPT store!  Grab the bundle for a big discount!

Let's really GROW your STEM classroom this year!

Have you ever done a STEM challenge in your classroom and it was too easy or too hard for your students?

There are a few quick and easy ways to challenge the difficulty of ANY STEM challenge or activity!

If you want to make a STEM challenge EASIER...

• Increase the amount of time for the challenge.
• Eliminate timed challenges.
• Give students a second chance at the STEM challenge using what they learned from their first experience to guide them.
• Give hints!
• Increase the amount of tape or any other supplies that were limited in the challenge.
• Let students switch teams.
• Turn an individual challenge into a pair or team challenge.
• Give struggling groups a hand.
• Allow groups to attach towers, bridges, or other structures to a table or the floor.

If you want to make a STEM challenge HARDER...

• Decrease the amount of time for the challenge.
• Add a time component to a challenge if it is not already a timed challenge.
• Reduce the amount of materials, like tape, that students get for the challenge.
• Take away supplies like scissors at a certain time during the challenge.  You can make it a known time or a surprise!
• Turn a team challenge into a challenge for individuals or pairs.
• Make student teams move to a new table and begin work on another team's project.  Try moving teams every 10 minutes!  This change makes them crazy!

I believe ANY group of kids can do ANY of the different STEM challenges that are out there.  Adjusting each challenge to meet the needs of their students is up to the classroom teacher.

Finding the perfect balance of frustration and success during a STEM challenge is so important!

Click here to grab a FREE and FUN STEM Challenge to do with your students the first week of school!

Get those kids engineering right away this fall!

Crocodile Day isn't an official worldwide holiday, but it could be a fun theme day for learning or celebrating crocodiles—amazing reptiles that live in rivers, lakes, and swamps!  

This year it is celebrated on June 17th!

🐊 Crocodile Day – A Day to Learn About and Celebrate Crocodiles!

What is a crocodile?

A crocodile is a big reptile with rough, scaly skin, a long tail, and lots of sharp teeth. Crocodiles live near water and are great swimmers. They are one of the oldest animals on Earth!

Making actual size alligators and crocodiles is a great way to celebrate this day!  We used bulletin board paper, tape measures, and researched the different types of alligators and crocodiles sizes!

Click here to check out this product in my tpt store!