STEM and Next Generation Science in Kindergarten

When I first heard about the Next Generation Science Standards coming out I was worried. I had always connected both science and social studies to the topics we were covering in our reading curriculum and I was nervous about fitting in morning meeting, math centers/ guided math, Daily Five/ guided reading, snack, rest time, and play time, with a separate time for science. Don't get me wrong-- i've always done hands on science-- planting flowers, hatching butterflies, etc, but I hadn't ever had carved out specified time for it. I did a lot of reshaping of my schedule and figured out how to designate a 25 minute block of time for what I decided to call an "inquiry" period.

Carving out that 25 minutes for an inquiry period is the.best.thing.I.ever.did! And you know what else? Even though new standards in education can be scary the Next Gen standards are appropriate for 21st century learners and actually an amazing thing because they are hands on!

Next Generation Science is not a text book. Or a worksheet. Or a lecture.  It is STEM. It is real, hands on problem-solving. It is a way to teach even the smallest learners the most amazing things. Our inquiry period has ended up being one of the best parts of our day!

This week, we launched STEM in our classroom with some hands-on centers! We started by reading the book Rosie Revere Engineer which is a MUST READ for anyone doing STEM activities with their class. We talked about how we are a class of engineers-- and engineers fail all the time! The most important thing is that they don't give up-- they work hard to make their ideas better! My kids really grasped hold of this and I could see it right before my eyes as I observed them working at each STEM center.

Before we did any centers, I wanted to do a whole group challenge and observe my kids working together. For some, this was their first time working as a team to accomplish something. We talked about how we need to use our words and talk to our team members in order to accomplish a task. The question I posed to everyone was: can you build a bridge that a car can drive under? I showed them the "road" that they would have to build their bridges across and split them into teams of four! It was amazing to listen to them problem-solve together and it made me so happy that every team was able to communicate and work together to accomplish a goal!

After our whole group challenge, we began our introductory centers. I had four centers which we began on Tuesday. By Friday, all of my friends had visited each center.

Marble Mazes

This was an independent center-- I introduced this center to my friends by simply asking "can you build a maze that a marble can travel around?" My friends had so much fun at this center. I even overheard a conversation between a child who was becoming frustrated and another child who said "don't worry, engineers fail all the time. Just keep trying!"

Building Structures

When I introduced this center I asked my friends "can you look at a picture of a real-life structure and make it with blocks?" As a team they picked a structure and replicated it with a variety of different blocks. This required a LOT of teamwork-- at first a group of friends wanted to build separate things instead of working together and you know what? I didn't even have to intervene because then they said "engineers have to work together to solve problems like we did with the bridge." Amazing!

This is the "wheel shaped building set" from Oriental Trading's Learn 365

We just got a new building set and my friends were so excited to try it out! This is a "wheel shaped building set" and it was ordered through Oriental Trading's Learn 365. The kids can build so many different structures out of these pieces and it is also amazing for building fine motor skills. We will be using this a lot throughout our inquiry time. You can grab it HERE. Oriental Trading has some AMAZING STEM materials on their Learn 365 website! Check it out!

Boat Challenge

Here, my friends had to build a boat out of tin foil that would hold a certain amount of math manipulatives. The best part about this center was that they failed so many times but never, ever gave up! Each child made their boat stronger and learned from their failure. By the end, everyone was able to complete the challenge!

Introduction to Coding

This was the BEST THING I HAVE EVER GOTTEN FOR MY CLASSROOM and I will be using Colby the blue mouse for SO many things this year! This was the only center that was run by me-- and only because the coding kit was brand new. I wanted to teach my friends how to use it before I let them work on their own. We started out with the cheese super close and the kids built a code then input it on the mouse. Each time, we added to the maze (turns, etc) and moved the cheese further away. They problem solved and figured out what needed to be added or changed to get Colby to his cheese. The joy on my friends faces when they finally got the code right was priceless. It was incredible how these little ones were able to work as a team to code and this will be used in our classroom until the very last day of the school year.

Elmer the Patchwork Elephant Centers

We had such a fun second week of kindergarten! I am loving my kids and they seem to be enjoying all of the activities we have been doing together. This week, we read Elmer the Patchwork Elephant by David Mckee. I have about a 25 minute "inquiry" block in my day where we are able to do science and social studies activities. I am planning on using this time to implement Next Generation science standards. This week, we continued our "getting to know you" activities-- the theme was that we are all special! Elmer is one of my favorite books and it fits so well into this theme.

This week I had four centers that were "Elmer themed". Each group completed one center per day and by Friday everyone had done everything!

Sensory Paint Bags: I put some paint and shaving cream in a ziplock bag (the real kind-- the dollar tree kind may rip on you...) and duck taped the bag shut. The kids had a choice of using a Q-tip or their finger to practice letter formation. I made letter cards with a beginning sound picture for them to pull out of a container.  You can grab the letter cards for free HERE. 

Hidden Words Activity: I do the Daily Five during my literacy block. It has been my goal to sneak in word work activities during our beginning of the year inquiry centers. That way, the kids are already introduced to them when we start guided reading/ the Daily Five. For this activity, the kids wrote their names and word wall words in white crayon. Then, they colored over it in marker. You can grab this activity and a few others for free HERE. 

Painting Elmer: We learned how to use water color paint at this center. I printed out Elmer on cardstock and the kids got to make their very own patchwork elephants. I had them write a sentence about why they are special using the sentence frame "I can___." Grab this for free HERE. 

Color Mixing & Traveling Rainbow: This was the "teacher station" because I didn't want my small friends handling the food coloring solo. Before we made the rainbow, we did some color mixing. I let each child in the group choose which two colors to mix together. After, we made our rainbow! We simply put paper towels and linked them to the next cup to make the rainbow travel. 

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Centers

Our first full week of kindergarten is in the books and we had SO much fun. We have been launching Daily Five, began math centers/ math workshop, and read one of my favorite books... Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! We read the story during our "inquiry" science/social studies blocks. By the end of the week, my friends were able to read the story with me!

After the story each day, my class split up into their inquiry groups and went to a center. By the end of the week, they had visited all four centers (we started on Tuesday)!

My small friends had a great time with their centers and learned a lot too! In addition to practicing letter recognition and letter sounds, they also worked on their independence. We do centers pretty much all day so this is really important in my room.

Here is a look at our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom centers!

At the Play Doh alphabet center, students worked with the play doh mats to form each letter. I use play doh a lot in my room, so I wanted to get them working with it right away. They did wonderfully! When we were learning our math centers, I had taught all of my friends to roll their play doh "into a snake" first. They all did it on their own at this center! The play doh mats are awesome and they are from Lakeshore. If you don't have them, you can grab another set that is included in my Chicka Chicka resource.

Bingo Center

Here is our bingo center! I had both upper/lowercase letter cards and beginning word pictures so that my friends could do something appropriate for their level. This isn't just a great center for letter recognition and beginning sounds-- it is also great for working in a group and learning about winning and losing.

Sensory Letter Center

At the sensory letter bin center, students chose letters out of the bin and found the matching letter on their mat. I included more mats then were needed at the center in case they finished early. If they were done with ALL of them, I let them practice making each others names with the letters. I was so proud of how well they worked independently.

Art Center

I love crafts. Any way I can incorporate them into centers, I do! At this center, the kids cut apart their names and glued it to their papers. They wrote their name and counted how many letters are in it. Then we made the top of the palm tree using green paint and handprints! I had taken pictures of them earlier in the week so we glued it on. At the end, they had their very own Chicka Chicka palm tree.

Chicka Chicka BOOM Cards!

In addition to our centers, we did the some Boom Cards! Boom Cards are digital, interactive, self-checking task cards. My kids will be using Boom Cards throughout the year during math centers (math through technology center), Daily Five, and inquiry centers. I have been introducing the cards and how they work this week on the ActivBoard as a whole group. We completed these sets of cards throughout the week and it was so much fun! I can't wait for my friends to start doing them on their own. Here is a video preview of the Chicka cards:

If you are looking to do Chicka Chicka Boom Boom centers with your own class, you can hop on over to my store and check out my resource by clicking the picture below. It includes all of the activities above and more!

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