Week 1-Enjoying the Last Day

Beautiful Bugs

Science Update!!!

These are some photos from our busy last day wrapping up week one of STEM Camp!

Finished Water Bugs with specially designed flotation shoes.

More water bug designs from our older students.

The penny challenge: 

How many pennies (or washers) can you slip under the surface tension of an already full glass of water?

Learning about water is FUN!

Engaging students and providing an environment that is welcoming to all is the key to overall understanding and learning. An active day with many hands-on activities makes learning fun and enjoyable and allows for all children to participate, share, and voice their thoughts. These happy faces "say it all".

Capture the Flag

Finally a sunny day with a nice breeze that we could all enjoy outside.

Feeling a little BUGGY?!

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Science Update!!!

Today was a day of creating, testing, and improving our water bug designs.

Here are a few words and a photo that students blogged themselves today!

"I did this in summer camp!" - Grace

"We have to test it on water." - Whitney

 "I like my water bug!" - Allie

The students worked diligently on their bug shoe design in their science notebooks. They used what they learned about properties of water at the sink/float stations and from video clips showing how real skeeter bugs move to help them in their designs. It was fun testing the bugs on the water together and getting new ideas from our classmates

Students are also learning about boat design and properties of water through class read alouds and browsing specially selected science books from the GEMS library!

Water Investigations

Children have been working hard to problem solve and discover all of the interesting principles about water. Through inquiry tasks, experimentation, and whole group discussions everyone is learning and understanding just why water "does what it does" . Surface tension, absorption, and density have been a part of many conversations and children are writing, drawing, and summarizing their new knowledge within their science notebooks.

Water shoes...

Science Update!

Today students explored and sorted different items to determine if they would be good building materials for their water bugs. We want our bugs to float like the ones we often see on top of the water in Lake Champlain, so the students are designing "shoes" that will float help float their bugs.

Our class focused on the design and shape of the bug legs today and will be ready to build "bug shoes" tomorrow based on individual design plans sketched in their science notebooks.