Rockin' it in Fifth Grade: Rockin' the STEAM Family Night

Monday, March 20, 2017

Rockin' the STEAM Family Night

My school had a STEAM Family Night this year. Each grade level set up a few stations for families to explore. In addition, there were science and engineering activities led by students from our local university, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Participants received a BINGO style card with different activities in the spaces instead of numbers. They completed certain activities to fill the card. At the end of the hour, they turned in their card for a pizza meal.

Our fifth grade stations included two Workplaces from our Bridges Math and two build-it activities.

One of the build-it activities was a Pom Pom Launcher.

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This was very popular. Almost 50 launchers were built before we ran out of supplies.

The other build-it activity was a Catapult.
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This was also very popular

One of the Bridges Math Workplaces was Beat the Calculator.
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A card is turned over with a math problem to solve. One person solves it mentally, while the other uses the calculator.

The other Bridges Math Workplace was Target One Fraction Game.
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Players each draw 5 cards and use 3 to create a whole number times fraction equation whose product is as close to one as possible. Their score is the difference between their product and one. Lowest score wins.

This was a hugely successful night.

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Meet Marianne

Marianne is a fifth grade teacher in Los Osos this year. She previously taught for Mariposa County Unified and Orcutt Union school districts. This is her 24th year in the educational field as a classroom teacher. Marianne is committed to providing students with an innovative 21st century curriculum that includes engaging, high quality instruction to expand students' opportunities for learning. This requires taking risks to get results, like when she moved all the desks out of her classroom in pursuit of new ways to use best practices to highly engage students. In order to prepare students to be future ready, she provides structures for learning through teamwork and whole class activities, which allow students to interact, think creatively, and be a part of each other’s learning. She has successfully implemented 1:1 iPads and Chromebooks with her class. Marianne’s innovative use of technology, creative lesson design, collaboration with peers, continual pursuit of learning, and being a leader on campus earned her the Mariposa County Teacher of the Year award in 2015. She is also a CUE Rock Star Teacher.

The students in Marianne’s class, and their families, are kept well informed through her use of a closed class Facebook group, class Twitter feed, and Class Dojo. The messaging services on all three of these makes it possible for parents to easily and effectively communicate with her “after hours.”

Being a part of the school community is also important to Marianne. She believes that her work on campus does not end at the classroom door. She is fully committed to the school as a whole, taking on extra duties like painting murals, heading up the spirit wear orders, organizing fundraisers, creating the yearbook, managing the school’s Facebook page, providing professional development to other teachers, and being on the Leadership Team and Educational Technology Team.