Teaching STEM Literacy by Juliana Texley

Author:Juliana Texley
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781605545639
Publisher: Redleaf Press
Published: 2017-11-02T04:00:00+00:00

From Teaching STEM Literacy: A Constructivist Approach by Juliana Texley and Ruth M. Ruud © 2018. Published by Redleaf Press, www.redleafpress.org. This page may be reproduced for classroom use only.

Dear Families:

This week we are studying things that roll. We are testing all sorts of things, from balls and blocks to toy cars. It’s easy to extend these activities at home.

Set up anything for a ramp. It could be a piece of wood, a cookie sheet, or an ironing board. And then encourage your child to try testing things at home. (Of course, think about safety and breakage. Something that would break at the end of the roll, such as an egg, wouldn’t be a good choice—unless you’d like to try a new way of scrambling eggs.)

Classification is a key skill for early childhood. This activity is ideal for practicing sorting. Ask your child to make two piles of things: those that roll and those that don’t.

Another way we ask children to think like scientists is asking them to predict and then test a prediction. Making piles of things that roll is a step in modeling. It’s like building a theory of how things work in the world. Models help us predict.

Find a new object that your child hasn’t tested yet. Ask, “What do you think? Will it roll?” And then ask, “Why do you think that?” (Patience! It may take time for those modeling thoughts to come out as words.)

Then, of course, do the test. Remember, experimenting isn’t really about being right or wrong. It’s about persistence. So always remind your child to try again.

We’ll also read about the man who invented the safety helmet. He called it a “Hard Boiled Hat.” Remind your young bikers to always wear their helmets!

Thanks for being great STEM partners. And have fun.

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