STEM Bowl

Our third grade STEM Bowl team competed at the Howell Center this past Friday. They had to build a cooler using various items (cardboard boxes, styrofoam, aluminum foil, plastic wrap… the possibilities were endless). The supplies had to be "purchased", so they had to budget their money, as well as regulate the temperature of the water bottle. They did a great job (and even did better than some of the fourth and fifth grade teams they were up against!) It was an amazing experience!

Newspaper Tables

Our last STEM meeting, the club was charged with using newspapers to build a table. They were allowed to use tape, but the table had to be 8 inches tall (no shorter, no taller), and it had to hold at least one dictionary. We had several groups who not only had their table hold the yellow dictionary, but also a few heavier books piled on top of them (was too excited I forgot to take a picture of those!) Our group that completed their table challenge first, was then charged with building a chair for Mr. Potato Head.

Bridge Building

In preparation for the STEM Bowl, our team was charged with building a bridge using popsicle sticks and a hot glue gun. It had to hold up Mr. Potato Head. They were successful!

Drone

Thanks to everybody who liked our WeatherSTEM page. We won a drone! Only thing is: it has a mechanical failure! We had it checked out, and are going to send it back, and hopefully get a new one we can use next year! David Merrick from Emergency Management (who also teaches drone flying classes at FSU), came out to talk about drones, and showed us how drones are used in emergency situations. 

STEM Bowl Practice Link

https://quizlet.com/34690203/scores

STEM at the Capitol

Last month, our school was featured at an event at the Capitol, to showcase our efforts with WeatherSTEM and Kano Computers. Our students who participated in the event represented us well, and were phenomenal at showing off their skills to Florida's legislatures, business partners, and heads of education. Even Commissioner Pam Stewart, was impressed by our STEM Club members, and mentioned them in her keynote speech.

Check our Dr. Small's Envioneer blog at the following link to see a slideshow of our STEM Club students. I am extremely proud of them!

http://www.successforeducators.com/?view=entry&ID=125

Like Our WeatherSTEM Facebook Page!

We are in a competition to see which school's WeatherSTEM page can get the most likes. Help us out if you are a Facebook member. Like our page and SHARE with your friends! The school to get the most likes wins a prize!

Click here to like our Springwood WeatherSTEM page on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Springwood-Elementary-School-Weatherstem/1379437779036447

WTXL

We had so much fun on the WTXL Field Trip! We learned a lot about how our local news is brought to us. The best part, of course, was being the the actual studio, and learning all about the weather!

We met several news anchors and got to hang out with meteorologist Max Tsaparis. We learned all about the green screen, and how a weatherman can never wear green, or else the map will show right through his shirt! We learned about different types of clouds, and how a weather forecast is put together.

We learned from anchors Kellie and Jade about their schedules, and how a news program is put together.  The group had tons of questions, about what happens when there is breaking news, a crime, how many hours they work (Kelly gets up at 2 AM to prepare for the news), and why they love their jobs.

We also got to take a sneak peek at the control room to see how the show is formatted. The Springwood in the Morning Crew was in the newsroom while we were in the control room, and had no clue we were watching them the whole time! It was pretty funny!

Check out a few pictures. As I get more in from chaperones and from our tour guide, I'll post those as well. A huge shout out to all of our chaperones! You guys were awesome!

WTXL Field Trip

This is just a reminder we will travel to Midway to WTXL Studios tomorrow. Please remember to bring a packed lunch and wear your old STEM Shirt (members from last year) or a Springwood shirt. 

It appears it may rain tomorrow, so we may end up having our picnic lunch here at the school instead of the park. We will play it by ear. If we end up eating at school, we will have our picnic lunch in the media center with our Springwood in the Morning Crew.

I'm excited for tomorrow!

Building Our Kano Computer

STEM Club TShirt

Check out our new TShirt design. Shirts are $7 each. Parents, you are welcome to purchase one as well if you would like one for chaperoning field trips or for school-wide events.

Orders are due February 6th!

Anti-Smoking Presentation

At our last meeting, Tar Wars visited our classroom. We have all heard smoking is bad for us, but we got an in-depth presentation just how bad! We learned about all the chemicals that are found in cigarettes, found out how expensive smoking is (the students had big plans for what they could spend their money on versus cigarettes), learned about the dangers of other tobacco products, and saw some very gruesome pictures of what smoking can do to your body.

We then went outside and were each given a straw. We had to hold our noses and walk around with the straw in our mouths. Then we ran in place. This activity demonstrated how difficult it can be to breathe after years of smoking. 

Paper Airplanes

Most of the time, making paper airplanes and flying them at school is a big no no! But in STEM Club, we just use the excuse that we are putting our engineering skills to the test! Club members designed and created paper planes. They tested and modified their creations to try to make the plane that would travel the furthest. At the end of our meeting, the students lined up and flew their planes. Omari was the competition winner!