Franklin’s Lower School ended their day last Friday, October 5th with their first Friday STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Activity. During STEM Fridays students work within their multi-age house league groups (Ershig, Ferlin, Hess, and Kaiser) to solve a problem, design a prototype, recreate a biome, build a habitat, etc. within a period of limited time and supplies.
Last Friday the multiage house teams were brought together to first review the Core Commitments for Franklin, and to establish safety and behavior expectations during STEM lessons. The teams were then presented with the STEM Challenge – to work together to build the most realistic and creative elephant trunk utilizing the available materials. Each group received a detailed picture of an elephant trunk and had the opportunity to “window shop” the materials area to see what they could use before working together as a group.
Then the teams got to work…reflecting, collaborating, delegating, creating a plan and deciding how to budget their time and best utilize their materials. The students were excited and thoroughly engaged! The teams were brought back together in the gym to share their projects. It was interesting to see what the teams came up with! The teams applauded for each other and appreciated the creativity and teamwork that went into each project. It was a wonderful unifying experience for our school!
Are you interested in STEM? We need your helping hands! We need help with securing and preparing supplies, and/or assisting the teachers during the STEM lessons. We also need your clean recyclable materials such as paper towel rolls, toilet paper rolls, wrapping paper rolls, leftover wrapping paper, string, yarn, rope, clean tin foil, small plastic containers w/without lids, wire, etc. If you are not sure about a recyclable item, please email me at . We will have a large covered collection bin labeled STEM near the front entrance of the lower school once the Scholastic Book Fair has ended. Thank you in advance for your help and support!
