Wednesday, December 25, 2019

6 Winter Escape Rooms to Get You Through to Spring Break

Coming back after winter break is hard for both teachers and students. Everyone has gotten used to sleeping in and not following a set schedule. It's cold outside and no one wants to get out of their warm beds in the morning and face the elements to get to school.

One thing that helps ease back into the routine of school days (aside from lots of practice and refreshers on classroom procedures!) is to keep lessons fresh and exciting.

6 Winter Escape Rooms to Get You Through to Spring Break | Apples to Applique

My kids love doing escape rooms, and I love seeing them learn while having fun. A few weeks ago I had some of the clue envelopes stacked on my desk in preparation for a Christmas Around the World escape room; one of my students saw it and got super excited, then told the rest of the class we were "doing another one of those things". For the next couple of days, I had a few kids ask me multiple times a day if it was time to do the escape room. I've never had so many kids excited for a lesson as when I use the escape room format.

Thankfully, I have several escape rooms all ready to go to get us through the rest of the winter.

Escape the Arctic Tundra | Apples to Applique

First, there's Escape the Arctic Tundra, which focuses on syllables. While practicing with syllables, students also learn the names of various Arctic animals. (Get it here in my shop or here in my TPT store!)

Escape Room: Chinese New Year | Apples to Applique

Why should learning about holidays of other cultures stop with Christmas Around the World activities? Whether or not you and your community celebrate Chinese New Year, I always think it is wonderful for children to learn about special days that others celebrate. The skill focus for this escape room is comparing numbers, but students will also get to learn about symbols and customs of this holiday. (Find it here in my shop or here in my TPT store.)

Escape Room: Groundhog Day | Apples to Applique

Groundhog Day is always a fun day with young kids; the excitement of predicting, the reassurance that winter really won't last forever. It also makes a great time to talk about opposites, which is the focus of this Groundhog-Day themed escape room. (Grab it here in my shop or here in my TPT store.)

Escape Room: 100th Day of School | Apples to Applique

The 100th Day of School! A milestone worth celebrating. This escape room focuses on numbers to 100 (of course) with hundreds charts, ten-frames, and base-10 formats. (Get it here in my shop or here in my TPT store.)

Escape Room: Valentine's Day | Apples to Applique

Valentine's Day has always been a personal favorite of mine--mostly because it's also my birthday. As a kid, it was the perfect birthday. It wasn't a big enough holiday, like Christmas, to overshadow my birthday, but we always got to have a party day at school. This escape room gives students the chance to practice matching upper and lower case letters with puzzles, "I Have, Who Has?", write the room, and a cut and paste activity. (Find it here in my shop or here in my TPT store.)

Escape Room: Presidents Day | Apples to Applique

Presidents Day may be a minor one as far as holidays go, but it is important in the knowledge of history it bestows upon our students. The skill focus for this escape room is positional words, learned in the context of important American monuments. (Snag it here in my shop or here in my TPT store.)

Hopefully fun activities like these will make the winter fly by for you and your class, so you can get to spring break and warmer weather!

Happy Teaching!

Monday, December 16, 2019

Jack and the Beanstalk: A STEM Story

Jack and the Beanstalk: A STEM Story | Apples to Applique

If you haven't noticed, I'm becoming obsessed with STEM (see this post and this post). I love the open-ended problem-solving opportunities, which I think will be more and more vital as our society continues to advance. School is no longer about simply imparting knowledge; kids have Google for that. What they need are chances to utilize that knowledge, to collaborate, experiment, and problem-solve; time to reflect on what went well and what they could do better. STEM offers all of that--and, bonus, it's really fun!


My latest project that I'm super excited about is STEM Stories! There are lots of fairytale STEM activities out there, which involve reading a story and then completing a challenge inspired by the story. My twist on it is that the STEM challenges are woven throughout the tale, and actually influence the events in the story!

Jack and the Beanstalk: A STEM Story | Apples to Applique
Printed and bound, this book will last for years of STEM Story fun!

Jack and the Beanstalk is the first story I've finished, but I have several more in the works. This is my own unique rendition of the story, which starts out the same as the familiar tale, but then takes its own path. At three points in the story, it says "Stop for STEM". Students then complete a challenge, the outcome of which determines what happens next. The setup is similar to a choose-your-own-adventure story.

Jack and the Beanstalk: A STEM Story | Apples to Applique


Each challenge includes planning and reflection sheets so that students can think about their design and then process what went well, what didn't go well, and what they would do differently.

Jack and the Beanstalk: A STEM Story | Apples to Applique


If they successfully complete the challenge, the story continues in one way, and if they do not successfully complete the challenge, the story continues in a different way. The same kids could even complete the STEM Story more than once so that the have the chance to improve their designs and see different events unfold!

Jack and the Beanstalk: A STEM Story | Apples to Applique


The three challenges throughout the story can all be easily adapted for any elementary level. For younger students, you could provide a wider range of supplies and supports, and give them a longer time limit to complete challenges. For older students, you could increase the difficulty by adding more parameters, such as shorter time constraints or fewer supplies.

Jack and the Beanstalk: A STEM Story | Apples to Applique

I include suggestions of supplies, but you could use anything you have on hand! Customize it to the needs of your students! I prefer to set a few parameters to define the desired outcome, but leave the challenges open-ended other than that. I don't even show my students pictures of completed challenges, because I want them to be completely free to create and design, without any preconceived ideas of what their project should look like. I am always amazed at their creativity; they never fail to have ideas that are far beyond anything I would have thought of. I often wish I had had the opportunity to do more STEM projects as a child; I think it could have benefited me with a greater ability to think outside the box.

I love this merging of STEM and ELA; it is fun and engaging while also being purposeful. I hope you and your students enjoy it, too. I would love to hear how it goes for you!

Find Jack and the Beanstalk: A STEM Story here in my shop or here in my TPT store!

Happy Teaching!

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Christmas STEM: Design a Sleigh for Santa!

Note: This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase after clicking on one of my links, 
I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Christmas STEM Activity: Build a Sleigh for Santa! | Apples to Applique

I've shared before about how I love doing STEM in the classroom. I love how engaging it is, that it is hands-on 
for kids, and how they have to exercise their problem-solving skills and creativity. 

I really like it when I can connect a STEM activity to something we read. 
Anytime a lesson crosses different subjects, it gives kids a more complete, well-rounded educational experience. 
I came across a gem of a Christmas book recently, called The 12 Sleighs of Christmas
It's not a well-known read aloud, to my knowledge; none of my teacher friends have heard of it, anyway. 
It tells a cute story, in rollicking, rhyming text, about how Santa's sleigh needed repairs, so the elves took to 
building him all kinds of fancy new sleighs.

Christmas STEM Activity: Build a Sleigh for Santa! | Apples to Applique

At the conclusion of the story, I had my students work in pairs and design their own sleighs for Santa. 
I had them work with a partner because it provides invaluable opportunities for social emotional growth having 
to share and advocate for your own ideas, listen to the ideas of others, and to learn how to blend your ideas 
together for a result both parties are pleased with. For some of my students, this was the most valuable part of
the lesson. I had a few students who only wanted to work alone because learning to collaborate is difficult!

Christmas STEM Activity: Build a Sleigh for Santa! | Apples to Applique

I had them sketch their designs first (find the freebie here in my store!) and think about what supplies they would 
need. The only parameters I gave them for their designs was to use no more than about a foot of tape, which I tore 
off and gave to each group. (I've discovered in my STEM adventures that access to too much tape solves too many 
problems too easily and hinders creativity).
I just gave them cheap and recyclable materials, with the exception of these wheels, which are perfect to have on 
hand for these types of activities. 

Christmas STEM Activity: Build a Sleigh for Santa! | Apples to Applique

As usual, I was blown away by the work of my kiddos! The way they brought their ideas to life was amazing--and adorable.

Christmas STEM Activity: Build a Sleigh for Santa! | Apples to Applique
This student went with a car design


Christmas STEM Activity: Build a Sleigh for Santa! | Apples to Applique
This was a canoe, and the little balls of foil and tape inside were bags of toys.


Christmas STEM Activity: Build a Sleigh for Santa! | Apples to Applique
I loved the Santa and reindeer this team added to their sleigh


Christmas STEM Activity: Build a Sleigh for Santa! | Apples to Applique
This group included a magnet so they could pull the sleigh. Genius!


Christmas STEM Activity: Build a Sleigh for Santa! | Apples to Applique
I could not get over how adorable this was, with the Santa made of red craft sticks and the plastic-spoon reindeer harnessed to the front!
Christmas STEM Activity: Build a Sleigh for Santa! | Apples to Applique
This group included spoons to serve as a combination of runners and a snowplow!
This has been one of my favorite activities of the year, by far, and it was a favorite with the kids, too. 
I look forward to continuing this tradition every year. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. 
Don't forget to snag your free planning and response sheets here!

Happy Teaching!