This is one of my favorite parts of the school year. We're in the swing of things, my kids and I have developed a relationship, and we get to start all the fun stuff. Last year, I shared some of my favorite Halloween read-alouds. This year, I took a couple of those favorite Halloween stories, and a couple of new ones, and created some STEM challenges to go with them.
After reading Room on the Broom, kids create their own broom that can fit the witch, her cat, and her cauldron. The broom needs to be strong enough to hold the weighted-down pieces, and yet made of lightweight materials.
In the Haunted House is a fun book with a lilting rhyme. Kids enjoy seeing the spooky things inside the house and then building their own haunted house.
Walter's Wonderful Web is a book I stumbled across this year for the first time. I originally purchased it for my two-year-old, because of the subtitle which says "A first book about shapes". However, it doesn't come across as "babyish" and I have no qualms about reading it to my first graders. It is a charming story about a determined spider trying over and over to build a strong web. The kids then try making webs in various geometric shapes to see which one is the strongest.
The Big Pumpkin is a fun story about a pumpkin that is too big to be moved. What better way to follow up this story than by engineering a machine to move a pumpkin?
Speaking of pumpkins, we recently finished up a week of pumpkin science and investigation with this fun writing prompt and craftivity. As much as I love crafts, it is important to me that they be purposeful. This one met that criteria perfectly! After writing about pumpkins, the kids create a 3D pumpkin mini-book which has pages about the life cycle, the interior of the pumpkin, and sensory words to describe the pumpkin.
Find the Halloween Storybook STEM here in my store or here on TPT.
Find the Pumpkin Science Craftivity here in my store or here on TPT.
Do you love fall activities in the classroom as much as I do? I would love to hear your favorite!
Keep teaching with heart and passion!
No comments:
Post a Comment