1. collaborate with your peers by suggesting ways to get families involved in STEM either at home or in the school or center. Suggest at least three ideas your peers can use to link families to STEM. These can be activities, web resources, events, etc.

PEERS POST:

Hello Class-

My ideal stem classroom for preschoolers would have a big sensory water sand table and the room would have so many fun STEM areas for the kids to play and learn. My classroom would have a sand and water table. Tons of Stem item toys so that they get to experience everything. Then I would set up my lesson plan to have many times for them to experiment with those items and have so much fun. Creating fun and manageable space is a must when creating a room that has STEM play in it.

The activities for math, science, engineering, and technology that I have chosen are ones that I have in the past used in some of the rooms that I have taught.

Science: I would get a clear bucket or container and add water to it and while doing this I would talk about how a rain cloud works and then I would take the tub and fill it with water then take shaving cream and put that on top of the water and then take blue food coloring and start dripping it over the shaving cream and then the blue food coloring drips through and looks like rain falling from the clouds

Technology: I would take a sensory table and put sand in it and then add funnels and sisters and let the kids just explore how they are used and how the sand goes through them I may at some point add water and then have them try to explore through it and see how they feel about it.

Engineering: I would take small Lego’s and have the children explore with them and see what they can build like a tower or a house or just a building. I could also use popsicle sticks and glue and have them try to build something and let them tell me what they have built.

Math: I would take colored plastic bears and have containers set up for the children to find what color is what and what container that it goes in and then when finished they can add up each container and see how many bears are in each one of each color.

When I set up my classroom, I will make sure there are areas for dramatic play, manipulatives, math, and science area, Book area, language area a sensory area and just areas that are needed so that the children can learn and explore what they’re going to see when they are older. I am used to both NAEYC standards and state standards for the fact I have worked in a lot of daycare systems.

-Alicia

Jaruszewicz, C. (2019). Curriculum and methods for early childhood educators [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.uagc.edu/ (Links to an external site.)

Engineering for Kids. (2016, February 2). Why is STEM education so important? (Links to an external site.)

(Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)Retrieved from https://www.engineeringforkids.com/about/news/2016/february/why-is-stem-education-so-important-/