STEAM

STEAM Donations

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated recycled materials to the STEAM program so far. It is appreciated so much! I am still looking for tin cans, tissue boxes, plastic bottles and paper towel rolls (not toilet paper rolls). If you have any of those items, please drop them off in the STEAM donation box at the top of the ramp next to the STEAM room.

Foundation

We are coming to the end of our Digisign unit were we have combined digital technologies and design technologies to create stories. Students created a simple story to tie in with what they had been learning about narratives in the classroom. We chose the actor who would play out this story (a bee bot robot) and turned them into their character by decorating bee bot jackets. Students then had the choice of building the setting of their story out of Lego or recycled materials as part of our design technologies learning. They then coded their bee bot to act out their story as part of their digital technologies learning. I was blown away at how creative students were when building. They each had a very clear vision of what they wanted their sets to look like and were very independent in the execution. Please keep an eye out for students stories on that will be posted on Seesaw over the next couple of weeks. Below you will find some examples of these stories:

1/2s

Last term, we did a lot of learning around sound and how it is made as well as objects, materials and properties. We are now bringing all of this knowledge together in a design technologies unit of work. Students were given the chance to create whatever they wanted from recycled materials. They were encouraged to choose their materials carefully so that the properties matched what they were making. We had lots of creative ideas from clothing, houses to dragons heads and potion kits. We are now going to bring all of this learning into focus when students make musical instruments. They will be following the design process of Define (understand the problem), Plan (imagine and draw), Create (build) and Evaluate (review and refine). 

3/4s

We have been super busy getting ready for the school concert in STEAM. The 3/4 students have been tasked to create all of the props for the entire a show. It's a big ask but they have risen to the challenge. Students started out in the Define stage of the design process by understanding what props were necessary for the script. They then chose one prop per group and planned it out by drawing labelled diagrams and writing out steps they would take in the Planning stage. We have been busy in the Create phase since then. There has been sawing, screwing, hot glue gunning, cardboard and mess! But overall there has been great focus, collaboration, problem solving and motivation. I can't wait for you to all see the final product in our school production. 

5/6s

Students ended last term by creating their earthquake proof towers using all of the strategies they discovered in their research. They were also given a budget for the resources they could use creating a realistic constraint onto their creations. We have had to put a hold on the creations as time was quickly sneaking up on us. We have shifted gears and are now focussing on digital technologies. Students are making animated backdrops that will be projected behind our characters onstage during our whole school concert. Students use AI image generators to find suitable images to set the scene. They learned that in order to get the exact image they wanted, they needed to be very clear in the instructions they gave AI and include a lot of description. We uploaded these images into the block coding program Scratch. Students are now bringing these scenes to life by creating animations using block coding. We can't wait for you to see them on the night.