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S.T.E.M Update for Term 2

This term has been incredibly busy for the students as we have tried to pack in as much learning as we can along with making, creating, showing and presenting.

In the junior school, (Prep, Grade 1 and Grade 2) we have continued with our seasons and severe weather work. The preps completed 4 weeks worth on the seasons and finished the unit of with creating a collage representing Spring. All of the classes then started looking at our Outer Space Unit learning about visiting the moon, orbiting the sun and the 8 major planets of our solar system. (I'm a traditionalist and would love to include Pluto as well). The preps made vehicles and objects we might find in space and a small selection are included below (as many preps love to take their work home). The Preps also build a space city which will be able for viewing in the Art, STEM and Talent show in Term 3.

The Grade 1s and the Grade 2s worked on a picture of the 8 planet solar system. I attempted to teach an old mnemonic phrase to the kids but I think it was too out dated

Mercury Venus Earth         Mars     Jupiter Saturn           Uranus Neptune

Many      Vile     Earthlings Munch Jam      Sandwiches Under Newspaper

The Grade 2s also looked at a video of the size of our solar system to other stars and black holes which created a lot of "ooooohs, aaaaahs and brooooo!" comments.

Then they filmed their weather reports on the green screen and started using capcut and imovie to insert backgrounds and effects. This was the first time we have done this (although Joel has been also teaching the skills in Performing Arts) and the amount of learning for everyone, including me, was amazing. (Alas photos do not include the finished videos as they are still being worked on).

The Grade 3-4 and Grade 5-6 also started looking at the solar system, but in increasingly more details such as orbits of the planets, Goldilock zone and planet classification. I tried hard to stress the difference between a sun, a moon and a planet. We also started a new(ish) coding program called Scratch. It also uses block coding to create programs just liek code.org but has a lot more variety with sprites, effects and sounds. Unfortunately the students had to create their own log in to use scratch which meant a lot of forgotten usernames and passwords as the site is world wide. Grade 3-4 researched constellations and created their own star viewer whilst the 5-6s started their major project of representing 'something' from the solar system. There were a lot of painted planet models but some groups really pushed the brief and thought about attention to detail as well as movement and presentation.

Grade 3-4 Constellation Viewers and Coding Session.

Grade 3-4 Natural Diaster Builds

A few examples of the Grade 5-6  solar system work which is still under creation.

Finally, the Grade 3-4s started their big design for Term 2 and Term 3. In collaboration with Mrs Buffinton in ART - we are creating catapults that can fire paint pellets to create an piece of Art in the style of Jackson Pollock. This brave endeavour will continue into Term 3, as we had a STEM delay with the arrival of much needed building supplies.