As a repeat winner of the Thomas Edison STEM award, the school strives each year to be better than the last in its STEM education offerings and lessons...
STEM Learning at St. Mary’s
As a repeat winner of the Thomas Edison STEM award, the school strives each year to be better than the last in its STEM education offerings and lessons. From the preschool through the junior high, fall experiments and activities are taking over the school.
Back in the day, preschoolers may count pumpkins and talk about their color during group activities, but in Mrs. Rowan’s 3-year-old class, the students were making pumpkin volcanoes and discussing physical transformations.
Preschool student Landon Kase said, “It exploded just like a real volcano.”
The students made observations about the combinations of ingredients and their reactions. They even took it a step further to make a ghost out of the air put off by their experiment.
In Mrs. Lisachenko’s first-grade class, students worked on construction projects using candy corn. Each building team worked on design techniques to create the tallest structure they could.
First-grader Amelia Lawrence said, “We used unifix cubes to measure who had the tallest and table five got 10.”
Meanwhile, in the junior high, catapults are being built for the upcoming Punpkin Chuckin contest, which will take place on Halloween. Seventh- and eighth-grade students worked together in teams to build what they believe to be the catapult that will launch a pumpkin the farthest. There will be five entries in the competition and each will be judged for the distance it sends a pumpkin, style and presentation as well as the largest impact on the pumpkin.
Eighth-grader Colin Gillespie has his bets on his team’s catapult the Galaxy Narwhal. He said, “It’s the best built and the biggest.”
Each group was able to submit a design and materials list and spent a day on construction and design with the help of some parent volunteers. The whole school is excited to see the competition and their designs in action.
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Mrs. Rowan’s 3-year-old preschoolers investigate pumpkin volcanoes.
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First-graders Amelia Lawrence, Jason Sotkovsky and Aubrey Yeager build towers out of candy corn.
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St. Mary junior high students Grayce Young, Shea Finger and Isabella Cerimele work together to build a catapult for the Punpkin Chuckin contest.
