November 24, 2020 – CUSD 10 STREAM (Science Technology Reading Engineering Art Math) Specialist Kendra Stuppi assembled 1,800+ individual take-home kits for K-4 students to do experiments and learning activities at home.
This year’s COVID-19 public health crisis made the CUSD 10 STREAM Room a lonely place for Mrs. Stuppi, so she is finding new ways to bring her lessons and experiments to elementary students in our district.
The STREAM Room – located at Webster Elementary, but available to all CUSD 10 elementary students – houses an array of hands-on learning resources for teachers to borrow. It was designed for distance instruction, as well as in-person visits, so learning can take place at any school…and now, any student’s home.
Mrs. Stuppi and CUSD 10 Title I director Angie Schneidewind put their minds together to determine how the STREAM Room’s resources could benefit students in remote and hybrid learning this year. The result is individual at-home science kits containing instructions and materials to accomplish several experiments and activities.
The contents were purchased with Title I funds. Title I schools in the district received individually bagged kits with instructions and materials the day prior to Thanksgiving break; after break, non-Title schools will receive kits with printed instructions to perform the activities. The kits include four STEM activities and four science experiments.
Mrs. Stuppi – with some volunteer help – assembled each of the kits, including pre-measuring and sorting individual materials for the Title I kits. She organized each school’s kits into boxes labeled by classroom to make distribution effortless for teachers on the receiving end. The goal was to have the kits in student’s hands in time for cold weather and holiday breaks.
Virtual STREAM Room
Mrs. Stuppi has also created a Virtual STREAM Room filled with STEM based activities, art lessons, stories, virtual field trips and more – including video directions to go along with the at-home kit activities. Students and parents can visit the Virtual STREAM Room 24/7 and discover new lessons and fun things to do.
Here is a list of the experiments/activities and all the materials that are included in the kits:
STEM Activities:
- Origami creation
- Fly a paper airplane
- Recycle creations
- Straw rockets
- Build a catapult
- Create a parachute
Science experiments:
- Fireworks in a jar
- Balloon magic
- Dancing rice
- Melting rainbow