STEM Archives - Teacher's Brain

5 Delightful Winter Activities to Bring Winter Fun Into Your Classroom

January 5, 2024 teachersbrain Teaching Tips, Winter

What is the best winter activity? The chilly season is not just a time for cozying up indoors; it’s an opportunity for our little learners to explore the wonders of winter through some delightful educational activities.

The weather is unpredictable, so you can’t always head outdoors. So having winter activities for students indoors on hand is a life-saver. Who says you have to go outside to do winter activities?!

Looking for winter activities for students? I have you covered!

Here are five winter-themed resources to do with your students this season.

Fun Back-to-School Activities After Winter Break | Winter Sports Activities

Be the teacher they remember with these engaging Winter Sports Activities! You will have plenty to do in writing, reading, math, and science! Kids will have a blast learning about winter sports, traditions, and symbols! The Winter Sports Interactive Notebook is included in this bundle! Check it out!

Back to School After Winter Break STEM Activities Winter Challenge | Ice Skating

This is a fun winter STEM activity to engage your students in using academic skills to solve real-world problems! This will enhance learning about winter sports during the Winter Olympics. Try this ice skating-themed activity where students will learn about ice skating, skates, magnets, number patterns, force, and motion while designing a magnetic ice skater that follows number patterns around a rink.

Winter Writing Activities and Crafts

Are you looking for some engaging winter writing center activities and crafts? I have you covered with these printables!

Winter Literacy Center activities are included in this download:

Adjectives printable
Discovering /ow/ sounds
My Snowman Came to Life Writing
Draw Yourself in a Snow Globe and Write about What to do if You Were Trapped
How to Start a Snowball Fight using Pictures and Transition Words Graphic Organizer
How to Start a Snowball Fight with a focus on the CLOSING
How to Start a Snowball Fight Finished
How to Build a Snowman Graphic Organizer
How to Build a Snowman Graphic Organizer
How to Build a Snowman with Transition Words
Intermediate Lined (How to Build a Snowman)
Primary Lined (How to Build a Snowman)
Build a Snowman PARTS (to actually build one on construction paper)
Winter Word Scramble (make words using Winter Snowman)
Draw a Snowman Steps (Pages 17 and 18)
Winter Sports Mini Book (Page 19)
Winter Sports Prompts (Pages 20 & 22)
Spin a Snowman Directions (Page 22)
Spinner (Page 23)
Draw and Write (Using the spinner game, Page 24)
Example of expected outcome (Page 25)
Rubric (Page 26)
Certificates (Page 27)
Example of Snow Globe Craftivity (Page 28)

After Winter Break Activity | Hot Chocolate Stand PBL | Project-Based Learning

Looking for a fun PBL to engage your students in using academic skills to solve real-world problems? Try this engaging two-week unit on how to make a successful Hot Cocoa stand. They will learn math skills, teamwork, build a model, design a hot chocolate stand, and end with a group presentation to entice investors to give them funding for their project.

Plus, project-based learning is a great way to incorporate standards!

Winter Penguin Math and Literacy Worksheets | Craft

Looking for some engaging activities and penguin themed printables to go along with your penguin unit? I have you covered with this packet! You’ll find links, printables for math and literacy, center ideas, crafts, home habitat projects and more. Check out the preview!

Looking for more winter activities? Check this out!

The Top 3 Benefits of STEM Activities in Elementary

November 3, 2023 teachersbrain Science, STEM, Teacher's Pay Teachers, Teaching Tips

Wondering about the benefits of STEM activities in elementary? You’re in the right place! If you know me, you know I love STEM activities and it’s so fun to see our young students light up when they are wrapped up and fully engaged in STEM learning.

What is STEM and why is it important?

STEM is essentially an integrated approach to learning that incorporates four key disciplines: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. These subjects are at the heart of many of the world’s most pressing challenges and exciting opportunities, so it’s important that we get our kiddos comfortable with it from an early age.

Here are some of the top benefits of STEM activities:

STEM Activities Foster Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving

STEM challenges are like brain-boosting exercises for our young learners. They help our students flex their thinking muscles by encouraging them to ask questions, explore solutions, and adapt their strategies when faced with hurdles. It’s all about honing those essential problem-solving skills that will serve them well in school and beyond.

Tip: To make this even more exciting, encourage your students to team up and work together. When they brainstorm and chat about their ideas, it can take their critical thinking skills to a whole new level!

Promotes a Love for Learning

Let’s make learning an adventure! STEM challenges turn the classroom into a place where students can have a blast while they learn. Children are naturally curious, and these activities tap into that curiosity. When kids are having fun, they’re more likely to remember what they’ve learned and develop a deep love for STEM subjects.

Tip: Choose challenges that match your students’ interests. Whether it’s building, experimenting, or exploring, let their passions lead the way. And don’t forget to weave in some fun stories and real-world examples to keep them engaged.

Builds Confidence and Resilience

Completing STEM challenges is a wonderful confidence booster! When students conquer obstacles and see their ideas come to life, they walk a little taller and believe in themselves, and what teacher wouldn’t love that?! Plus, they learn that mistakes are just stepping stones to success. That kind of resilience is a life skill that will stay with them long after they leave your classroom.

Tip: Celebrate every little success with your students. Emphasize the value of hard work and not giving up, even when things get tough. Encourage them to look back on their mistakes as opportunities to grow and do even better in the next challenge.

Looking for the perfect STEM challenge? Here are some super fun and engaging STEM challenges to try with your students:

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie STEM Challenge | Build a Mouse House

Be the teacher they remember with these engaging STEM Activities! Kids will have a blast learning about blueprints, floor plans, area, design, and writing while doing these activities! Use the book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff as a HOOK with this STEM activity! Check it out!

Apollo Lunar Module STEM Challenge

Are you looking for an engaging STEM Challenge to enhance your space unit or to teach how the first man landed on the moon? This is a great challenge for students to use materials to create a Lunar Lander module to test for a soft landing with their “shock absorbers.”

Building 2D & 3D Shapes Toothpick Cards, Activities and Challenges

Are you looking for some fun STEM ideas to incorporate into building math geometry skills with 2D and 3D Shapes? I have you covered with these Build A Shape Mats! Print and laminate. Students build it with toothpicks and molding dough (you can use marshmallows or gumdrops instead), count the toothpicks, sides, vertices, and trace the words!

I hope you love these activities and that your students have lots of fun with them! Looking for more tips for STEM learning? Check out my post here!

Creative Spring Activities for Kids That Students Will Love

March 24, 2023 teachersbrain Science, Teacher's Pay Teachers, Writing

Happy Spring!

This is such a wonderful time of year. The sun starts to shine again and flowers start to bloom. It’s definitely worth celebrating in the classroom. If you’re looking for spring activities for elementary students, you’re in the right place. I’m sharing some fun and engaging spring activities you can do with your students to welcome the season!

How do you celebrate spring with kids?

Whether you want to have a spring party with your students or just sprinkle some spring-themed activities into your lessons, these spring activities for school will get you started.

Planting: You can teach your students about plants and gardening by having them plant flowers or vegetables in the school garden or small pots in the classroom. This can be a fun and interactive way to teach kids about science and nature. For plant-themed resources, check out my resource here and here!
Nature Walk: Take a nature walk with your students and have them collect different types of flowers, leaves, and other items found in nature. Once back in the classroom, students can use these items to make art projects or create a nature journal.
Spring-themed Art Projects: There are many fun spring-themed art projects that you can do with your students, such as creating paper flowers, making spring-themed collages, or creating birdhouses or nests. Check out this adorable flower glasses craft!
Reading: Have students read spring-themed books and discuss the different aspects of spring, such as weather changes, new growth, and baby animals.
Science Experiments: You can do science experiments with your students, such as creating a rain gauge or exploring the different parts of a flower. Here is a fun resource to try!
Spring Poetry: Teach your students about poetry by having them write their own spring-themed poems. I love this fun and creative way to teach them about language and expression. Here’s a fun poetry resource to try!

These are all wonderful ideas, but my favorite activity is definitely my Spring-Themed Would You Rather resource.

This is a fun and creative way to get your students excited about writing. Would You Rather Prompts are great conversation starters, ice breakers, or writing prompts.

Use these interactive, editable Google Slides to easily have students show one or two fingers to share their choice. Then, they get to explain why they chose it by writing it out!

What is in this download?

53 Google Slides with a moveable highlighter to share your favorite or the class’s most popular choice.

50 Colorful WOULD YOU RATHER Slides
1 Digital Writing Prompt Paper
2 black and white ink-saving slides for handwriting practice

If you want to do this activity virtually, it’s totally possible and fun! Students can simply share a 1 or a 2 in the chatbox.

You can delete slides you don’t want to send to students and add your own directions or images to the sides of the slides to personalize. One of my favorite things about this resource is it can be used for any grade level!

Love this idea? I actually created it for every season too in this Seasonal Would You Rather Bundle.

You’ll get the spring resource plus the ones for summer, fall, and winter too!

What is in this download?

200+ Google Slides with a moveable highlighter to share your favorite or the class’s most popular choice.

This resource is great for virtual or in-person teaching

200+ Colorful Would You Rather Season-Themed Slides (Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer) 4 Resources Bundled
4 Digital Writing Prompt Paper
8 Black and White Ink-Saving Slides for Handwriting Practice.

Check it out here!

What are your favorite ways to celebrate spring in the classroom? Let me know in the comments!
Looking for more spring fun? Check out my post on Easter activities here!

Read Across America, Book Tastings and MARCH Lesson Plans

February 25, 2020 teachersbrain Dr. Seuss, Reading, St. Patrick's Day Ideas

Hello Teacher Brains!

I hope you all have ready for some March fun with your students! My dad would say, “Work hard and play hard.” So, before you hit Spring Break, let’s talk about a lot of work that has gone into helping to ease your workload, but still makes you look like you have been laboring 24/7!

No More Seuss?

Next week is Read Across America Week. Did you know that they are rebranding? The week is no longer limited to Dr. Seuss for the celebration. They even have a new logo that appeals to students of all ages, backgrounds and will celebrate a nation of diverse readers. Of course, who doesn’t enjoy dressing up like Dr. Seuss characters and serving green eggs and ham, but now the new theme is opening ideas for more activities and resources to encourage reading!

This brings me to my NEW baby! Okay, it’s not a human baby, but I birthed it! Lol

I loved the idea of doing a Book Tasting for the celebration, but I also love doing Escape Rooms. So, I made a resource to include both! Check it out! You just add books, plates and tablecloths to the celebration while students discover a challenge and work to beat the clock by “tasting” different book genres. The genres include non-fiction, fiction, biographies and poetry. There is a fun video to use at the beginning to HOOK your students. You can decorate your room simple with adding plates and table clothes or go all out making it a Harry Potter theme or Pizza restaurant. The sky’s the limit!

St. Patrick’s Day is coming up soon too! This is one of my favorite weeks with leprechaun footprints, glitter and messy rooms. Here are some of my favorite resources:

St. Patrick’s Day Escape the Room K-3

Leprechaun Headband (hilarious! The kids love this one!)

Rainbow Craft

How to Catch a Leprechaun Writing

The Paper Leprechaun Activity

Lucky Charms Sorting and Graphing

Leprechaun Unit with Writing and Crafts

Color by Sight Word St. Patrick’s Day Edition

NEW *****NEW****** NEW ******NEW ********NEW

If you Give a STEM Challenge! This is my new series of STEM activities that relate to Laura Numberoff books. She is one of my favorite authors. I was even LUCKY enough to meet her one time when I first began teaching. She inspired me to be a writer. I have two completed.

I f you Give a Mouse a Cookie has students reading the story and building a mouse house! This one is good for primary and intermediate students with different activities to differentiate in a SNAP.

If You Give a Pig A Pancake has student reading the story and building a treehouse for the pig’s brother. So much fun!

Do you need editable word wall templates? Well, I have you covered with this download. Just type your words in the text boxes provided, pick your favorite fonts and colors to match your room!

FIRST GRADE TEACHERS,

Check out the 120^th Day of School Mystery Escape Room!

I hope you all have a fantastic month! Make sure you are subscribe to my website newsletter so you can keep up with new releases, teacher-author courses and giveaways.

Sprinkling Lucky Fairy Dust on YOU so you can have a great month!

-Cindy