May 17th ~ A Whole Summer Filled with STEMin Fun!

Howdy all! Summer is quickly approaching and I wanted to quickly give an update on some exciting programming coming your way from TRA STEM! 

Firstly, let me remind you in addition to this blog, TRA STEM has a Facebook page, YouTube page, and Website filled with fun, hands on, and STEMulating activities and experiments! The links to these great resources can be found here:


I encourage you to follow the links above and check out our resources for yourself!

This summer, we are releasing weekly STEM activities and videos on our Facebook page! Mondays and Fridays are STEM Bucket List releases with a count-up to our 20 top bucket list items we want to explore all summer long! 

Wednesday's have become our STEMin Vids release days! We will premiere vids that were produced by our STEM team and partners that vary on topics from engineering to mathematics and gardening to tree ID! Of course, many more videos can be found on our YouTube channel, and we hope you will take the time to explore them! 


I also want to encourage our local audiences to participate in the Montrose Library Districts summer reading program! The library will be handing out weekly reading packets for all ages with a book and activity packet! We submitted a few STEM ideas for the packets this summer and are excited to see how they are utilized by our community! You do need to sign up to participate - do it here! Montrose Library Summer Reading Program! 

Final Summer Tip - Be involved! I'm so thankful we are not shut in this summer and encourage you to go out and make the most of your summertime! Get outside, imagine, create, experiment, and enjoy your friends and family! 

This summer you won't see any updated STEM Blogs because I will be out on maternity leave! Baby Jed is expected to arrive any day now and our family could not be more thrilled! 

So until August, I will say adieu (French meaning a heartfelt goodbye!) for now and I look forward to STEMin with you again in the fall!  


I am a STEM/k12 Educator with Colorado State University Extension. I love working with youth and encouraging them to participate in many forms of hand on education! Overall, our goal is to promote positive youth development and encourage youth to pursue higher education after high school.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dec 10th ~ Why Home Economics?

Image
 Soap Box Time! One of the things I think that we've lost in public education is the Home Economics training that so many young people need to function properly as adults. When I was in school, we were taught how to cook and clean, how to mend things rather than toss them away, and how to balance a check book. Today in our 'test score %' society, it's hard to find that old fashion education in any of the curriculum books. And I find that really disturbing since it's many of these basic skills that we depend upon daily to function. However, thankfully I'm not the only one this concerns. Many educators still offer such classes and learning opportunities for youth to gain these skills. One such group is located in Delta, Colorado. Two Tuesday afternoons a month, a group of middle and high school girls get together with their 3 head instructors for what they call Life Skills training. From the creation of their squad, they have covered a plethora o...
Read more

The History Behind the Holiday ~ April Fools

Image
Original Story from History.com April Fools’ Day, occurring on April 1 each year, has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, though its exact origins remain a mystery. April Fools' Day traditions include playing hoaxes or practical jokes on others, often yelling “April Fools!” at the end to clue in the subject of the April Fools' Day prank. While its exact history is shrouded in mystery, the embrace of April Fools' Day jokes by the media and major brands has ensured the unofficial holiday’s long life. Example of the Julian Calendar Some historians speculate that April Fools ’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the council of Trent in 1563. In the Julian calendar, as in the Hindu calendar, the New Year began with the spring equinox around April 1.  People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued ...
Read more

Jan 21st ~ Measuring at the Meniscus!

Image
The New Year is here and Problem Based Learning projects (PBL's) are once again shaping up for schools in our community. This time around, we are back with Oak Grove Elementary School to work with 4th graders. I won't give away their PBL question, but they are learning how a rain gauge works and will be collecting precipitation rates all semester with the CoCoRaHS Rain Gauge donated to their school. Our (Dr. Barbara Shaw and myself) first visit was to both introduce the PBL question and to teach kids how to measure liquids in graduated cylinders, beakers, and the rain gauge. The first step when measuring water is knowing that water has adhesive properties, meaning it likes to cling to surfaces. This can be seen when you pour water into a glass container and then meet the surface at eye level. What do you see? Probably something similar to the example below. Example of water in a glass measuring container. Where do you measure when it is a curve? Water will curve (...
Read more