March Into Science and STEM ideas for Grades K-5

I feel so lucky to be able to teach science all day, everyday! I also feel lucky for my students because I can add STEM into our FOSS Science bins we have to use. So I thought I could share ways to have some special events or holiday fun, but also cover a science concept as your students engineer.

This is some projected March themes for my classroom and STEM Club and Science Room! I always try to make sure that we follow our FOSS road map, however there are lots of ways for me to add a little bit of the Science School Yard, too!

Kindergarten: Weather and Spring

Idea 1: predictions and graphing the weather
Idea 2: Oviparous Animals (Oviparous Animals Pack)
Idea 3: Seasons and The Earth and Sun (Seasons Science K-1 Pack)

Using our smartboard to show what we know about oviparous animals!

First Grade: Energy and Motion

We started our Motion portion of our lessons this week. As I started to create my road map, I noticed that St. Patrick's Day activities might be a perfect way to add some theme based motion ideas!

Idea 1: push and pull elevators (Motion Pack and STEM Velop St. Patrick's Day Pack)
Idea 2: push and pull cars
Idea 3: push and pull catapults

Milk Carton Cars with plastic wheels and straws...and a beanie baby along for a ride!

Wind Mazes...some blocks and pompoms!

2nd Grade: Weather and Air... In Like a Lion Out Like a Lamb

Idea 1: wind mazes (Wind Science Pack)
Idea 2: Wind Turbines/Wind Mills (Wind Science Pack)
Idea 3: Weather unit along with predictions

3rd Grade: Spring Is In The Air

Idea 1: STEM Egg Protectors (STEM Energy Pack)
Idea 2:  Energy: Hydro, Solar, and Wind (water wheels, Seasons and the sun, and Wind Powered cars)
Idea 3: Planting Seeds

4th grade: Human Body... March Madness

Idea 1: Prosthetic hand basketball game (Basketball STEM Pack)
Idea 2: Basketball Hoop and Catapult STEM and fraction connections by shooting hoops (Basketball STEM Pack)
Idea 3: March into Healthy Habits...reading food labels and learning about the digestive system (Heart Healthy Science Pack)

Prosthetic hand in use!

5th Grade: Mixtures and Solutions...Rainbows and Chemical Reactions

Idea 1: Food Coloring and Milk as well as Cranberry Juice with citric acid and baking soda...color changes and creating different colors in the rainbow
Idea 2: Chemical Reaction Boats...getting ready for spring (freebie alert)
Idea 3: Somewhere Over The Rainbow Catapult along with learning about concave and convex lenses and finding the colors of a rainbow  (STEM-Velop St. Patrick's Day Pack)

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Looking for Science ideas like these for March? Why not MARCH on over to the Science School Yard Store to find these packs and more!

Happy March, Friends! Sure hope it is out like a lamb!

STEM St. Patrick's Day Stations

It is finally March. I sure hope the snow starts to melt. We have over 30 inches of snow so spring can't come too soon! I am teaching an after school STEM class and one of my favorite times to teach this is right around ST. Patrick's Day where we can win with some hands-on pot-o-gold activities.

The first activity that we do is the Somewhere Over The Rainbow catapults! Giving my students the tongue depressors, rubber bands, and Yellow Pompoms along with rainbow patterns that they have to catapult over is a great "croquet" like game that becomes a fun competition.

The second activity that we love to do is the Pot-O-Gold Wall Maze. We give them toilet paper tubes, Paper towel tubes, and masking tape along with yellow pompoms and a cup with a pot-o-gold pattern / or pots of gold from the Dollar Store.

Pot-O-Gold Fun with Toilet paper tubes!

The fun part about this activity is that they get so excited to compete against other teams to see who can get to the pot of gold first. I always throw in they have to use the same amount of tubes as well as so many turns or changes of direction (usually 2-3) depending on the grade level.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow!

Up, Up Panda Away with pulleys!

With my older students I like to have them make pulley systems called Up Up Panda Way...our little St. Patrick's Day Panda's love the free ride...while the littles love to make Leprechaun hats to take home!

Shamrock Shakes in progress!

Ready to shake it up!

The finale...Shamrock Shakes! We make instruments and then play them along with a fun Irish jig! The kids love to dance along to it as well! Here is one of the jigs we play along to! Irish Jig found HERE!

Time for you to create some shenanigans with your students! Join the fun by developing STEM students with STEM-velops in envelopes, folders, packs, buckets...FIND the St. Patrick's Day Activities Today HERE!

Time For St. Patrick's Day Fun for everyone! Happy March, Friends! I hope you find your pot of gold!