SMART Monsters For a S.T.E.M Win!
I have been feverishly getting my classroom ready for a brand new school year and at the center of it all are the SMART Technologies monsters. These 9, cute monsters will serve as the mascots for our S.T.E.M classroom this year. As a first grade teacher at a S.T.E.M focused elementary school, I love how each of these monsters stands for a 21st Century skill.
- Cristal: Accountability
- Sverre: Collaboration
- Lavalad: Adaptability
- Icebox: Critical Thinking
- Seesall: Initiative
- Bolly: Communication
- Hilfe: Leadership
- Dimitri: Digital Literacy
- LeeLo: Creativity
As I look at the upcoming year, I am thinking about how all of these skills will need to be fostered in my students so they can be successful. Integrating science, technology, engineering, and math throughout all subject areas does just that. When we stop thinking of subjects as silos and start working on how our standards can be intermixed, we can be more successful.
First Grade Entrepreneurs
One of my favorite units focuses on economics. Students learn about jobs, needs and wants, goods and services, and advertising through reading, writing, and math activities. I love how I can use my SMART Board with SMART Learning Suite Online to present the information that they will need. They can easily connect to my lessons with their own iPads and complete activities along with me and at the board. They love to play the SMART Labs that I add to lessons for sorting needs and wants or goods and services. And who wouldn't love to play Monster Quiz or Gameshow to review all that we have learned. These are engaging activities that make my teaching come to life. As a final culminating activity, they work with a team to create a product to sell in a Friends and Family Economics Sale. They use the Engineering Design Process to produce this item. It is such an amazing real world experience for them. They used the money they made last year to pay for a class field trip! When I look at all the 21st Century skills that the monsters stand for, this unit definitely encompasses all of them.
Wonder Projects
During our light and sound unit, I love to have the students dive into a wonder that they have. We call these our Wonder Projects (similar to a Genius Hour). Students have choice in what they are most interested in learning about. They spend about 5 weeks researching and planning. Then they work on how they are going to share their learning with the class. Last year, I had a number of students that wanted to use SMART Technologies to share what they knew. One student created a whole SMART Notebook file to present her information. Others chose to create a Monster Quiz and quizzed their classmates after presenting what they had found out. Can you see how Seesall, Hilfe, and LeeLo could be incorporated into these types of activities?
The Future....
This year, I am really excited to see how I can use SMART Learning Suite Online more with my students, especially Workspace. Workspace will be a great tool to allow my students to collaborate with their classmates in one space. I know this will be great for those engineering projects that require lots of group planning. With Workspace, teams will be able to share what there plans are at the board for everyone to see. Sverre, Bolly, and Lavalad are just a few monsters that come to mind!
