STEM K12 12: School/program provides high quality STEM courses and curriculum aligned to recognized standards and organized into interdisciplinary frameworks.

Impact Narrative:

Kelly Mill strives to embed a high-quality STEM curriculum with target standards and intentional design throughout grade levels. This occurs through instructional planning, specific programming, and teaching strategies that reach all learners through STEM. Our grade levels deconstruct standards and design STEM experiences for students with aligned content across domains. We have utilized multiple avenues to map and implement STEM, including school-wide RtI, special area classes in technology, science, and engineering, and a school-wide enrichment model (Wisdom Hour). Our school-wide recycling and Helping Hands program data serve multiple purposes, as data collected and aggregated by students connect the interdisciplinary frameworks of core STEM experiences while fostering curiosity, thinking, and how we affect the community with embedded STEM experiences.

We seek future outcomes from immersing students in reflection journals and emphasizing accountability in their STEM learning. Establishing and conveying a common language of the 5E model aligns with our goal of integrating evaluation and elaboration methodology into student ownership.     

Initiatives/Actions/Artifacts:

• Science Lab Notes

• Technology Lab

• STEM Planning

• Wisdom Hour Description

• Wisdom Hour Parent Letter

• Wisdom Hour Choices

• Wisdom Hour Planning

• 4th Grade Deconstructing Standards Example

• Recycling Data Collection

• Helping Hands Program

• Helping Hands Data

• Helping Hands Data Collection

• RTI

• Environmental Show Play