STEM K12 9: School/program provides within-school and extra-curricular opportunities for students to extend STEM learning.

Impact Narrative:

Kelly Mill Elementary fosters an environment for all students to extend STEM learning. We opened in 2012 and have implemented school-wide STEM assemblies and STEM nights where families work together in different hands-on sessions. We offer after-school clubs during the school year. These include robotics, Science Olympiad, coding, math, and an environmental club. Staff host STEAM camps during the summer and produce STEAM musicals throughout the school year. Past drama productions included Blast Off and Dinosaur Dance Party. Our 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders participate in county and state TECH Fairs, where students present their technology projects and compete for awards. Students in 1st through 5th grades compete in the GA TECH Inventure contest and compete state-wide after inventing a new product using the Engineering Design Process.

Learning service projects currently align with our five tenets of KME. Our Pre-K-5 students engage with in-school and extra-curricular school activities through STEM. We participate in GA STEM Day through school-wide competitions and offer competitions, including The Toy Box Challenge and Sun Safety competitions. Our 2022 musical incorporates the arts with STEM, and a tech crew is designing the set and props. Kelly Mill also offers a recycling program for every grade and classroom. Students take pride in their leadership roles on this environmental team and seek opportunities to do things with it, including special field trips and presenting on the morning KME news.

Moving forward, Kelly Mill will reconnect with our community to offer in-person field trips and have STEM assemblies that we know are beneficial for all students. We will continue to provide clubs, competitions, and other opportunities. Our environmental club will continue to improve and adjust for quality and fidelity, and we look forward to renewing our in-person parent involvement.

Initiatives/Actions/Artifacts:

• STEM NIGHT: Announcement STEM NIGHT ROOM ASSIGNMENT

• Toy Box challenge (December 2017) and Sun Safety challenge (2018) competitions school wide Sun Safety Challenge (2018)

• STEM Summer Camps

• School-wide assemblies Animal Planet Dave Salmoni (2012), STEM Day Assembly 2017 STEM DAY ASSEMBLY

• ECO TEAM

• GA Tech

• Tech Fair (2013-current)

• STEAM musicals 2018 and 2019

• STEM Website- Presentation GAGC