Farmers Market Fact Cards

With these educational cards developed by KidsGardening.org and Dick and Jane Educational Snacks, K–8 students play matching games and other activities to learn more about what they eat, local foods, and how they grow. The printable card set contains more than 40 food item cards from categories such as fruits, vegetables, grains, seeds, fungi, legumes, and whole-food sweeteners. Each card features a photograph of the food item on the front and two garden-related facts about the item on the back. For example, reading the Sunflower Seeds card, students learn that “Sunflower blossoms face East when the Sun rises in the morning and change orientation as it moves in the sky” and “Each sunflower can have as many as 1,000 to 2,000 seeds.” The set includes ideas for using the cards in the classroom, such as for a matching activity, part of a garden scavenger hunt, or as a guessing game to identify a mystery food item. Learn more here: (LINK)

Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Science Trade Book Educator Guides

Build K–5 students’ science and literacy skills with these science trade book–based Educator Guides. Versioned for two grade levels (K–2, 3–5), the guides engage students in close reading of an exemplary science trade book and can inspire meaningful learning about topics such as life cycles, habitats, and conservation through various hands-on activities. For example, after reading An Egg Is Quiet by Diann Aston (2014), K–2 students design and paint eggs that can be camouflaged in their schoolyard; make nests from found natural materials; and view footage from live nest cams to observe an authentic birds’ nesting season in the wild. Older students (grades 3–5) explore migration, wing shape, flight, and more through the book Animals in Flight by Steven Jenkins and Robin Page (2005). This book’s guide features standards-based student activities such as making paper birds with different wing types and testing them to observe variations in flight (e.g., how far each bird flies, its flight pattern, how long it stays up, and so on) and comparing the rates of wing beats of different bird species, then trying to match the birds’ rate by flapping themselves.

Access the K–2 guides at https://www.birds.cornell.edu/k12/books-and-activities-k2/ and the guides for grades 3–5 at https://www.birds.cornell.edu/k12/book-activities-2/.

STEM Resources at National Museum of the American Indian

The multimedia educational resources from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (NAMI) offer a variety of interdisciplinary, science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)–related resources and lessons for all ages. "Inka Engineering and the Q'eswachaka Bridge" (grades 5–8) is an informational poster (available in both English and Spanish-language versions) that introduces students to the Inka Empire and the Great Inka Road system. Accompanying classroom activities emphasize the cultural significance of Q’eswachaka while teaching students about engineering concepts of tension and compression and providing hands-on experience in testing the load capacity of two bridge designs: plank and suspension.

Another resource, Maya Skies: Calendars, Seasons, and Time (grades 4–8), presents games and a bilingual (English-Spanish) website featuring text and videos about Mayan culture and people, their mathematics, calendars, and astronomy. And K–12 students can participate in the Learning to Look and Object Investigation. In this activity, which includes an accompanying student worksheet, students carefully examine a Native American artifact from the NAMI’s online collection using a four-step approach. Students first “Look” at the object and create a sketch. Second, students “Notice” the object by recording details about it, such as its color, shape, size, materials, weight, texture, and scent. Third, students “Wonder” about the object, recording what else they want to know about it. Last, students “Connect” to the object by recording the ways in which the object relates to their own life.

Learn more here: (LINK)

Kansas Science and Engineering Fair

While the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) have implemented 8 Science and Engineering Practices; we know that there is still merit in students (especially elementary students) going through opportunities to discuss and conduct scietific thinking. Did you know that Kansas has a Science and Engineering Fair that happens every spring? Science fairs are a great opportunity to promote cross curricular learning as students write their reports and practice their speaking and learning skills. It is also a GREAT opportunity to build their elementary IPS portfolios. Learn more about the Kansas fair here (Link) and please reach out if I can help with this in any way.

National Park Service Educator Resources

The National Park Service offers thousands of lesson plans and other educational resources for K–college audiences to explore the unique environments of National Parks in the classroom. The resources address core subject areas, including science, and feature lesson plans, activities, labs, and more developed by educators at park sites around the country. The lesson plans provide opportunities for students to learn more about our National Parks even if they are unable to visit a particular site in person. For example, the lesson “Fishy Business” Don’t Let It Loose (grades 5–8) from the Everglades National Park, uses role play to teach students about the effects of an exotic species on an ecosystem. Another lesson, Carrying Capacity and Bears in Alaska (grades 9–12), from the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, develops critical-thinking skills as students read, research, and analyze data to explain why, within the same ecosystem and park, bears might choose one location over the other. Teachers can select various parameters (e.g., resource type, location, subject, grade range, learning standard) to search the database for resources that meet their specific instructional needs. Learn more here: (LINK)

The American Rocketry Challenge’s STEM Innovation Grants

The American Rocketry Challenge gives middle and high school students the opportunity to design, build, and launch model rockets and hands-on experience solving engineering problems. This year, 25 STEM Innovation Grants are available for eligible teams. Previously known as Title I grants, these grants are created for teams from school-wide designated Title I schools who are interested in competing in the American Rocketry Challenge for the first time.

STEM Innovation grantees receive

• Free registration for the first year. (Your team will also be eligible to compete in Presentation and Marketing Competitions.);

• A $2,000 grant, with additional funding available if your team qualifies for the National Finals in Washington, D.C.; and

• A rocketry starter kit, with information on everything your team needs to know about how to create a rocketry team.

Your team will be paired with mentors from the National Association of Rocketry and one of the challenge’s education partners. These mentors will make a commitment to help your team with rocketry and provide a deeper understanding of the career options in the aerospace industry. Applications will close on December 1 or when all the scholarships have been distributed, whichever comes first. Learn more here: (LINK)

STEM Resources at National Museum of the American Indian

The multimedia educational resources from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (NAMI) offer a variety of interdisciplinary, science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)–related resources and lessons for all ages. "Inka Engineering and the Q'eswachaka Bridge" (grades 5–8) is an informational poster (available in both English and Spanish-language versions) that introduces students to the Inka Empire and the Great Inka Road system. Accompanying classroom activities emphasize the cultural significance of Q’eswachaka while teaching students about engineering concepts of tension and compression and providing hands-on experience in testing the load capacity of two bridge designs: plank and suspension.

Learn more here: (LINK)

Effective Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs can save schools money while creating a healthier school environment for everyone! Join us at 4:00 PM on Thursday, December 8, for a free webinar on the basics of IPM and benefits of using this approach to pest management at school and childcare facilities.

Register Here Today!

During this 1-hour session, you’ll learn about IPM from Frannie Miller, Pesticide Safety and IPM Coordinator for K-State Research & Extension, and hear from representatives of Kansas and Missouri Green Schools Programs about their new, easy to use guidance focused on advancing IPM efforts in schools!

Who should attend? School and childcare facility custodians, facility managers, administrators, and educators interested in creating a healthier indoor and outdoor environment for staff and students.

Register today at https://bit.ly/IPMinSchools, and share this message with your networks.

Shari Wilson, M.A. has been working on a transdisciplinary curriculum focused on supporting middle and high school students as change agents to increase biocultural diversity on school grounds. I am happy to say that it is nearly ready for review! Teachers, curriculum directors and those without classrooms but who serve middle or high school students, teachers and preservice teachers are invited to participate as reviewers.

Schoobio is Shari's dissertation project for an Ed.D. in Educational Sustainability at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. By taking part in this curriculum, students will explore the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and apply them to their schools, understand the elements of an ecological school ground, take a biodiversity inventory of their school grounds, consider how the nature-culture connection is represented (or could be represented) on their school grounds, design their ideal bioculturally diverse school ground, and present their plan to school or community leaders. The curriculum is aligned to NGSS performance expectations.

Feedback received will be included in dissertation materials but most importantly used to improve the curriculum, which is intended for a global audience.Feel free to share with others who may be interested. For more information and questions, don't hesitate to contact Shari at sharilea51@gmail.com.

Click here to learn more and participate: https://forms.gle/wyMTuWPkUAYeG1e39

Applications are now open for the Cosmosphere’s LaunchLearning Fellowship Program. This unique opportunity is available to K-12 science teachers (including elementary teachers who teach multiple subjects). During our first year of the program, we:

• Hosted a teacher-training session with current Kansas astronaut Nick Hague.

• Provided a STEM summer camp experience that taught teachers to create an experiment package in their classrooms that will be tested on a rocket.

• Provided lessons, activities, and videos for use in the classroom.

• Provided classes with chances to meet SR-71 pilots, Shuttle astronaut Dan Tani and Shuttle astronaut John Herrington during educational events at the Cosmosphere.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg. We are looking for teachers in Kansas to join the Fellowship. It doesn’t matter if you are currently a member of the LaunchLearning program.

• To find out more information about the LaunchLearning Fellowship, Click HERE.

• To apply to be a LaunchLearning Fellow, Click HERE.

Applications are due by January 4th. If you have questions, please email them to schools@cosmo.org.

Join us for FREE virtual STEMIEFest 2022 on Thursday, December 8, 2022 from 12 pm to 4 pm EST. STEMIEFest is a gathering of early childhood/early childhood special education professionals and faculty, families, STEM industry members, and more to engage in innovative and inclusive early STEM learning experiences. This year’s STEMIEFest will look different from previous years. Instead of a multi-day celebration in one week, we have a one-day event that will be followed by a series of targeted professional development opportunities in 2023 . Registration details will be out within the next week, so look out for it!

If you are new to STEMIEFest, you may check out our archives from 2020 and 2021: https://stemie.fpg.unc.edu/stemiefest

Without prairie dogs, we would have no prairie. These fuzzy little mammals are an integral part of the ecosystem and shape the way of life for many other animals (over 200 in fact). Join Nicole Brown from the local educational nonprofit, Grassland Groupies, to learn more about their complicated language, social system, and just how important they are to prairies.

Join us at the next science cafe for food, drinks, and science!

"A Love Letter to Prairie Dogs"

Speaker: Nicole Brown

Tuesday, December 13th at 7:00pm

Social Tap Drinkery, 4510 E 19th St N, Wichita Kansas

Learn more or follow along for other sessions here (LINK)

Robotics with Isabella Vera Sandak-Lewin

December 7, 1pm Eastern

Isabella Sandak-Lewin is a scientist applying her knowledge to create medical technologies for the better health of society. She is currently studying her masters in biotechnology at the University of Cambridge and earned her undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from King’s College London. Her research has spanned from designing cheap 3D printable prosthetics, to building robots enabling ultra-precise surgical procedures. More recently, she is working on making nanoparticles that can both diagnose and treat cancer. Her favourite part about being a scientist is the treasure chest of tools and opportunities it provides to make a tangible impact in our world! When she’s not doing research, Izzy loves to make people smile through her dancing – be it performing on stage or having a boogie with friends in her room!

Wednesday December 7th at 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific, we're going to be talking about Robotics!

These sessions are livestreamed Q&As. We'll start by introducing who the scientist is, what they do, and why they like it. Then we focus on your group's questions!

RSVP HERE

To help prepare new teachers and coaches for the 2023 Kansas KidWind Challenge, the Kansas Energy Program has scheduled the following six wind energy teacher workshops across the state. There is no cost to attend! Each person attending the workshop will receive a substitute stipend (if necessary), reimbursement for mileage to/from the workshop and your school, lunch, and a Vernier KidWind Basic Wind Experiment Kit (valued at $129). Learn more about KidWind with this quick overview video.

KidWind Challenges

• Southwest Regional (Dodge City) – Feb 14, 2023 (Tue)

• Northwest Regional (Oakley) – Feb 16, 2023 (Thu)

• Northeast Regional (Overland Park) – Feb 21, 2023 (Tue)

• Southcentral Regional (Hutchinson) – Feb 23, 2023 (Thu)

• Northcentral Regional (Manhattan) – Feb 28, 2023 (Tue)

• Southeast Regional (Burlington) – Mar 03, 2023 (Fri)

• State (Topeka) – Mar 25, 2023 (Sat)