At Grandview, the STEM curriculum is highlighted by our quarterly STEM webs. Our curriculum webs were highlighted in our original certification five years ago, and since that time our teachers have worked to adjust and grow these webs, sharing the concepts with teachers and principals from around the state. Each web includes an overarching science standard with math, ELA, social studies, and computer science components incorporated. Community partners and hands-on field trips are also incorporated into each web to enrich the experience that the students have for each quarter. Grandview also implements the corporation-wide computer science curriculum which includes a STEM challenge with productive technology for every grade level, a district-wide 4th Grade Maker Challenge, and a district-wide 6th Grade Programming Challenge. With all of these curricular pieces in place and required by all students, Grandview's STEM curriculum is robust, equitable, and sustainable.
Teachers create and revise grade-level STEM webs on a yearly basis to ensure connections to IDOE Academic and Employability Standards while taking advantage of the benefits of corporation-adopted and approved curriculum. Grandview teachers combine tools and materials from evidence-based programs such as FOSS Science, Bridges Math, and Fountas & Pinnell Reading with technology-based resources such as Mystery Science, Nearpod, Newsela and Learn360 to deliver all content areas integrated through the Lens of STEM.
Students work together across grade levels to complete activities on code.org for Hour of Code. All grade levels participate in Digital Citizenship curriculum, and sixth grade students complete a coding and app creation project using Scratch that was developed in collaboration with Indiana University.
Soft skills are a necessity for every student's future success. At Grandview, all students participate in Social Emotional Learning lessons. Teachers incorporate SEL and Employability Skills into their units as they focus on problem solving, group collaboration, and communication.
Grandview teachers collaborate regularly with Special Education and English Language Learner (ELL) Teachers to ensure all students have access to quality STEM education experiences. General Education teachers take advantage of students' 1:1 technology resources including things such as digital Spanish textbooks and Immersive Reader capabilities to meet the needs of every learner.
Grandview teachers use a combination of unobtrusive assessments to gauge student learning that include rubrics, exit tickets, and curricular assessment tools in addition to corporation-provided common formative and summative tech-enhanced assessments.