Bear Exploration Center
Magnet Curriculum
2025-2026
Ms. Gibbons' Kindergarten Class
STEAM Teaching and Learning
Ms. Gibbons' Kindergarten Class
STEAM Teaching and Learning
Bear Exploration Center is a certified magnet and STEM school. We are committed to STEAM learning through all content and specialist areas. We implement a rigorous curriculum embedded in STEAM learning. Our STEAM focus supports our commitment to high expectations and academic excellence. This Google Site provides evidence of our commitment to STEAM learning to increase students' engagement and motivation for lifelong learning.
Magnet Schools of America
Bear is deedicated to fully embracing the five core pillars established by Magnet Schools of America, which are essential for fostering a comprehensive and enriching educational environment. The five pillars are: diversity, innovative curriculum and professional development, academic excellence, high quality instructional systems, and family and community partnerships. At Bear, we are unwavering in our commitment to improving teaching and learning by aligning with these pillars, ensuring a holistic and dynamic educational experience for all students.
Grade Level
Kindergarten
Content Area
Science, ELA, and Math
Standards:
Science
SC23.K.3 - Distinguish between living and nonliving things and verify what living things need to survive
ELA
K.COP.8d Identify the beginning, and end of a sentence by locating the capital letter and end punctuation.
K.C.23 With prompting and support, manipulate words and/or phrases to create simple sentences, including declarativ and interrogative, to help build syntactic awareness and comprehension at the sentence level.
K.W.33 Express ideas orally and ocnnect these ideas through drawing and emergent writing.
K.W.34 Print legibly, using proper pencil grip.
a. Print upper and lower case letters using proper approach strokes, letter formation, and line placement.
c. With prompting and support, use lower case letters in majority of writtebn work, using capital letters only when appropriate.
Math
K.M.17 Directly compare two objects with a measurable attribute in common to see which object has "more of" or "less of" and describe the difference.
MA.19.K.5 Count to answer "how many" questions.
We practiced our CVC words, segmented and blending, using our color coded apple cups!
Our classroom hallway displayed our STEAM learning through Anchor Charts, Math and Writing projects!
Objective: Students will investigate apples using their senses, explore the life cycle and external and internal anatomy, as well as apply math skills and writing skills to apple learning.
Directions: Students investigated apples for the month of September. Students measured apples, read and watched apple facts videos, learned the life cycle of apple trees and all its parts, taste-tested different apples and apple favored items, constructed a bar graph from our taste-test results, and created an artistic expression of apples on their own heads! We read the story: Ten Apples Up On Top! before choosing our number of apples individually to count, stack and write for our own visual presentations. We experimented with the question: Will an apple sink or float? After giving our predictions and reasoning, we tested it! Yes our first apple floated! This observation and answer lead to another question: Will other colors of apples besides red float too? So, we tested a green and yellow apple! Every apple we had in our room floated. In conclusion, we made the generalization from our experiments and observations that all apples float! We also discussed density and buoyance. We then gathered factual information about apples and constructed complete sentences to reflect our learning. Our hallway displayed much of our wonderful apple learning!
So much fun with apple learning!
Our red apple floated! But what about other types, sizes and colors?
We discovered that Yes! All apples float!!!
Tasting various food items with apple flavor. What did we like and not like? Trying new things is brave!
Assessing if your tastebuds are happy..... Most of us agreed! All things apples are delicious!