STEAM Stories Pre-K Activity Guide
NYSCI collaborated with a cohort of Mosaic Pre-K Center teachers in District 24 to co-design a series of STEAM-based activities to implement within Pre-K classrooms that would extend and enrich the existing Pre-K curriculum and highlight engineering design thinking through literacy. Each activity in the guide can be easily integrated into the typical Pre-K class day and uses a core framework that includes:
a read aloud story-time booked followed by a STEAM design challenge motivated by the plot or characters of the story to develop student vocabulary, reasoning skills, and empathy
tinkering and materials exploration to familiarize young learners with simple tools and the properties of different materials
making, testing and reiterating on their solutions to a STEAM design challenge to help a character from the story (developing engineering design thinking)
The development of each activity involves co-design and piloting within Pre-K classrooms, followed by modifications based on collective feedback from teachers before each activity is finalized, in order to ensure feasibility and sustainability within a classroom setting. Currently five lessons have been completed, along with six pre-engineering activities that help build fine motor skills to better prepare students for the STEAM-based challenges later in the school year. Three new lessons related to space science are currently being developed.
The complete activity guidebook (now in its second edition) is available at the link below.
The poster below describes the literacy-based framework used in each of the STEAM Stories Pre-K activities, and the process of developing the guidebook in collaboration with staff from Mosaic Pre-K Centers in District 24.
The STEAM Stories Pre-K Activity Guide was developed and iteratively revised with ongoing support from the New York City Department of Education.