Real-world experts are invited to speak and collaborate on STEAM projects at Fairforest throughout the year to help students connect their learning to the outside world. Whether these experiences happen in-person or virtually, the connections students make with stakeholders in our community are an integral part of our students' STEAM experiences. (Examples: Michelin virtual visits, meteorologist interviews, and our Hub City Farmers' Market visitors)

In celebration of D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) Day 2021, Fairforest second grade students created a digital book shop for all students in our school to enjoy. Students interviewed a local bookshop manager (above), built computation skills in order to help their customers "purchase" books, collected student-created texts from all grade levels, and collaborated to create a final presentation that they shared with the entire school. The students even wrote persuasive letters to the principal asking for cookies and juice on D.E.A.R. Day so all FES students were provided with an authentic bookshop experience, just like Barnes & Noble.

In preparation for the 2020 presidential election, students in all grade levels researched topics related to their social studies standards and completed various projects to share what they had learned. The school also held a school-wide election for students to vote for their favorite cookie. The elected cookie was distributed for all students to enjoy the following day. Click HERE to see our Facebook Post about the event and the wining cookie.

As Fairforest prepares for major additions to our building, our first and third grade students made connections between the geotechnical exploration taking place on our campus and their earth science standards. Students observed the soil drilling around our school, enjoyed a Q and A session with a local civil engineer (above), and explored a simulation of the geotechnial exploration process by surveying and observing cookie composition.

All students at Fairofrest have the opportunity to participate in filming our school-wide news show, FES News. While producing the news with their homeroom class, students work to develop communication and problem-solving skills, all while learning about the technology that makes broadcasts possible - both in class and in the real world. For information on how our news project expanded as a result of the pandemic, click HERE. To view a recent episode of FES News, click HERE.

To provide 5th grade students with additional STEAM extensions, students have the opporutnity to participate in morning clubs that focus on coding, theatre, yearbook publication, engineering, band, or orchestra. These clubs meet twice each week, during the school day, enabling all 5th grade students to participate in the activity of their choice, while developing and applying STEM/STEAM skills and practices.

Thanks to our "Growing Green at FES" grant, Fairforest students experience the planting and harvesting process each season while at school. (Example: 1 and 2) The garden is also a valuable resource for extension activities, such as examining soil samples and hosting our own farmers' market in partnership with the Hub City Farmers Market.

As an extention of our STEAM program, students in our older special education classes created Big Heart Snack Cart, which is a weekly business that sells and delivers snacks to Fairforest faculty and staff members. Through this project, students develop important life skills, such as counting and managing money and interacting professionally with customers.

Teachers work collaboratively to create and utilize a variety of rubrics for student performances and project-based work. Rubrics are developed with the state standards as a guide and allow students to receive feedback for work in progress, providing opportuniteis for revisions if needed.

Collaborative planning among Fairforest's teachers has led to more rigorous, common assessments on each grade level. Teachers plan content, format, and schedule of assessments before beginning a new unit to assist with pacing and to establish clear expectations for colleagues and students. Collaborative planning also ensures equity in terms of STEAM experiences and assessments from one classroom to the next.

Through our STEAM program, students are routinely encouraged to provide feedback to one another at the conclusion of a project or presentation as part of the vital reflection stage of the FES Design Process. Such practice allows students to share what they liked and/or wondered about a peer's work, building communication skills. Students are also encouraged to share their work even when it is still "in progress," as they can have much to gain from hearing their classmates' observations and questions while they are working through a challenge.

Fairforest Elementary School values feedback from our community partners, including parents, local buisinesses, and our volunteers from Michelin USA. (Examples: 1 and 2) Feedback from external stakeholders helps to guide our next steps in creating a high-quality STEAM program for our students. Community partners have many avenues in which to ask questions, offer suggestions and lead within our school, including in-person meetings, social media pages, surveys, and our bi-weekly family newsletter, The Fairforest Family Focus.

Fairforest family events, both in-person and virtual, are designed with an integrated STEAM and literacy focus in mind. These events provide our families with opportunities to learn about our instructional priorities as well as participate in activities similar to what their children are completing in class. Through engaging challenges with their children, families learn how Fairforest is helping students connect their learning across various content areas.

Special school-wide events, such as Fairforest's annual Grinchmas Day, integrate strong literacy practices with STEAM challenges for all students. We also capitlaize on opportunities to integrate authentic STEM/STEAM practices into school spirit day events and national holidays, such as our Farmers' Day Pumpkin Patch, D.E.A.R. Day, and Election Day.

Our arts-infused Hour of Code is a strong example of how our school works to not only integrate core content areas with science and math, but also through the visual and performing arts. Students used computational thinking to create works of visual art, used a graphic design app to create digital pictures, created symbols to represent a sequence of movements and rhythms, and coded Ozobots to perform well-known holiday songs.

Third grade's Carmen Sandiego-themed video projects are an example of how collaborative planning is utilized to create rigorous, cross-curricular units that integrate STEAM and social studies content. Students researched a location on Earth, guided by the South Carolina Social Studies College and Career-Ready Standards for geography and the South Carolina Science College and Career-Ready Standards on earth science. Students then wrote scripts about their location and filmed their videos using a green screen.

All instructional units are the result of collaborative planning among grade level teachers, the STEAM coordinator, literacy coach, and administration. Teachers and instructional leaders work together, using the state standards for literacy and science as the starting point for opportunities to integrate content. Units and activities are designed with a goal of incorporating real-life reading and writing "like a scientist," "like a mathematician," or "like a historian."

5th grade "Tiny House Projects" provided students with an incredible engineering challenge that integrated literacy through research, measurement and conversion skills. Students discovered what qualifies a house as "tiny," designed their own tiny homes, and worked collaboratively to build a full-sized tiny house out of cardboard.

FES 5th graders explored connections between math, social studies, and technology when they participated in the SC Stock Market Game in Spring 2021. Our students demonstrated amazing skills in all areas, as well as competence in student-driven learning experiences. FES students were awarded 1st, 2nd, AND 3rd place in the state!

Establishing a school-wide Design Process with common vocabulary that is understood and utilized by all students has drastically improved our STEM/STEAM curriculum organization. At the start of the school year, each grade level participates in a shared design challenge led by the STEAM coordinator. This helps familiarize students and any new teachers to the process. Teachers are also offered aditional, in-depth FES Design Process training provided by the STEAM coordinator and can request meetings throughout the year for support in planning deisgn process applicaitons for student-created projects in specific subject areas.

Fairforest's science scope and sequence has evolved to include a school-wide common topic of study each quarter. Each nine weeks, all students investigate the same "wonder question" as a school, allowing students to focus on the over-arching science topic and engage in conversations across classrooms and grade levels. For this year, our four "wonder questions" are: 1) Where do we find energy in our world? 2) How is our world changing? 3) What is our world/universe made of? 4) Who lives in our world? Grade level teachers and instructional leaders use these thematic "wonder questions" along with relevant science standards that support them to begin build integrated, project-based units and activities each quarter.

Weekly grade level planning meetings have been an integral part of our growth in curriculum organization. The consistent focus on standards, discussions on pacing and student needs, as well as sharing of ideas and resources ensure that we are working towards a common goal, as grade level teams and as an entire school.

Fairforest utilizes teacher surveys throughout the year to evaluate teacher morale, instruction, and support needed. This data helps guide our strategic management for neccessary instruction and support as well as identify areas of stregnths.

Fairforest's improvement in curriculum organization has also enabled teachers to form a clear picture of students’ learning and expectations from previous and future grade levels. This awareness allows along with our school-wide focus on specific science topics each nine weeks, allows our teachers to plan vertically as well as horizontally, reducing the amount of instructional overlap and increasing differentiation in STEAM experiences. This progression can be seen in our special FES News "meteorology reports," from Kindergarten, 2nd grade, and 4th grade.

Advancements in our STEAM program's curriculum structure has enabled Fairforest to clearly and consistently communicate and collaborate with community partners regarding our program's stregnths, areas for improvement, and needs. Our 13-year partnership with Michelin USA has continued to flourish even in the midst of the pandemic as we are able to schedule events and visits well in advance during times that will enhance our ongoing science focus. (Examples: 1, 2, and 3) We also have held meetings and trainings for specific volunteers who may need more guidance in terms of how to best serve a class or group of students.