STEM

STEM Classes begin in Kindergarten and go through sixth grade and then again in eighth grade. In grades K-4 students meet once a week for forty minutes. In grades five and six, students meet daily for a marking period and in grade eight, for a trimester.

Computer Science begins in Kindergarten where students learn computing programming with coding robots using either computers or iPads to program the robots. Students in grades K-2 begin with the BlueBot robots while students in grades 3 and 4 work primarily with Ozobots and the Dash Robot. Students in grades 5 and 6 also work with Ozobots as well as the Cue Robot. The elementary students also learn block coding through programs such as Tynker, Kodable, and Code Monkey to name a few. In addition, K-6 students learn about the engineering design process using electrical circuits as well as other plugged an unplugged activities. Students also receive formal keyboarding instruction beginning in grade two and through grade 6. All elementary students learn to use productivity applications such as Google Apps to help support classroom use of technology.

The program in eighth grade builds on the elementary program with more advanced units on the engineering design process, computer programming with the EV3 robots and Microbits, and app development using the MIT App Inventor program.

In addition, the topics of digital citizenship and Internet safety are stressed throughout the year at all levels.