STANDARD 7

Learners engage in self-directed STEM learning guided by professional staff members who are effective facilitators of learning.

Student Egg Drop and Lunar Rover Challenge

Alabama Science Standards: 5.6 Construct an explanation from evidence to illustrate that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed downward towards the center of Earth. 5.7 Design and conduct a test to modify the speed of a falling object due to gravity (e.g., constructing a parachute to keep an attached object from breaking).*

5th Grade teachers and students engaged in a project created by NASA Space Camp for Educators. This project was designed after the Google Lunar X-Prize mission that sent out a challenge to any privately funded team to design a Lunar Rover that would travel and land safely on the moon, have the rover travel at least 500 meters, and successfully transmit images back to Earth. Students took an approach to this of 1: designing a rover that would carry an "egg-stronaut" and 2: having the rover sit safely in a lunar lander to drop from at least 35 meters high. Students learned about gravity, launch forces, impact velocity, cushioning, and much more. Students watched historic rover landings on Mars to get research and ideas as well. Students were then split into design teams: Lunar Lander and Lunar Rover. Students designed a blueprint and were given a monetary budget to purchase supplies for each design. Then, the students worked to construct their designs and test them in the classrooms. On the final day, the Rover team put their egg-stronaut in the Rover, and then put the Rovers in the Landers. The Lander team climbed up the football stadium at MHS to drop the Lunar Landers. If the egg-stronaut survived, then the Rover team took the rovers out and rolled them down a ramp. Students calculated a winner based on unused credits for supplies, negative points for landing outside the landing zone, and bonus points for every inch the rovers traveled.

50s PBL-First Grade

Essential Question: “What was life like in the 1950s, and how are things different today?”

ALCOS Social Studies Standard #6: Compare ways individuals and groups in local communities and states lived in the past to how they lived today.

Throughout a 2 week period, students compared and contrasted the following: forms of communication, clothing, technology, recreation, and transportation. A gentleman brought his antique car for kids to see in person. Then students completed the engineering design process on how to make a car out of a box. Students ended the PBL with a 50s Day celebration on the 50th day of school. Students dressed in 50s clothes, played with hula hoops and jump ropes, chewed bubble gum to compete in a bubble blowing contest, drank coke floats, ate moon pies, and danced at a sock hop.

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STEAM Club Day

On Decemeber 14, 2022 the whole school participated in STEAM Club Day. During a one hour period, students rotated in missed groups within thier grade level to different STEAM themed stations. Many stations including engineering, the arts, math, science, and collaboration challenges. Teachers facilited different learning groups and studenst rotated to three different twenty minute stations.

STEAM Team goes Jurrassic!

At the Engaging Elementary Engineers Competition, the STEAM team had to utilize their collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and communication skills to design and build solutions to real world problems. Students applied thier knowledge of motion and force along with engineering and coding skills to compete against other schools from across the state of Alabama.

Long Leaf Legacy

On March 13, 2023 the Second Grade students at Munford Elementary worked in collaboration with the U.S. Forestry Service, Kronospan, Munford High School, and 4H to plant long leaf pines around the Munford Schools Campus. Students learned about the importance of long leaf pines to the ecosystem as well as about important conservation of native Alabama plant and wildlife. The long leaf pine is an important resource that grows in the state of Alabama.

Kindergarten PopCorn PBL

Kindergarten PopCorn PBL Photos

The kindergarten popcorn PBL event was started as a way to promote the Munford High School HarvestFest and to let students experience the cornfield planted on campus. All stations are about corn. From making cornmeal, games, crafts, books about corn, corn maze, eating popcorn and more. The stations were led by volunteers, high school SGA and Event Planning classes.

3rd Grade Native American PBL

The third grade at Munford Elementary School began 2024 wtih an hands-on learning and STEAM experiences provided by local experts, Phillip Ashlock and Taylor Collore, Archeologists with the U.S. Forest Service. In addition, Mr. Ponder, local townsman and board member, spoke to the third grade students on January 8, 2024. The topic the third graders are studying is Native American history using local artifacts and maps. You can check out all of their pictures by clicking here!

Read Across America Week

Read Across America Week at Munford Elementary School was a vibrant celebration of literacy and learning, engaging students in a variety of enriching activities that sparked their imagination and love for reading. Throughout the week, students participated in a host of exciting events, highlighting the joy and importance of literature in their lives.

One of the highlights of the week was the Vocabulary Parade, where students creatively showcased their understanding of words by dressing up as their favorite vocabulary words. This colorful parade not only encouraged students to expand their vocabulary but also fostered creativity and self-expression.

Adding to the excitement, guest readers from the middle and high school, as well as local leaders and representatives from the central office, visited the school to share their love of reading with the students. Their presence not only exposed students to a diverse range of reading role models but also reinforced the value of literacy in various aspects of life.

Moreover, reading activities were seamlessly integrated into STEAM and music lessons, providing students with interdisciplinary learning experiences that combined literacy with other core subjects. Through hands-on activities and projects, students explored the connections between reading and subjects like science, technology, engineering, art, and math, deepening their understanding of both literacy and STEM concepts.

Overall, Read Across America Week at Munford Elementary School was a resounding success, inspiring students to cultivate a lifelong love for reading while fostering creativity, critical thinking, and interdisciplinary learning. By engaging students in a variety of engaging activities and inviting guest readers from the community, the school created an enriching environment where the joy of reading was celebrated and cherished by all.

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