Homeschool Review Crew - Tied 2 Teaching STEM Activities

At our house, we have two children who pretty much live and breath STEM, or in my daughter's case - STEAM which adds the arts to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, so I was thrilled to get a chance to review STEM Activities, Full Year of Challenges with Close Reading from Tied 2 Teaching.

What is STEM Activities, Full Year of Challenges with Close Reading from Tied 2 Teaching?

So, here's how it works. Basically, I received access to several PDFs. I selected which ones I wanted to view, one at a time. Once you open the PDF, the first section that appears is the Design Challenge Reading section which asks the student questions based on a reading section. They can get to the reading section one of three ways: Scan the QR code, click on the link provided, or visit Wonderopolis.org and search for the topic. The next section is the Design Challenge where the student is given a challenge using specific items to build or create or solve a problem. The student is then taken through the steps of:

Ask
Imagine
Plan
Create
Improve

There are sheets that you can print out and the child fills in as they go along that help them document the process, including testing and improving. These pages give the student the opportunity to write or draw and to document in various ways.

Each month, the STEM activities material contains holiday themed and seasonal themed projects. For instance, February had Valentine's Day, President's Day, and Black History Month projects. March had Dr. Seuss-related hat design project, St. Pat's Day, and basketball-themed work. The idea is to do about one project a week to cover a full year.

How Did We Use It?

I first took a look at everything to decide which projects would work best for us. I then began selecting projects based on holidays. For instance, my daughter designed a hat for a cat to celebrate Dr. Seuss, and I went through the Rainbow Bridge one in honor of St. Pat's Day. Obviously, not every day is a holiday, so I also gave her the choice to decide from a few that would interest her and/or those that corresponded with topics we were already studying.

What Did We Think?

This was really fun! I love the hands-on aspect of it and also was happy that they provided sheets for scientific documentation to spur thought and action and learning along the way. We also really enjoyed the website we were sent to for all of the reading, how they include Wonder Words and a little quiz at the end as well. It was a really aesthetically pleasing site and easy to navigate, filled with very easy-to-understand and factual information.

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