The Joy of Teaching

As a homeschooling parent, have you ever tried to make certain learning experiences not just enjoyable, meaningful, but unforgettable? I have the solution for you! As a former elementary school teacher turned homeschooling parent, I am constantly scouring online sites for captivating STEM lessons that my entire crew can take part in and walk away with feeling successful, knowledgeable and most importantly, a memory that will not be forgotten anytime soon.

I was excited for the opportunity to sample a STEM unit from Evan-Moor’s book: STEM Lessons and Challenges (available for grades 1–6.) My daughter and I decided to do a STEM challenge: “Build a Mousetrap” from the unit called “Simple Machines” in the grade 5 book.

STEM Lessons and Challenges provides 15 STEM challenges that are based on life, earth and physical science concepts. It’s available for grades 1–6.  I was surprised and delighted at how in-depth each unit went for every topic covered. Each unit includes:

• Directions, supply list and tips for completing a STEM project
• A reading passage about the concept taught
• Real-life examples with pictures
• A STEM challenge
• Design process worksheets
• Redesign worksheet

A side note on how we tested the mousetrap with a live mouse

When I discussed building a STEM mousetrap with my child, the only thing she wanted to know was if she could keep the mouse. (Note: every STEM lesson in STEM Lessons and Challenges goes through a testing phase. The mouse trap STEM challenge requires a live mouse in its test phase.) You can only imagine my reaction and answer to this question. Having previous experience with mice and knowing they multiply practically overnight, I quickly thought of a great “plan b” — enter the great people of PetSmart!

Before my child and I sat down to start brainstorming on what STEM ideas would be possibly capable of trapping a mouse, I called the manager at our local PetSmart and asked if we could possibly come into the store one day and “borrow” one of the mice to see if the assembled trap would work. Guaranteed, he is still laughing to this day from my phone call (and I’m sure the rest of the employees!), but I’m just a typical mom doing anything for their child, right? Or just going to great lengths to ensure something super small with a long tail does not make it back to the house…

Mouse Trap STEM Challenge: Planning stage

The mouse trap STEM unit for fifth grade from STEM Lessons and Challenges focuses on the science concept of “simple machines that move.”  After reading the informational passage and looking at the examples of moving machines from the STEM Lessons and Challenges unit, my daughter and I used the design worksheets included within the unit to sketch out ideas for building our mousetrap.

In the beginning stages of brainstorming our STEM trap, I was envisioning something involving a paper towel holder with a flap-like piece at one end that would be connected to a string and plastic fruit cup that would lower once the mouse would scurry through. She absolutely surprised me by declaring she was thinking of another route with taking a shoe box and cutting a whole in the middle to trap the mouse as it would try to cross over to get to the treat. I thought her approach might need more technical aspects ensuring the mouse would stay put once caught, but naturally there is nothing better than a child to prove to their parents that they are in fact correct and the parents are not!

My daughter was standing firm in her decision, so I thought what better way to decide which direction would be wiser than to run over to PetSmart and show the employees what she had created and asking if it would work. I AM SO HAPPY that we did this. They were incredibly patient with my daughter and explained to her how they would also glue walls to the sides of where the opening was cut since the mouse could possibly walk on the edges to get to the food.

Mousetrap STEM Challenge: Building Phase

Upon our arrival back home, she took another shoebox and literally shred the lid into two pieces for the walls. Hot gluing was the ideal way she thought to attach the walls, but for some reason they were not staying upright.  Masking tape was brought out and fixed the dilemma quickly. The trap was placed in a plastic tub ready to go!

Mousetrap STEM Challenge: Testing Phase

 If you are thinking of having your local pet store help with this STEM lesson by borrowing one of their furry friends, I highly suggest not going on the weekends. We opted to try it out on a Monday evening after dinner was finished. I had called ahead and the manager said it was the perfect time to head over. In all of the excitement, we almost left the house without the bait! We ended up bringing two in case the mouse was persnickety in their food options- a scoop of peanut butter and a handful of shredded Asiago cheese.

Upon our arrival, we set up shop right next to the containers and got the trap ready with the Asiago cheese first. I stood by (oh yes, there was going to be some distance from me and the mouse!) taking deep breaths, and got the camera ready to click away… and nothing! Turning in all directions possible, this little critter was stumped how to cross over to get to the cheese. My daughter quickly added the scoop of peanut butter, but the same result occurred, so the employees (we had three watching eagerly!) placed mouse #1 back in its home and brought out #2. This mouse must have been hungry smelling the tantalizing aroma of Asiago cheese and peanut butter mixed together because once it was placed in the container, it quickly fell in the trap and realized it could not get to the treat. My daughter was THRILLED!!!! The mouse was quickly picked up and placed on the one side of the shoe box to see what would happen a second time and the same thing happened again.

Mousetrap STEM Challenge: Redesign Phase

Every STEM challenge in STEM Lessons and Challenge has a redesign page included. This is a wonderful opportunity for your child to re-design a failed STEM challenge. Although we didn’t need to use this part of the unit on our mouse trap I really appreciate that it was included. One of the most important concepts behind STEM challenges is to see failure as part of the learning process. Allowing your child the opportunity to redesign a failed mousetrap is a wonderful learning opportunity that teaches him/her to embrace failure as a teaching tool and not as a negative outcome.

 This was a fantastic STEM lesson for my child and completely surprised me in how she went about planning her trap. I was so proud of her for believing in herself and not wanting my assistance with my ideas. To see your children accomplish something and to have it happen the way they envisioned, is so heartwarming for any parent. I am thankful for the assistance the PetSmart employees provided us as well! The best part for sure, no mice came home with us!!!

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and I highly encourage completing the STEM units from Evan-Moor’s STEM Lessons and Challenges, as it does not disappoint on making memories with your kiddos!

Try a free sample lesson from STEM Lessons and Challenges here. Each grade level provides a different STEM lesson. (Grade 5 is the Mousetrap STEM Lesson.) 

If you are interested in a homeschool STEM curriculum, Evan-Moor’s Homeschool STEM and Critical Thinking Bundle is 25% off right now! 

Best,
Emilie

Emilie H. is a former elementary school teacher who currently homeschools her children. She has a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education (K-5) and Learning and Behavior Disorders (K-12). She is very passionate about planning and mapping curriculum and creating meaningful experiences for her children!

I’m a former high school English teacher. I gave up that noble profession in favor of homeschooling my own children. They are now ages eight, six, and three, and we do our homeschooling inside and outside of our Tiny Home. We love doing school outside when the weather is nice—I have been known to sit on the cement patio with sidewalk chalk for all sorts of lessons and to send the children scurrying to find rocks and leaves and sticks to make patterns with. Hopscotch is great for learning skip-counting—and skipping! The challenge of helping our family thrive in 300 square feet while running their school as well is a delight to my creativity. The children get to experience a huge range of things because of the versatility of both homeschooling and the freedom not having house payments affords us. They are having a very diverse childhood, and loving it.

My sister-in-law sent me a copy of Evan-Moor’s kindergarten level Smart Start: STEM book. I looked it over, and each lesson seemed both to be a lot of fun and to encompass a variety of learning skills. They begin with some basic knowledge and vocabulary pertaining to the lesson and move into activities that cement the knowledge and reinforce skills, such as writing. From that point, the problem is presented in the form of a story; stories are awesome, and everyone knows that any good scientist needs a problem before he or she can begin devising a solution for it. The problem is then broken down into an experiment or challenge that the children need to conquer. Some of them are silly, and all of them are fun.

The first lesson I chose to do from Smart Start: STEM was “Trees Have Parts.” We had a bonus child with us that day, and everyone got involved in the lesson. We talked about trees, and everyone listed the parts of a tree they could think of. We read about what those parts do for the tree. We told stories about different trees, and even reminisced about an autumn color leaf walk we had gone on in the past. Each child took a turn answering the questions on the following pages—the three-year-olds needed a little more help than the older ones when it was time to trace the words. If someone looked like they were maybe going to answer incorrectly, the other children helped redirect them by asking them questions. It was a great example of cooperative learning. I was impressed. They don’t always behave that well during lessons.

We arrived at the problem story. (Each lesson from Smart Start: STEM includes a story with a problem.) My eight-year-old got into story-teller mode and read it to the younger ones. The people from Tree Town seem to know how to make sure apple trees grow, but they are impatient and want a tree now! Can my intrepid student scientists help them acquire one? (Happily, this doesn’t involve stealing someone’s full-grown tree and transplanting it. That would be the wrong lesson.) They are told that they need to stack plastic cups to make a tall tree that will hold an apple on the very top for at least ten seconds. The tree needs to be the tallest you can make, but you’ve only got thirty seconds to build it.

I decided to have them take turns building their trees—with only thirty seconds, I thought four children would get in one another’s way. My eight-year-old drew a semblance of a plan after we all talked about how it might work best to build the tree. My six-year-old began the building. He built a pyramid five cups wide at the base by four cups high. Sadly, just at thirty seconds, it fell over and never got to hold the apple. I had the pair of three-year-olds team up for the second round. They managed to make their tree four cups wide and four cups high. Their tree held the apple!

My eight-year-old wanted to try next. I whispered to her that she might want to try making multiple rows at the base to give the tree more support in its “roots.” Given thirty seconds, there’s not a lot that can be done, but her tree had two rows of five cups each at the base and was five rows high. It, too, held. By then, the younger kids had lost interest, but the elder two helped me finish writing up the results of our tests. Afterward, we had fun building cup trees for the apple to rest on without the constraint of a timer, and built some impressive specimens.

Everyone had fun, the parts of a tree were either learned or reinforced (and the roles each of those parts plays were discussed), those who needed it practiced writing (without explicitly telling them to), everyone began to get a grounding in the scientific method, and everyone felt like we were just playing. My kids didn’t take very long before they asked me when they could do another experiment. Overall, I’d say it was a very successful lesson, and I look forward to more educational play with Evan-Moor’s Smart Start: STEM activity book.

Try a free sample lesson from Smart Start STEM here.  

Check out Homeschool STEM Adventure: Building a Mouse Trap for STEM lessons for grades 1-6.

Kathrina E. Jones uses her teacher voice all the time. She used to use it in a high school English classroom, but about four years ago she stopped doing that in favor of homeschooling her three children. Either way, and even before she was in the classroom, she is (and always has been) a teacher. She falls into teaching mode with decided regularity, regardless of subject. Everywhere she goes, she finds something that the kids can learn about in one way or another. The family gets to go a lot of places because they live in a Tiny House (yes, the kind on wheels), where Kathrina teaches the kids, writes short stories and novels, sews occasionally, and hosts dinner parties for up to twelve people. Any more than twelve guests wouldn’t fit at their table. She is a dreamer with a ruthlessly practical streak, and regularly points at the door to send her children outside to play, because outside is a good thing.

Summer is right around the corner (don’t the kids do an excellent job reminding us of this?) and by that time, we all need a break from the normal routine! As a former elementary school teacher turned homeschooling mom, I firmly believe that it is vital for kiddos to have a break from their normal school routine during the summer (or if your child attends year-round), but to keep “one foot in the door” so that dreaded summer slide does not happen. And let me tell you from classroom experience, any teacher can easily tell who practiced facts, read books and touched base, on other subject areas over the summer.

It can be overwhelming to put together curriculum pieces for summertime, especially for parents. Sure, teachers can pull materials together in a snap because they know what they like and trust. Many times, parents do not know what direction to turn in and might consider any book that’s available. Well, like life, that’s not always the best way to approach it.

When I taught, I constantly had Evan-Moor books being rotated in my curriculum. Parents spoke highly of the work that was completed in the classroom and also sent home. Now as a homeschooling mom, I use many of their resources for my children and continue to have incredible success with them! Even though I keep a traditional school calendar with my children with the summer months not in session, I am adamant about keeping up with math facts, reading comprehension, and basic language arts applications. Instead of taking forever to compile materials for my kids, I wanted a book that had all of the content I desired so the kids could write in it and make it their own.

From a Teacher’s Point of View…

I was THRILLED when I received my Evan-Moor Daily Summer Activities workbooks in the mail. From a teacher’s perspective, these are the first things that I noticed and was most excited about:

• The workbook pages are not limited to one grade. They are formatted for what your child just completed and will be entering in the fall (many call this “rising”). Meaning it is not going to be material they are not familiar with; the intention is for a refresh and review instead!
• There are ten weeks of lessons included. This is perfect for the summer weeks, or, if your crew attends year-round school, the workbook can be a great resource for those stretches of time.
• There is an overview in the beginning to show parents which concepts will be covered each week. This is a lifesaver, especially for tutors using the book, so they know what areas they can expand on and extend lessons, whether more reinforcement was needed, or if the child just took to the topic extremely well (“light bulb moment!”).
• The curriculum is excellent, and the skills covered each week reach benchmarks and appropriate grade expectations. It is truly a one-stop shop where you can feel confident that you made the right choice.
• Each week comes with a reading log for 20 minutes of daily reading Monday through Friday. Can we say accountability?!
• Each workbook page is clearly labeled with which day it is to be completed on.
• There are stickers enclosed for encouragement!

Pacing and Completion of Book

Of course the first thing that parents think of is how long will this take my kids? How can I convince them to complete it? This is the great part; each day covers one workbook page that is front and back. As mentioned above, I want my kids to have a break during summer, but keep some of the essentials current during this time. The workbook can be completed anywhere, too! It is not limited to the kitchen table; you can easily get creative and have them complete it outside, underneath a homemade fort, or even in the car during a road trip. Completing these lessons every day will certainly help carry over previously learned material.

Expanding on Lessons

The books provide excellent opportunities to expand on many of the skills/topics featured. For instance, geography is a feature every week. Expand your Daily Summer Activities lessons with some hands-on activities that relate to the topics within your weekly lessons, such as:

• Poster board map: Use a piece of poster board to have your kids create their own map/map key of their choice!
• Geography research: Your child could easily research one of the countries featured in the book and create a tri-fold on that country’s facts and then try to cook something that locals eat.
• Handwriting practice: Whip out an old cookie sheet and spray shaving cream on it and have them practice on there. Other ideas include markers for windows, bathtub crayons, cotton swabs dipped in paint, and even the old-fashioned stick and sand!

What Did the Kids Say?

My crew was incredibly receptive to these workbooks! They loved the variety of assignments to be completed and never felt bored or tired of the work even though they knew what to expect. The layout of the pages was easy for them to follow and never caused frustration, which would never be the intent of a summer enrichment book. They were also pleased with how much work space was given so everything could be solved on the actual workbook page instead of having to use a separate piece of loose leaf paper. Naturally, the drawing pages were a huge hit!

In closing, the most valuable thing to remember when working with your child during the summer months is to make it enjoyable for all and make those special memories! I hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed writing it!

Best, Emilie

For an inside view of Daily Summer Activities, click here!

Emilie H. is a former elementary school teacher who currently homeschools her children. She has a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education (K-5) and Learning and Behavior Disorders (K-12). She is very passionate about planning and mapping curriculum and creating meaningful experiences for her children!

I am a former elementary school teacher (grades 2, 3, and 5) turned homeschooling mom. Regardless of which pedagogy homeschooling families use for their curriculum needs, we find ourselves utilizing many instructional resources, whether it be a workbook series or following a blog online for ideas and support. I am writing today to let you know how much (okay, I will admit I am obsessed with this workbook!) Evan-Moor’s Vocabulary Fundamentals workbook has been such a lifesaver AND key instructor for my curriculum instruction!

I have used Evan-Moor products for years, both in the classroom and home, too. They have always provided me with the materials I was looking for without having to create something on my own (which can be rewarding, but let’s be honest, no one has the time to do that for each lesson to be taught!). This is the first year that I have utilized this workbook, and I don’t know what I would do without it. I purchased it because of what the table of contents listed, but I did not realize the depth of the material until it arrived in the mail. If I was teaching in a classroom, I can guarantee I would be using it to supplement my curriculum. While this workbook is published for grades 1–6, and is fabulous for the younger primary grades, this vocabulary series shines like no other for grades 4–6.

Here Is Why:

• Synonyms, antonyms, and homophones are introduced in the early primary years, typically by first grade. This is essential for children’s language development and should not be put on the back burner as they progress in school years. This workbook for grades 4, 5, and 6 has an entire unit dedicated for synonyms, antonyms, homophones and even homographs. Can I say how wonderful this is?
  
  I will usually provide my child with task cards (that I have created) that focus on one of these topics and then continue the lesson with the review pages from the workbook. This works wonders for me to provide a floor activity with movement and then to wrap the lesson with a writing application such as the pages from the workbook.
• Figurative language for idioms is included! Figurative language can actually be really enjoyable to teach if you have a pre-determined plan on how you are going to get the kids to decipher between the different types of figurative language. I always provide laugh-worthy activities, so it is not always apparent that teaching/learning is taking place; I might have to change my plan of action if my kids read this! While these moments are great, I like to have some follow-up pages to ensure connections took place. My child was extremely receptive to the idiom section of the workbook and actually preferred solving the answers by color-coordinating the choices and answers!
• Root words are an entire unit! How many of us always wished we had learned Latin and Greek root words while still in school… Seeing that there was an entire section dedicated to this made me so happy! What an incredible opportunity we can provide our kids by introducing these words at a younger age for additional exposure. In addition to solving the workbook pages, we utilize the words by using index cards to review the meanings and other words that contain the root word being studied. Time permitting, we will play review games that I created on the index cards (can you tell by now I have a slight affection for the 3 X 5 cards?).
• Did I say prefixes and suffixes? Yes, I certainly did! My most favorite aspect of this workbook for grades 4, 5, and 6 is that there is an entire unit dedicated to prefixes and suffixes. When I taught second and third grades, phonics was my favorite subject to teach. The ideas for instruction were limitless, and the kids were always receptive because they fed off of my excitement and energy for the subject! I have always been a firm believer that phonics instruction should not end at second or third grade. Vocabulary Fundamentals provides two separate units chalk-full of review work for the most commonly used prefixes and suffixes. Just like I mentioned above, I prefer to have a kinesthetic activity or something that gets my child out of the chair so the work never seems redundant. To follow up with whichever prefix or suffix we are studying, the workbook pages provide excellent clarification for instructional time.
• Last, but not least, Word Play is found at the back of the workbook. Word Play is essentially workbook pages that focus on vocabulary words while presenting them in different types of puzzles to solve for enjoyment. This section of the book is an excellent extension work opportunity if your child completes his/her work early.

Sample kinesthetic activities to include with your vocabulary lessons:

Circle-Step Synonyms and Antonyms:
Get them outside with clipboards and their work or utilize chalk on the driveway if word repetition is in order! You can also take simple outdoor games and turn them into educational reviews such as circle-step. Write words that are being studied in your Vocabulary Fundamentals unit so every time they land on that word, they can say the word out loud. The kids can be challenged by asking to furnish a synonym or antonym or by putting the selected word in a sentence.

Singing: If we are learning a new phonics skill, many times I will create an anchor chart (a condensed version of a resourceful bulletin board), and we will sing the anchor chart’s information out loud.

3X5 Card Prefix Ladder: Write prefixes from Vocabulary Fundamentals and line cards in a ladder format on the floor. Practice saying words that start with that prefix, moving up the ladder with each word.  

By now, I am sure you get the picture on why I hold this workbook in such high regard! I highly suggest visiting Evan-Moor’s website and looking up the workbook to take a peek yourself. I hope reading this blog has provided help and insight for those who are looking for materials that are found in Vocabulary Fundamentals!

Wishing you the best in your homeschooling adventures,
Emilie

Emilie H. is a former elementary school teacher who currently homeschools her children. She has a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education (K-5) and Learning and Behavior Disorders (K-12). She is very passionate about planning and mapping curriculum and creating meaningful experiences for her children!