Mrs. Allard's STEAM Lab's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 134

• Build a Beyond-Basic Curriculum Library With TPT - 1

  Funded Sep 21, 2021

  I want to express how grateful I am in being able to shop through the Teachers Pay Teachers website. The funding toward these gift cards gives me the opportunity to pick and choose activities and resources that work for my students, and at a pace that works for me.

  There are so many different things to choose from on Teachers Pay Teachers, and I enjoy going through and putting ones on my wishlist until I decide whether those resources will fit within our learning trajectory or not.

  Thanks so much for helping support my students during distance learning and beyond!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Allard's STEAM Lab

  This classroom project was brought to life by San Diego Gas & Electric and one other donor.

• STEAM Lab Engineering Design Notebook Basics - Second and Third

  Funded Sep 6, 2021

  My students are really excited about the opportunity to use these notebooks in place of our normal notebooks. I previewed them this week and they can't wait to get started using them.

  These books are perfect for the STEAM Lab because they are so versatile! No lines means more freedom for creativity without feeling that they MUST use the lines. Students will have the opportunity to draw, create engineering plans, draw science models, and more. If we do want to do some writing, we don't need lines - and for those that want them, we can insert a guide underneath the page.

  The books are also 100 pages, so we are also entertaining the idea of using them for two years in a row so they can look back at their previous years' work. Of course, we will have to play that by ear when we get to the end of this school year, but I do like the idea, and I think the students do also.

  Thank you for making sure that the students have the appropriate supplies in my classroom!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Allard's STEAM Lab

  This classroom project was brought to life by San Diego Gas & Electric and 3 other donors.

• STEAM Lab Engineering Design Notebook Basics - 4th and 5th

  Funded Sep 5, 2021

  My students are really excited about the opportunity to use these notebooks in place of our normal notebooks. I previewed them this week and they can't wait to get started using them.

  These books are perfect for the STEAM Lab because they are so versatile! No lines means more freedom for creativity without feeling that they MUST use the lines. Students will have the opportunity to draw, create engineering plans, draw science models, and more. If we do want to do some writing, we don't need lines - and for those that want them, we can insert a guide underneath the page.

  The books are also 100 pages, so we are also entertaining the idea of using them for two years in a row so they can look back at their previous years' work. Of course, we will have to play that by ear when we get to the end of this school year, but I do like the idea, and I think the students do also.

  Thank you for making sure that the students have the appropriate supplies in my classroom!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Allard's STEAM Lab

  This classroom project was brought to life by San Diego Gas & Electric and 4 other donors.

• Books for Hands-On STEM and STEAM Learning 1

  Funded Sep 1, 2021

  What better way to reach student thinking than be using picture books? Even as an adult, I still enjoy them! Over the past two years, I have been slowly collecting read aloud books to go with the lessons I teach. Many of them can be used for multiple purposes - growth mindset, as well as science, technology, engineering, art, or math concepts.

  Students enjoy these books, and it has become a part of our routine. I am looking forward to having a variety to choose from. We recently read two books by Peter Reynolds, The Dot and Ish. These books are about having a growth mindset, especially when it comes to art. There is an International Dot Day - students participate in community building by creating dot arts or dot projects. This is just one example of the impact these picture books will have in our school and classroom.

  Thank you for making helping to bring these books into my teaching.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Allard's STEAM Lab

  This classroom project was brought to life by San Diego Gas & Electric and 2 other donors.

• Hands-on STEM Observations With BiOrb

  Funded Sep 2, 2021

  The students are very excited to see the new BiOrb being set up. Right now it is filtering and the color changing light is glowing! We will be waiting to let the water filter for a few weeks before adding any fish. We may even use this time as part of our classroom work and research into which fish would be best to have in this environment.

  The BiOrb is actually bigger than I imagined! That is a good thing. More room for fish and more room for student viewing. The lighting has various color modes, and the filtration is very quiet compared to my previous fish tank. It looks beautiful.

  Thank you for helping to make this project happen for all of the students!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Allard's STEAM Lab

  This classroom project was brought to life by San Diego Gas & Electric and 4 other donors.

• STEM-Based Mobile Art Displays for Our Classroom

  Funded Sep 1, 2021

  The students are really excited to be working on this community-building project. My last group of students will be creating their designs today, and then we will work on shrinking and putting together their mobiles for display.

  This project is part of "International Dot Day". International Dot Day (September 15th, but we stretch it for the week for each class) was inspired by the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds. The Dot is about a child, Vashti, who is upset because they can't draw. After her teacher encourages her to just start with a dot, she then becomes confident and, in turn, helps another child to take a chance.

  By reading this book, we hope to inspire students to take a similar chance in the STEAM Lab and work on having a growth mindset rather than a fixed one.

  Each year I will be providing some sort of dot project to remind them.

  Thank you so much for helping make this project happen!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Allard's STEAM Lab

  This classroom project was brought to life by San Diego Gas & Electric and one other donor.

• Build Our Basics - Classroom Notebooking Supplies

  Funded Aug 1, 2021

  Students are very excited about some new tools to make their STEAM Lab notebooks come to life. We are getting read to embark on a new focus on writing at my school and these notebooking supplies will really help to spark the students' enthusiasm toward writing.

  Keeping a science notebook encourages students to record and reflect on inquiry-based observations, activities, investigations, and experiments. Science notebooks are also an excellent way for students to communicate their understanding of science concepts as well as share their design and engineering plans.

  Thank you for your generosity in supporting schools and classroom like mine!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Allard's STEAM Lab

  This classroom project was brought to life by Kleenex® Brand and 28 other donors.

• SOS: Save Our Screens!

  Funded May 22, 2021

  Towards the end of the year, my students had the opportunity to use our new tablets for an exploration in robotics and coding. We cleared a large space in the classroom by pushing our tables out of the way, and let our Dash robots loose in this space. The tablet covers were used not only to protect the screens of the tablets, but also to prop them up to make them easier to use and hold onto. Children from grades TK-5th all really got a kick of programming the robots to move across the floor. Without the tablet covers, I would have had to spend a majority of my time monitoring the handling of the technology rather than on the teaching and learning of coding.

  Thank you for helping to support my classroom and my students.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Allard's STEAM Lab

• STEAM On The Go: Utility Cart

  Funded Apr 7, 2021

  This cart is amazing, and don't know why I didn't think of getting one sooner! While my original thought for this project was that I would have to be doing a lot of teaching outside to accommodate more students, since I have a small bungalow. It is difficult to remain socially distanced with my largest classes in my room. The cart is very sturdy and has lots of room for supplies to bring with me.

  Fortunately, I was able to work out my classroom situation and do not have to rely on the cart, but it is useful nevertheless. We can bring supplies with us to do some exploration outside, and the children love it! It also serves as a location to store our snacks and lunches on the go as well.

  Thanks so much for helping out my classroom!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Allard's STEAM Lab

• Two Screens for Zoom in the Room

  Funded Mar 29, 2021

  This has been the year of all years! So many things to juggle when trying to teach online, and now we have returned to on campus but hybrid learning. Who would have know that teachers would be having to juggle so much and pushing themselves even farther than they had been before?!

  I want to thank the donors for making it possible to use two screens for teaching through the Zoom platform. The district-provided laptops have very small screens, which make it very difficult to see my students, and also to navigate teaching through Chrome and Zoom at the same time. Having two screens makes this infinitely easier, especially for my tired eyes!

  Thanks again for supporting teachers and students through this uncharted territory!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Allard's STEAM Lab

  This classroom project was brought to life by Two Screens for Teachers and 2 other donors.