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Steam Lab

May 2023

Steam Lab May 2023

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New Addition

Our Lady Bug Garden just arrived and the larve are no bigger than the speck on Horton Hears A Who. We are excited to watch the lifecyle of the lady bug unfold this spring!

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Peter Rabbit

Kindergarten enjoyed the story of Peter Rabbit. Centers included creating a Bunny Burst art project with pastels and building a fence around Mr. McGregor's garden to keep Peter out of danger.
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Energizing Everything!

Fourth grade is in their Energy Unit. This week students explored the world of collisions and energy transfer using marbles. This lesson is a precursor to our final project this year, a chain reaction machine!
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The Farm Comes To STEAM

Coop races are so much fun! Drop an egg in and watch it roll down the shoot. The one with the most eggs in thier basket wins!
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Sheering The Sheep

In this fun farm unit, students learn the importance of farms and how farm animals provide us with many things! Sheering the sheep provides wool for clothing and more!
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Feeding Livestock

Cows! Pigs! ..and Sheep! Oh my!

Draw a card to see how many scoops of feed your livestock needs to grow big and strong! A farmer's work is never done.

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Pollination Stations

Grade 1-3 are learning all about the plant world. Starting with seed dispersal, pollination and the plant life cycle. Through these lessons, students learn just how important bees and other pollinators are to our planet. 2nd grade will be planting corn in the upcoming weeks to test how well a plant can grow under different conditions.
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Dart Diaries

Lunch with Dart is always a treat. She reminds us to always eat your greens!
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Seeds! Seeds! Seeds!

Students investigate the mystery of the koa tree, a type of tree that grows in only two places—islands halfway across the world from one another. In the activity, students develop three different physical models of seed structures. They observe how structure affects the seed’s function in dispersing away from the tree. Then, they use these observations to evaluate whether koa seeds are likely dispersed by wind, water, or animals. Added bonus that teachers volunteered to be the tree!


This Month In Steam

Grade Level Units For April

4th Grade: Energy

3rd Grade: Animal and Plant Life Cycles (cont.)

2nd Grade: Animal and Plant Diversities (cont.)

1st Grade: Animal Traits and Survival (cont)

Kindergarten: Earth

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How to get involved

If you would like to help STEAM donations are accepted. Things the lab uses that you might consider donating are jars, tubs with lids,( any size) disinfectant wipes, paper plates, ziplock bags or tubs (all sizes) glue sticks, washable markers, recylcables, gently used toys or games.

If you love to shop the STEAM LAB Amazon Wishlist is randomly updated with items to choose from. You may ship directly to school or have your student drop off items in the donation tub.

As always thanks for your support! It it greatly appreciated!

Email: jyates@usd266.com
Website: https://www.usd266.com/VES
Phone: 316-722-0266

As we close out this school year...

As the year comes to an end,. I would like to personally thank everyone who has donated items or their time to STEAM. It takes a lot of work to run such an awesome program and I am surrounded by the best support circle there is! A huge thank you to our administration for allowing me to grow and develop my biggest and sometimes craziest ideas. To the para staff who help with production every week and watch dogs who come in to help run centers. Thank you to VES PTO you guys are so good to me and always willing to help! Last but not least, thank you to the teachers who have been such great mentors to me in this journey. Each of you have been a huge part of making STEAM a success. I am proud to say that our district has decided to make STEAM a district wide thing and has already hired teachers to run labs across the district. I have spent a lot of time with the new STEAM TEAM and I am thrilled to see this program grow. The new STEAM teachers are going to bring a lot of exciting ideas to the table. I am happy to announce that the teacher who will be taking over the VES STEAM lab next year is Melissa Love. She will be a great addition to our school! STEAM has allowed me to really experience what teaching is all about. It really is all about the kids. The growth I have seen this year in our lab is incredible. I live for the ah-ha moments students have when they figure out how to solve a problem. I really can’t say enough about how this program impacts the lives of our students every time they walk through the lab door. I will still be around the lab with Mrs. Love next year while I work on my own education at WSU! Enjoy your summer break and I will see you next August!


“I have the potential to do great things!

Work hard, play hard to achieve my dreams!

Full STEAM ahead!!!!”


Signing off,

Mrs. Yates