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Here is a video of a student learning how to make a sword out of paper via youtube.

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These are the kinds of brains we educating!!! How awesome is this #miched #edtech

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These are the kinds of brains we educating!!! How awesome is this #miched #edtech https://t.co/yl6tdv30SI

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These are the kinds of brains we educating!!! How awesome is this #miched #edtech pic.twitter.com/yl6tdv30SI
— Deedee Stasiak (@MissStasiak) November 29, 2016

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These are the kinds of brains we educating!!! How awesome is this #miched #edtech https://t.co/yl6tdv30SI

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These are the kinds of brains we educating!!! How awesome is this #miched #edtech https://t.co/yl6tdv30SI

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These are the kinds of brains we educating!!! How awesome is this #miched #edtech

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#geniushour

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To the Roller Coaster STEM Challenge :)

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This video is about Rollercoaster Challenge

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At the end of the 2016 school year, my first graders challenged our entire school to build a rollercoaster! Here is a K class who accepted.

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2016

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2016

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Cardboard Challenge craziness!! Another awesome year working with @SrtaTocco class! ❤️

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Cardboard Challenge craziness!! Another awesome year working with @SrtaTocco class! ❤️ https://t.co/CFtq4amjOf

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Cardboard Challenge craziness!! Another awesome year working with @SrtaTocco class! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/CFtq4amjOf
— Deedee Stasiak (@MissStasiak) November 18, 2016

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Cardboard Challenge craziness!! Another awesome year working with @SrtaTocco class! ❤️ https://t.co/CFtq4amjOf

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Cardboard Challenge craziness!! Another awesome year working with @SrtaTocco class! ❤️ https://t.co/CFtq4amjOf

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Cardboard Challenge craziness!! Another awesome year working with @SrtaTocco class! ❤️

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News Article

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School News Network | A Window into Your Public Schools

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Godfrey-Lee Public Schools students were challenged to think outside the box - and inside, under, over and through it.

Turns out, with a little thinking a plain-old cardboard box can become a skee-ball game, a claw machine that grabs candy or an amazing piece of art, like second-grader Andy Alvarez's huge robot. "Everybody says 'Wow!' " said Andy about people's reaction to the robot, which towered over his head.

Kindergarten through second grade students participated in the Cardboard Challenge recently, building houses, castles, robots and other cool creations that took over their classrooms.

They upped the creativity factor even further by pairing with Lee Middle-High School students to make a full-scale cardboard arcade in the gymnasium.

The challenge culminated in a carnival at the Godfrey-Lee Early Childhood Center, where students and their families played the homemade games, with students showcasing their work.

"I love that they have an audience. They knew they were going to be presenting this and letting other people play," said first grade teacher Deedee Stasiak, who was inspired to start the Godfrey-Lee challenge after watching the YouTube video "Caine's Arcade." When they have an audience it just makes it so much more authentic and they are so much more motivated."

Stasiak collaborated with Rosana Tocco, Lee Middle-High School teacher, who got her students involved in the game-making.

♥"Caine's Arcade" is a 2012 video about a 9-year-old boy, Caine Monroy, who built his own cardboard arcade in his father's auto parts store. The video, filmed by Nirvan Mullick, went viral. Children all over the world werealso inspired to create cardboard games and creations.

According to the website cainesarcade.com, two days after the film was posted Mullick decided to start a non-profit to find, foster and fund creativity and entrepreneurship in more kids like Caine. Five days later, the Goldhirsh Foundation awarded a $250,000 Challenge Grant to help start the Imagination Foundation, which launched an annual Global Cardboard Challenge that engages over 100,000 kids in creative play each year.

A Gallery Walk and Carnival Fun

Ninth-graders Carlos Savala and Joaquin Hernandez helped build a paper toss game with a first grade student. The object was scoring points by throwing balls of paper into holes, basketball-style.

"It's fun to see kids smile and have fun with it," Carlos said.

The older boys said the younger student was quiet and shy, but had a plan in his head.

"Once he got used to us he wouldn't stop talking about it," said Joaquin.

Parents and students toured classrooms, checking out all the projects and played the games to win candy and little toys.

While in her classroom, second-grader Irais Gonzalez-Ibarra stood inside her project, a house with a "security camera" on the side. "I wanted to make a big one so people will like it," she said.
CONNECT Cardboard Challenge

Erin Albanese has worked as a journalist in the Grand Rapids area since 2000. A graduate of Central Michigan University, she has written for The Grand Rapids Press, Advance Newspapers and On-the-Town Magazine. Besides covering the many exciting facets of K-12 public education for School News Network, she writes freelance for the travel industry. Read Erin's full bio

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Godfrey-Lee Public Schools students were challenged to think outside the box - and inside, under, over and through it. Turns out, with a little thinking a plain-old cardboard box can become a skee-ball game, a claw machine that grabs candy or an amazing piece of art, like second-grader Andy Alvarez's huge robot.

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Blogpost

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This year, one of my co-workers, Eryn Welch (fabulous, fabulous teacher!!!!), and I decided we would pair up our classes for STEM buddies! I teach first grade and she teaches kindergarten--so we saw this as a great multi-age opportunity for our kiddos to work together! It gives my first graders the chance to be role models and big helpers--which they love. We meet three times a month on Friday's for an hour to collaborate, think critically, problem solve, reflect and...HAVE FUN! It also gives me the opportunity to work with Eryn and learn from her as an educator--she has fantastic classroom management and I am always borrowing stealing ideas from her :)

So now, I want to take this opportunity to share an awesome primary (but really...I could see any grade using this resource...even as a team builder for educators!) STEM resource. It comes from one of my favorite educators that I follow, Brooke Brown, who runs a blog called Teach Outside the Box. On Teachers Pay Teachers, you can find her 9 month STEM Challenges bundle--and it will not disappoint. Brooke's bundle includes 27 STEM challenges (3 per month)--they come with detailed instructions, photos of sample solutions, teacher tips and guides, vocabulary cards and student recording sheets. What she has put together is simply amazing...the monthly resources are themed and the kids have a BLAST with them!! Thank you so much, Brooke, for sharing your knowledge and resources with us.

Last year, my first grade class completed the challenges and had SO much fun. I watched not only their problem solving skills improve before my eyes, but their social skills. They worked in groups and practiced explaining their ideas/thoughts respectfully, having an open mind and compromising. Those are some 21st century skills they need to be successful contributors to society :) My class this year is challenged a little bit more by working with the kindergartners--and it's been great! Eryn and I created a Google Doc and we buddied up our kids. Each time we get together, they find their buddy and get right to work! It's nice to see the relationships form and how much more comfortable they get as the weeks progress. At the beginning of each month, Eryn and I take a few minutes to decide what order we will do the tasks in, what materials we need (a total b.o.n.u.s. about STEM challenges--most of the resources you need are already somewhere in your classroom), and then when it's time to meet we get together and watch the ideas our kiddos have come to life!

Enough of my blabbing, check out some of the pictures from last year and this year STEM successes! Then go and grab Brooke's bundle and start challenging your students :) You might also want to check out my Makerspace post, which makes these STEM challenges much easier to manage (less set up and work for me).

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This year, one of my co-workers, Eryn Welch (fabulous, fabulous teacher!!!!), and I decided we would pair up our classes for STEM buddies! I teach first grade and she teaches kindergarten--so we saw this as a great multi-age opportunity for our kiddos to work together!

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Helllloooo from beautiful Michigan! We finally got the nice weather we have been waiting for deserving (it snowed last week). I have had an amazing past few days. I just got back from an amazing weekend in Chicago. Family from all over, some of whom I have not seen in over three years, reunited in the windy city for my cousins beautiful wedding. If there is one thing I absolutely love and cannot get enough of, it is seeing my family happy together. So after this weekend, I figured coming back to school on Monday would be tough--but it was a great day! 81 degrees and fun with my kids and then a trip to Lake Michigan my co-worker/roomie. It could snow tomorrow so here in Michigan we take advantage of these gorgeous days. And who says you can't go to the beach on a Monday? I might make this a thing.

Anyway---I have a tech tip of the week coming to you later this week. The good news is I have two amazing things happening in my room to share with you!

1.) Nature Appreciation...isn't that neat?! Ok if you don't get that reference you have to watch this video (before you watch just know it will be 2 minutes and 46 seconds you will never get back...can't said I didn't warn you!).

Some incredible teachers at our school wrote a grant to develop an outdoor nature program for our kids. It is SO awesome. Shout out to Debbie and Julie who set everything up and spend an hour each day with a class outside. They are giving our little guys an opportunity most kids do not get these days. A lot of students attending our school do not have yards or woods to play in. So, they cleared an area behind the school that kids get to explore and observe nature in. They also get to (this one is my favorite parts) build forts...with sticks...! One more reference that is hilarious and totally applicable for this situation. This video is way better than the one I posted about nature...

We have had two classes so far with these amazing educators and the kids just love their time with them outside. I get to sit back and watch students journal on a tree stump about their surroundings, watch students listening for birds and bugs, watch boys and girls working together to build a teeter-totter or a bench made completely out of things they found in the woods, and watch students bonding, laughing and having fun together. Check out some awesome pictures below, and a tweet from Julie that melted my heart.

2.) STEM Success I am implementing STEM time in my room this year and the kids and myself are loving it so far. With Brooke Brown's STEM challenges, we are able to do different 3 different STEM challenges each month! It's very little prep and a little spending on the teachers part (but so worth it!). I can repurpose materials and find items needed around my room most of the time. When I think about where my students began with our STEM challenges compared to where they are now, I feel so proud. The first STEM challenge was SO tough...the kids just sat there at first. How do I do it? Can you help me Miss Stasiak? I don't know how to. Notice how there are a lot of "I" and "me" going on in those questions and statements.

I kept telling them they were working in a group for a reason and I was not going to help them or show them how to do anything. Failure is learning. Be patient. Be persistent. None of that is happening in my room during STEM challenges now. Can I show you guys my idea? That's a good plan. We didn't think of that! We did it! Miss Stasiak look at what we did!!

Besides the fact that I know my kids LOVE the STEM challenges AND that they're using their science/technology/engineering/math brains, my favorite thing about these challenges is that they are learning valuable, critical life skills. Communicating and working with others, trial and error, persistence, patience, problem solving...the list goes on and on! Not convinced yet? They're also using their imagination to get creative to solve their problems. Check out our most recent STEM challenge: Egg Drop!

Step 1: Planning. Before we start constructing, we take some time to list what materials we need and to draw a blueprint of whatever structure we plan to build that day. They have to agree to a plan as a team.

Step 2: Gather materials and construct. Anything and everything happens during this time. I set a time limit based on how difficult the task is. They can use the entire time to work, or finish quickly and wait for the other teams to finish! It is totally up to them :)

Step 3: Feel every emotion waiting to test the final product. We circle around the group testing their structure to ask questions about their idea, watch the test and cheer no matter what the outcome!

Step 4: Celebrate and reflect! We congratulate every group on their hard work and then go back to our STEM packets to reflect on how we thought the test went. Did it go as planned? What would we do differently? Then they rock-paper-scissors to see who gets to take the creation home :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful week full of sunshine and warm weather :) I have some fun Earth Day activities that I can't wait to post at the end of the week. Stay tuned!

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Helllloooo from beautiful Michigan! We finally got the nice weather we have been waiting for deserving (it snowed last week). I have had an amazing past few days. I just got back from an amazing weekend in Chicago.

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Right before the school year started, I attended and presented at our schools professional development day: Rebel U. I presented on providing opportunities for creativity in the classroom--hoping to inspire other teachers to let students PLAY this year :) During my session, we watched and discussed the Caine's Arcade video and the Cardboard Challenge.

A few days later, our awesome Tech Integration Specialist, Sarah Wood, and one of our wonderful high school/middle school Spanish/English teachers, Rosana Tocco, approached me with the idea of our two classes working together to create a cardboard arcade! I was SO excited and completely on board with the idea. Our district is small enough for Rosana's class to walk to the elementary school and back in one class period (it's pretty awesome). So, our plan was to have our kids collaborate a few times and then display our projects for the school to see. As we continued to work out the details, we came up with the idea of our classes hosting a cardboard arcade for the school. Knowing how supportive our administration is (kudos to our principal, Peter Geerling, and superintendent, David Britten), we decided to take the Cardboard Challenge school wide (that means over 400 students would have the opportunity to create a passion project--woohoo!).

Students spent four weeks working on their projects during art time. Rosana's class came to work with us about five times for roughly 35 minutes at a time. The interactions between the older and younger students was rewarding to see. The older students had the opportunity to act as mentors for my little guys and develop a sense of leadership, and my students were able to create an amazing project in a small amount of the time with the assistance of the older students. What Rosana and her class never got to see was the excitement on my students' faces when I said "the high schoolers are coming today." They really loved and looked up to the big kids :) We truly became a little family of learners and problem solvers. I am really, really going to miss getting together with Rosana and her class! We will have to start brainstorming for the next project :)

On Friday, the four weeks were up and we had a BLAST at The Godfrey Lee Early Childhood Center Cardboard Carnival! Teachers took their classes on a gallery walk through the school to see each individual student's project. As I walked around with my class, I witnessed my students asking questions, complimenting and "ooh-ing" and "ahh-ing" at the projects they saw. I witnessed other students explaining to my students where they came up with their ideas and how they put their projects together. I witnessed so much pride and happiness in each and every student! It was AMAZING! Check out some projects below.

After the gallery walk, grade levels met my class and Rosana's class in the gym to play the cardboard arcade games. Rosana and I sat back and watched our kids take charge and run their own carnival. Her students brought in hundreds of dollar store prizes...and GOLDFISH--yes, real, live goldfish (I am pretty positive every student who came to the carnival left with a prize). They passed out tickets to students who played the games and the students then took those tickets to the prize table (with huge smiles on their faces).

The atmosphere in the gym was incredible--excitement, ownership and a little bit of nervousness. I have to admit I was super nervous about how the day would go...and that is why we, as teachers, need to follow the advice we encourage our students with: take chances. I am hoping the Cardboard Carnival at the ECC is an annual event and I cannot wait to see what we come up with next year!

I also cannot forget to add that we were all able to participate in this awesome afternoon because we were fed a delicious lunch from some of our wonderful parent volunteers. Homemade tacos :) I love, love, love our school!

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Right before the school year started, I attended and presented at our schools professional development day: Rebel U. I presented on providing opportunities for creativity in the classroom--hoping to inspire other teachers to let students PLAY this year :) During my session, we watched and discussed the Caine's Arcade video and the Cardboard Challenge.

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We LOVE having maker time in my classroom. It is always a Fun Friday activity for my students or a STEM activity! As a new teacher, I have not always had a lot of resources or known the best way to organize those resources...

SO today, a couple weeks before starting year 3 of teaching (woohoo!), I decided to organize my disaster of a craft closet--it was over flowing after two years of collecting. However, the biggest issue I had with my craft closet was that my students had no access to it--not because I did not allow it--but because I was the only one who knew what was in there!

The labels with pictures will allow my students to be independent makers throughout the day. I've had these Sterilite containers for two years now and they have held up nicely! You can find them, here.

I encourage YOU to start a Makerspace in your room--but keep in mind, every classrooms Makerspace is different. For all I know, this might not end up being the best fit for my students. That's really up to them! Some Makerspaces have no labels and no rhyme or reason. Did you know genius' have the messiest work spaces?! ;) Keep that in mind! I, however, am Type A--so we are going to start with this and see how it goes with my first graders!

In an effort to really encourage you, enjoy this FREEBIE: Makerspace Labels. Even if you don't need the labels, reading through the materials will help you realize the materials to start a Makerspace are already all over your classroom :)

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We LOVE having maker time in my classroom. It is always a Fun Friday activity for my students or a STEM activity! As a new teacher, I have not always had a lot of resources or known the best way to organize those resources...