The Zyriek Zoo: STEM Quest

Instead of having the standard open house at school, this year Harding tried something new. It was called STEM Quest. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math. Of course this is right up Anna's alley and my dad was really excited about coming as well. Every classroom had a theme and this started in Jr. K through 6th grade. Caroline's class studied hibernation and what do animals do throughout the year to adapt. She learned all about hibernation. She even brought one of her teddy bears to school to hibernate in the bear cave they made, but after 3 days she cried and wanted him to come home and out of hibernation. She was not the only one! Anna's class studied rockets and different ways to make a rocket launch and the type of energy utilized in the process. Anna did not want to get paired up with certain "yucky boys" in her class so she decided to do her project as a research project and present on her own. Some groups had live/working models, some had research and pictures and others had non-working models.

We toured all the classrooms in the kindergarten building as well as Anna's elementary building. It took quite a while to get through everything but the kids had worked so hard on the projects. What I loved best was that the projects were done exclusively at school and that they were done by the students themselves. No over the top parent projects and nothing that a crafty mom could turn in with her child's name on it. The kids received a stamp on their "STEM Passport" for each class they visited and received a prize the next day. Caroline just had to turn in her book while Anna had to answer some questions before she could earn a reward.

I enjoyed seeing the different topics explored and the way the kids creatively presented their findings. It was a good way to make Open House even more enjoyable.

Anna's research project on rockets. She was super proud of all her hard work and typing up all the findings.

One of Caroline's pictures. She works on her handwriting so hard. It is painful to help with handwriting homework, but at least the finished product is good!