This is our last newsletter for the 2020-2021 school year. Enjoy the summer and see you soon!
Students at the Macdonough STEM Academy are exposed to interdisciplinary units of study that have at their foundation a focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.
Students are provided the opportunity to become independent learners and thinkers through Project-Based Learning.
All of our projects focus on the Engineering Design Process in order to solve real-world problems.
Engineer of the Month
Our Engineer for the month of June is James from Ms. Claffey’s fourth grade class! James frequently asked to assist Farmer Luke with planting during the month of May. During a conversation with James, he said he enjoys hands-on learning, and especially loves planting because he likes to learn about the life cycle of living things. In the future, he would like to investigate different plants and eventually would like to start his own garden at home. He also shared that he is brainstorming places where new gardens can be created in Middletown. Keep up the great work, James!
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- James enjoys helping Farmer Luke garden new plants.
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- Our outdoor garden at Macdonough school. James enjoys making observations of all of the new plants when he plays basketball after school.
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- James asking Farmer Luke questions about the differences in plants.
Project-Based Learning: The Art of Shapes -- Rainforest Animals
Kindergarten students spent trimester 3 researching different safari animals and their habitats, which built off of their learning during the trimester 2 PBL: Creating Safe Homes for Our Macdonough Critters. This project incorporated math and art as students learned about 2D and 3D shapes. This project also incorporated literacy as students wrote a description about their animals as well as practiced using labels for their illustrations.
They used the Engineering Design Process to create a live version of their safari animal. They presented their live version to their classmates to receive feedback. Once they received feedback, they improved their projects and put them on display in the library for a gallery walk for students and staff. Students and staff devoted time to writing feedback for each student to enjoy.
A special thank you to Mrs. Lenihan, Ms. Palo & Mrs. Senna for your collaboration during this project. The students created their illustrations during art and rain sticks during makerspace. They applied their new knowledge when they created their live versions on their animals during general class time.
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- A kindergarten work sample including their artwork, rain stick, journal, and final product representing a toucan
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- Students from third grade leaving positive feedback for the Kindergarten artists.
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- A kindergarten work sample including their artwork, rain stick, journal, and final product representing a red-eyed tree frog.
