2023-2024

STEM Newsletter!

The Month of November

Take a sneak peek at what our scientists will be investigating in the month of November!

Pre-K: Seasons

Why do leaves change color?
Students will use their senses to explore changes in nature during the Fall season.

Kindergarten: Sunlight and Weather

Why do certain playgrounds flood?
Students will investigate how severe weather affects people’s lives and think about new weather-related problems affecting playgrounds.

First Grade: Animal and Plant Defenses

How can aquarium scientists explain animal defenses to visitors?
Students will create models of frogs’ defenses against being eaten.

Second Grade: Plant and Animal Relationships

What is the connection between chalta fruit, elephants, and droppings?
Students will continue to investigate why new chalta tree in the Bengal Tiger Reserve aren’t growing.

Third Grade: Inheritance and Traits

How do organisms get their traits?
Students assume the role of wildlife biologists to solve the mystery of a wolf that is different from its pack.

Fourth Grade: Vision and Light

Why is there a decline in the number of tokay geckos living in a rainforest located in the Philippines?
Students use interactive digital simulations to explore how the animal’s internal structures affect its population.

Fifth Grade: Modeling Matter

Why does food coloring separate into different dyes?
Students take on the role of food scientists working in a lab for a large food production company.

September 2023

Dear Parents and/or Guardians,

I am excited to have your scholar in STEM class this year! For your child to be successful in this class, they will need to take responsibility for their learning by contributing ideas to class discussions and participating in hands on science investigation activities. Students are expected to complete all classwork and assigned homework in a timely manner.

To be fully prepared for class, they will need to bring the following materials:

• 1 science folder
• 1 marble notebook (optional)
• school iPad
• 1 pencil

I look forward to working with you this year to help make the most of your child’s education.

Sincerely,

Ms. Fraser

STEM Teacher

School email: Afraser6@schools.nyc.gov

STEM News: Promoting Inquiry and Questioning in the Classroom

Take a sneak peek into what our scientists will be investigating for the month of September!

Pre-K: Life Cycles (Unit 1)
Students will assume the role of scientists by examining plant life cycles.

Kindergarten: The Needs of Plants and Animals (Unit 1)
Students will examine the problem of a declining monarch butterfly population.

Grade 1: Animal and Plant Defenses (Unit 1)
Students take on the role of aquarium scientists advising an aquarium director by helping answer young visitors’ questions about Spruce the Sea Turtle, who will soon be released back into the ocean.

Grade 2: Plant and Animal Relationships (Unit 1)
Students assume the role of plant scientists reporting to the lead scientist at the Bengal Tiger Reserve, who has tasked students with explaining the unit's anchor phenomenon of why no new chalta trees are growing there.

Grade 3: Balancing Forces (Unit 1)
In the Balancing Forces unit, students explore forces that are acting on and around them every day, often unseen and misunderstood.

Grade 4: Energy Conversions (Unit 1)
In the Energy Conversions unit, students become systems engineers for Ergstown, a fictional town that experiences frequent blackouts, the anchor phenomenon for the unit. Throughout the unit, they explore reasons why an electrical system may fail.

Grade 5: Patterns of Earth and Sky (Unit 1)
Students use models to figure out where the stars are in space in relation to Earth and why the only star, we see in daytime is the sun, while we see other stars at night, but not the sun.

Home to School Connection: Encourage your child to ask questions and make inferences from their observations about nature. Keeping a science journal is useful. They can record ideas, observations and thoughts about science activities.

Ms. Fraser