During the month of November we completed several big projects. After learning about a teen that invented a unique new vending machine, student teams worked together to define a problem that could be solved with an invention and outline features needed to meet the design criteria. In the end each team of students presented new ideas for vending machines that included a 300 word essay to describe the machine and a sketch of what they envisioned the machine to look like. We submitted our designs to a contest being held by Science World Magazine in New York City! Students also completed their scientist autopsy project which involved both research and creativity. First, they used three different sources of information to research the scientist that they chose. Then, they had to complete a visual product replacing the scientists’ internal organs with pictures or objects that best represented the scientist. In the end, they had to present their findings and their products to the class. We also learned a little about the father of STEAM, Leonardo Da Vinci. After a brief mini lesson on Da Vinci and The Mona Lisa students creativity came up with ideas for their own Mona Lisa parodies. They used chalk and oil pastels as well as other mixed media sources that were available in our class art center to complete this project. Students in 1st-5th grade learned so much about science news happening around the world. Each student read several articles but picked one to read in detail and displayed a summary and picture from the article on our class “Science Brains at Work” bulletin board. Students in 6th-8th grade are continuing to read the classroom edition of the novel “The Martian”. We completed the first five chapters then stopped to have a book talk before moving on to the next five chapters. Also this nine weeks we completed three breakouts….The Case of the Mondays, Monster Mash and a Christmas breakout titled Elf! The students enjoyed all and are getting better and better each time at analyzing the clues and breaking out of the box. A couple of bonus lessons this nine weeks included reading a book titled “The Math Curse” and learning a little about the Fibonacci sequence as well as learning about an incredible 16 year old girl who found a way to fight drought with oranges. This led to a mini science experiment for some classes in which we tested the amount of water that can be absorbed by various materials.