Exploring STEM Through Stuffed Animals
Debi Goodman
Shallowford Falls Elementary
Cobb County Schools
Grade Level and Content
Kindergarten
Mathematics, English Language Arts, and Science
Overview
This ten-day kindergarten STEM unit incorporates English Language Arts (ELA), mathematics, and science standards and requires students to work collaboratively and use critical thinking skills. Students bring their own stuffed animals to school, sort their animals in different ways (movement, covering, and habitat), compare and contrast their stuffed animals to others in the class, and learn about baby animals. Students also complete the Can You Guess My Animal? Project – requiring them to incorporate facts about their animal into a riddle. Towards the end of the unit, students work collaboratively to engineer different shaped pens for their animals using a variety of materials, including Popsicle sticks, paper clips, play dough, pipe cleaners and yarn.
Standards Addressed
Mathematics
M.K.G.5; M.K.CC.4b; M.K.CC.7; M.K.MD.3
English Language Arts
ELA.K.SL.1; ELA.K.W.2
Science
SKL1; SKL2
Available Materials
• Overview
• Unit Overview with Standards
• Supplementary Materials
• Formative Assessment Grading Rubric
Video of Lesson
> Download this Video (To save right-click then select 'Save target as' or 'Save link as')
About the Teacher
Debi Goodman is currently a Kindergarten teacher at Shallowford Falls Elementary School in Marietta, GA. She holds a B.S. in Education from James Madison University and has over 16 years of teaching experience in both Kindergarten and 2nd grade. Ms. Goodman was also the 2008/2009 Shallowford Falls Elementary Teacher of the Year. Her best piece of teaching advice is: Don’t be afraid to try new things - change is good!
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Disclaimer: The unit plans and materials on the Innovation in Teaching Competition website are aligned with Georgia’s standards through December 2014. English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics standards have been revised. The revised standards were approved by the State Board of Education on January 15, 2015. The revised ELA and Mathematics standards were renamed from the CCGPS to the Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE).
