Bringing STEM and Literacy Together
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I’m not gonna lie, y’all. I feel like a kid on Christmas morning! Those of you who know me personally or have been following me for awhile know that my two biggest passions in the classroom are STEM and Literacy. As a regular education teacher, I could have happily taught writing, guided reading, and science all day long, and now that I teach Gifted and Talented for K-2, I love witnessing the incredible powers of STEM learning on a regular basis.
Our brand new product line, Storybook STEM, is extra special because it brings those two loves together! The oh-s0-fabulous Katie King of Queen of the First Grade Jungle (coauthor of the incredible Rooted in Reading series with Amy Lemons) dreamed up the idea of harnessing the power of STEM challenges by integrating them with quick, powerful literacy mini lessons that correlate with popular children’s read alouds. We decided to team up and put our passions together, with Katie authoring all of the literacy components and me authoring the STEM challenges.
Storybook STEM provides early childhood teachers with weekly all-in-one units to cover essential skills in reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, math, science, and engineering. We’re talking collaborative scoot games, anchor charts, high flyer supplements, mini lessons, vocabulary cards, writing extensions, math extensions, and active, hands-on THEMATIC learning…the way that early childhood instruction SHOULD be, am I right?!
Four units per month are included to accompany favorite seasonal children’s books, with supplemental STEM challenges for each and differentiated literacy and math options for Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade. Each read aloud and unit can be completed in the form of mini lessons throughout the week, or within a 2.5 hour block on one day of the week, such as Maker Mondays or STEM Fridays. Storybook STEM even provides a simple and comprehensive option for substitute teachers!
The four children’s book titles included in our first edition (December Storybook STEM) are:
*Gingerbread Christmas by Jan Brett
*The Polar Express by Chris van Allsburg
*A Wish to be a Christmas Tree by Colleen Monroe
*The Night Before Christmas by Rachel Isadora
Here are the low prep STEM challenges and materials to match each book:
If you’re interested in units for the entire year, we’ve also created a 10-month All Year Growing Bundle that allows you to receive two full months for FREE!
Katie and I hope you love the idea of integrating STEM with literacy as much as we do, and we are so excited to bring you brand new engaging units each month! Watch for our January Storybook STEM to be released on December 15!
