The STEM Teacher Leadership Video Showcase features 3-minute videos submitted by teacher leaders and those engaged in creating teacher leadership programs. View their inspiring stories and make sure to leave a comment! Share on social media and "like" your favorites!Partnering with Our Food Pantry to Distribute At Home STEM Kits
Description:
One of the ways Parkway School District supports the whole child is by having its own food pantry, providing boxes of food for pickup every month to its students and employees. As an educator in the district, I work with the food pantry to include STEM kits with each family’s monthly food distribution. To accomplish this, district STEM coordinators meet with a food pantry volunteer (author) every other week to brainstorm activities, print, shop, order materials, and pack kits for distribution. These kits provide families an at-home interactive STEM experience. While fee-for-service STEM activities and subscriptions exist, distributing free kits through the food pantry increases accessibility.
Related Leadership Program
PAEMST Awardees
Grade Level
K-12
Keywords
Equity and Inclusion
Increasing Student Engagement
Subject Area
STEM
Related Videos
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Comments
Welcome!
Hi! My name is Elegan and I work at the Parkway School District in St. Louis, MO. After watching this video, I wonder: How can you implement this idea with your community? How else can students get involved with this idea?
Themes/labs/materials?
Hi Elegan! We met out in DC last year, I think -- so nice to "see" you again here. :)
This is such an amazing project. I love the design parameters, the ways you've thought carefully about compelling themes and components, and even the growing student group input and involvement!
I have been thinking more about how to "send home" labs with my high school students -- straightforward things so they're not stressful, but high-interest too to foster STEM engagement and family STEM fun across generations. I'd love to know which of your lab(s) have been most popular, as well as any additional advice for themes/labs/materials.
Thanks so much for sharing this - it is really wonderful!
:) Kirstin
In reply to Themes/labs/materials? by Kirstin Milks
Popular Ideas
Hi, Kirstin!
It IS great to "see" you again :)
The most popular labs seem to be the 'messiest' ones - making Oobleck, Insta-snow powder, and the effervescent film-canister rocket. Based on data, the most engaged kit (theme) has probably been the forensic science/detective kit where students have determine who "dog-napped" their friend's pet. They work through a story (activity book) and had a 'detective bag' (think "Happy Meal box") with detective like tools such as an invisible ink spy pen, black ink stamp pad for fingerprinting, and a red lens secret reveal lens.
One of the students wants to do an activity about the Mobius strip and I'm excited to see how it turns out!
In reply to Popular Ideas by Elegan Kramer
I love this!! Thank you!!
I love this!! Thank you!!
In reply to Popular Ideas by Elegan Kramer
Hi Elegan and Kirstin, I am…
Hi Elegan and Kirstin,
I am loving this idea-- the big question I have is about cost, and I'm wondering if there are any grants out there. I'm thinking that I might begin with having my older students create Challenge Kits for the younger students within our school, then expand into the community. I was also thinking it might be cool to have a STEM box on the property boundary, almost like the little libraries you see everywhere.
Thank you for your excellent ideas and outreach, Elegan!
In reply to Hi Elegan and Kirstin, I am… by Rebecca Cummings
Grants? Sponsors? Library?
Hi, Rebecca
Before I pitched this idea to my district and discovered that we could use federal funds, I explored some grants that were local to my area and also compiled a list of sponsors that I could perhaps 'pitch' to. After creating the first few kits to settle our 'vision,' we got McCarthy the construction company to sponsor an engineering kit. Now we're looking at banks to hopefully sponsor a financial literacy kit.
Also, our local libraries have STEM kits and telescopes that the community can check out. You can start small by partnering with your local library to create a STEM kit to be checked out.
- Elegan
In reply to Themes/labs/materials? by Kirstin Milks
take-home labs
Hi Kirstin,
Curious on behalf of my biology, chemistry, and physics colleagues (we all teach in a 111 year old building that has barely any lab facilities)--if you could share anything that you come up with, I would love to hear it! Our physics teacher did paper roller coasters with his students and they were a hit in-school, and I was thinking how much my son would love that since he loves marble runs.
In reply to take-home labs by Kristina Danahy
paper rollercoaster for the win!
I agree, I did the paper rollercoaster with my students when I taught, and they were so engaged!
STEM Kits for All
What a great idea to get STEM access for all. I would love to know the kit that you think made the most impact? Have you been able to see an impact of the kits in the classes? You definitely have me brainstorming ways I can fund this in my district. Thank you!
In reply to STEM Kits for All by Jennifer Donais
Thanks, Jenn!
Based on data, the most engaged kit (theme) has probably been the forensic science/detective kit where students have determine who "dog-napped" their friend's pet. They work through a story (activity book) and had a 'detective bag' (think "Happy Meal box") with detective like tools such as an invisible ink spy pen, black ink stamp pad for fingerprinting, and a red lens secret reveal lens. It reminds me of how your kids are excited about STEM with the escape room and solving the crime :)
"Have I been able to see the impact of the kits in the classes?" --- This is a tricky question to answer. The Food Pantry is run by student services and due to confidentiality reasons, we (the district's Teaching Learning and Accountability team) do not have access to who participates. All of our digital data must be anonymous and/or managed by student services. This under-served population is also very transient in our district. While we can't see its impact in the classroom, we have some data to show that the kits are very well-received and has increased STEM engagement! :)
STEM Kits
This is a wonderful idea, thank you for sharing! Your article and website answered most of my questions. I am left wondering:
Do you offer any support for parents on facilitating their kiddos exploration?
Do you survey or interview the families who receive the kits?
Are you familiar with Bedtime Math and the Crazy 8's Club?
Liza
Becoming a More Equitable Math Educator | STEM Teacher Leadership Network (stemtlnet.org)
In reply to STEM Kits by Liza Bondurant
Thanks, Liza!
Thanks for watching my video, Liza! As for your questions
With each activity/handout, we strive to incorporate guiding questions and explanations for parents/guardians to facilitate the exploration. On some handouts, we've included the answers upside or in smaller font in case the adult does not know the answer. But you've got me thinking, maybe I we can include video explanations too...
This is a tricky question to answer. The Food Pantry is run by our district Student Services and due to confidentiality reasons, we (the district's Teaching Learning and Accountability team) do not have access to who participates and cannot interview they. All of our survey must be anonymous and/or managed by Student Services. So unfortunately, we are not allowed to survey or interview the families in-person.
I was not, but I am now :) I explored it a little bit and it is on my list to learn more about for this project. Thanks for sharing!
In reply to STEM Kits by Liza Bondurant
thanks for sharing Bedtime Math and Crazy 8's!
I teach high school, so learning more about how I can support my 2nd grader and preschooler is awesome.
Thank you!
Your video was inspirational! This is a good idea! You just gave me an idea of using STEM kits to teach for remote learning snow days. I can create a variety of STEM kits so that my students can rotate or take turns. Thank you for sharing!!!!
I love the students' involvement in the program. This does demonstrate caring and sharing for the community. :) Diana
In reply to Thank you! by Diana Aston
Thank you!
Thanks, Diana!
Feel free to use some of the materials on the At Home STEM website :)
this is amazing!
Looks incredible and its great how you have the students get involved--experiential learning at its best!
I like Diana's suggestion on having kits like this for snow days.
From what I read you have privacy issues on obtaining data but maybe they can take pics and videos of final projects, talk about their super successes and fabulous failures on a site like Flipgrid (now Flip) --without showing their face, or posting names.
This was very inspirational to watch--thank you!
In reply to this is amazing! by Kathleen Donovan
Thanks!
Thanks, Kathleen! While the voice with the videos does pose a privacy issue, I do like the picture idea! Drawing into some kids' competitive spirit, I can see it as a online competition or 'gallery website.' Thanks for making my ideas stretch further :)
Community Connection
Dear Elegan,
I am so impressed with your program and its outreach to the student/family community of your school. Thank you for sharing how you got the funding and also that you are involving the students in creating the kits. Have you thought about using virtual visitors for your students for that connection? When we were virtual I contacted the USPTO and an inventor visited with our fifth-grade students (the grade I was teaching at the time). I then had a former student who had graduated from the Naval Academy and majored in quantum economics talk with the students - Bonus, he played football there which was a big hit for the kiddos.
Sincerely,
Flo Faltako
In reply to Community Connection by Florence Falatko
Great idea!
I love the idea of a virtual visit and bringing in former students, Flo!
We are beginning to explore community connections. Right now, we have (and are still getting) sponsors to feature a monthly STEM kit. Last year the McCarthy construction company put together an engineering kit, highlighting the book Rosie Revere Engineer. We're talking with some banks right now to feature a financial literacy STEM kit. Fingers crossed that one of them will sponsor us!
Thanks for reminding us of the power of a community!