Halloween STEM & Halloween Teacher Outfits!

It’s the most SPOOKtacular time of year at school! I wanted to share with you a fun STEM challenge from Maniacs In the Middle (Josie Bensko) I taught this week, as well as some fun teacher fashion for Halloween!

Halloween STEM CHALLENGE

For Halloween week at school, I wanted to find a fun engineering challenge for my 3rd-6th grade students! Josie’s Pumpkin STEM Challenge was exactly what I was looking for! Students build 3D pumpkin stands using paper cups, index cards, popsicle sticks. cardstock and masking tape. I had my students work in groups of 2-3 students.

I taught this challenge as a 2-week lesson. During week one, students completed the first 3 steps of the Engineering Design Process: ask, imagine, and plan. They drew sketches of what they planned to build. On week two, students built their structures for the first 30 minutes of class. During the last 15 minutes of class, students tested their designs by placing a real miniature pumpkin on top to see if their stand was sturdy enough to hold it! Check out my Tik Tok linked in this post to see a behind the scenes look at the challenge!

teacher style: Halloween Edition

I love wearing fun, festive shirts at school! I have a big teacher tee collection full of shirts for each holiday. My students love them, too! I linked some of my favorite Halloween outfits in my latest Like to Know It posts here!