Students at Poquoson Elemen-

tary and Poquoson Middle

School are monitoring their

own vegetables. Students are

in charge of watering and

maintaining a variety of lettuce

and other delicious salad in-

gredients. Stay tuned to see

how they grow!

Poquoson Elementary Third

graders entered the mobile

planetarium on February 16th

to explore what might have

killed the dinosaurs. Fourth

graders learned about the Milky

Way, and fifth graders discov-

ered how the conditions of

Earth and space contributed to

the sinking of the Titanic.

Growing Our Own Food

February 2018

STEM Update

Dome Theater Brings Planetarium Experience to

Poquoson Elementary Students

Teacher STEM Challenge

Mr. Fry and Mrs. Bowden from Poquoson High School

and Mrs. Ward from Poquoson Middle School go

through the Engineering Design Process to develop an

amusement park ride that prevents people (ping-pong

balls) from falling out.

Water Walking

Materials:

Clear cups

Food coloring

Water

Paper towels

Small bin turned over

Directions:

Set two cups on top of the bin

Set two cups on the table surface next

to the bin

Add food coloring to the cups on the

bin (try a different color for each

cup)

Fill the cups with the food coloring up

almost to the top with water

Take a strip of paper towel and con-

nect it from a food coloring cup to

an empty cup; do the same for

the other two cups.

Try making the two food coloring cups go

into one cup to make a new color.

Design a Keep-a-Cube Container

Materials:

2 ice cubes

A small box (shoe boxes work well)

Waxed paper

Masking tape

Newspaper

Aluminum foil

Rubber bands

Paper plate or plastic bowl

Directions:

Using the materials, create a container

that can keep an ice cube from

melting.

When the container is complete, put

one ice cube inside and one on

the plate/bowl.

Compare each ice cube after 30

minutes.

Compare the melt rate using other materi-

als such as cotton balls, foam peanuts,

different size boxes, etc.

Do It Yourself STEM Activities Crystal Names

Materials:

Pipe cleaners

Fishing line {twine or yarn will work

too}

Pencils or wooden skewers

Scissors

Glasses or plastic container {one for

each color}

A container large enough to hold your

name {if doing your name as a

single piece written in cursive}

Borax

Food Coloring {optional, if you want

colored letters you can dye the

borax solution or use colored pipe

cleaners}

Liquid measuring cup

Tablespoon

Heat Safe Mixing Bowl

Directions:

Write your name with the pipe cleaners

(try to keep the letters connected,

try cursive) or make a design with

the pipe cleaners

Make sure your name or design will fit

in your container without touching

the sides of the container

Use the fishing line or twine or yarn to

suspend your name or design a

few inches from the wooden

skewer or pencil

Have an adult heat up a large pot of

water. Mix 3 tablespoons of borax

per cup of hot water. Add food

coloring (you can have multiple

containers to make multiple col-

ors if you have separate letters or

separate designs).

Carefully lower each letter into the

colored water.

Can Telephones Materials:

Recycled Soup Cans Duct Tape (optional) String of varying sizes and thick-

nesses Toothpicks or Paperclips

Directions:

Wrap your clean cans with duct tape.

Have an adult cut a hole in the center of the bottom of the can.

Tie the string of your choice to a toothpick or paperclip.

Thread the string through both holes in the cans.

Test out different lengths and thick-nesses to see which carries sound bet-ter.

Build a 3D Structure Materials:

Pipe cleaners and straws or mini marshmallows and toothpicks (or uncooked spaghetti)

Directions:

Thread the pipe cleaners through straws; straws can be cut with scissors to make various lengths.

Connect pipe cleaners to make a 3D Structure

Or Insert a toothpick (or uncooked

spaghetti) into a mini marsh-mallow

Continue to connect them to make a 3D Structure

How tall can you make it? What shapes can you make?

Buoyancy Experiments Materials:

12”x12” foil square Coins or small pebbles

Directions: Form the foil into a boat See how many coins or pebbles it

can hold while floating in wa-ter.

Experiment with different boat designs to see which holds the most weight.