Visit My Shop

STEM

Math Supplements

Rosie Revere Engineer


Have you discovered Rosie Revere Engineer by Andrea Beaty? It's part of a series of STEM inspired books that includes Iggy Peck Architect. Ada Twist Scientist is coming September 2016! I won't spoil the surprise of how all of these characters are connected. 
This series is legit my new favorite children's books!
Check out all of Andrea Beaty's amazing books on Amazon!
I fell in love with Rosie Revere last summer after watching my students frustration with failure during STEM challenges. Rosie is a brilliant, creative, shy child. She became intimidated by failure and gave up on her dream (hello fixed mindset) until her great-aunt Rose (inspired by Rosie the Riveter, adorable right?!?) came to visit. This passage sums up the incredible message of this story! 


I decided right away that this was the perfect first STEM challenge to kick off our new school year. I wanted my students to understand that sometimes they WILL fail but how you cope with that failure determines your ultimate success. Each year I strive to create a culture of risk-taking and perseverance and this story is the perfect way to set that tone!


I started by creating ELA activities designed to help my students dig into the text and understand the message. We discussed Rosie's character traits and connected to times that we have struggled. 

Big thanks to Dana for sharing a cute character trait poster idea with me!
Doing the monkey bars, riding my bike without training wheels, doing my homework...#kidproblems
After discovering the message and learning about how we can apply it to our own life, we capped off the week with a Rosie Revere Engineer inspired STEM challenge.

Whole group resources and teacher directions.

Engineering design process recording options and reproducibles. 

I started the challenge by flying a loop plane and marking the start and goal line. Then I challenged pairs of students to modify a loop plane to travel further.


They taped paper-clips, connecting cubes, and extra loops onto their straws and tested them in the hallway counting floor tiles to measure the distance their plane traveled. 


Students recorded their process on this recording page.


How much you you love the thumbs up at the end?!?


Pairs named their loop plane and we tracked their best flight. None of the groups made it past the goal line and none of the students gave up! Instead they went back to the drawing board and I listened to them discuss what went wrong and how they can change it to travel further. It was amazing to see the shift in their mindset. They now understand it's a necessary part of growth!




























No comments

Leave me a love note! If you leave something nasty I'll hunt you down and karate chop you. Real talk. My computer has spyware. I know where you live :)