Classroom Happenings: Engineered for Discovery

Know what’s exciting about an engineering challenge? Everything!  

Lower School Innovation Specialist Suzanne Casey’s engineering projects are always engaging and fun. All Spartans have engineering lessons throughout their tenure at Steward, and Lower Schoolers recently took on fall-themed engineering challenges that included elements of ideating, building, and writing. Children’s engineering can enhance students’ problem-solving and fine motor skills, boost confidence, and create new neural pathways that connect ideas across the curriculum. 

In October, kindergarteners visited a pumpkin patch (and took home their very own pumpkins!) and learned the joyful song “Five Little Pumpkins Sitting on the Gate.” They also watched a video of “Room on a Broom,” which tells the story of a kind witch who accidentally drops a collection of items from her broomstick. When the witch stops to pick up each item, she meets friends who want to join her on the broom: a cat, dog, bird, and frog. Central to the story are themes of sharing, helping others, and the power of friendship. 

Our young Spartans were then challenged to make their own miniature brooms. Each broom had to be free-standing; hold a crafted witch and her new friends; be made only with the materials provided (bendable straws, tape, cotton balls, buttons, beads, and pom poms); and have the ability to be suspended at least one inch off a classroom table. 

“Lessons such as this one provide the children an opportunity to try different ideas until they find one that meets their satisfaction (and the criteria),” said Ms. Casey, who is also the Bryan Innovation Lab Liaison to the Lower School. “There is more than one possible solution, so the outcomes are all different. That makes it fun and challenging!” 

After listening to the story “Are You My Monster?” first graders designed and built their own monsters! Pipe cleaners, googly eyes, egg cartons, tissue paper, craft sticks, corks … there were so many craftable doodads for our young monster builders to choose from. Ms. Casey said, “Over the years, this has become a favorite project for the children and their teachers. We talk about different types of monsters, from silly to scary. The children are encouraged to make a monster that is best for them, and they are given a great deal of agency in the creation of their special monster.” 

In keeping with the fall theme, fourth graders took on a spooky design challenge: identify three elements that make a house haunted and build a house that includes them. Each house had to be three-dimensional; free-standing; at least two stories high; and have a door and windows. Challenge accepted! 

Students used pom poms, craft sticks, bottle caps, cardstock, beads, rubber bands, and more to construct their houses. With a variety of tools — scissors, pencils, glue, markers, and a hole punch — they made one-of-a-kind structures. There were houses with cobwebs, dead trees … even ghosts peeking out of windows. After their build-a-thon, fourth graders wrote stories about their haunted houses. 

Grade 4 Teacher Janell Kauffman said, “Students love scary stories. Because they know things like ghosts and monsters aren’t real, writing these scary stories feels scary and safe at the same time. Students used the haunted houses they built during engineering class as inspiration for writing a descriptive scary story.” Students who needed a little help with generating ideas were given sets of problem cards, character cards, story item cards, and a list of sensory words, vivid verbs, emotions, scary words, and transition words as prompts. “These additional supports allowed students to be more creative,” added Ms. Kauffman. 

In anticipation of the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, fifth graders listened to Ms. Casey read “Balloons Over Broadway.” Then, working in teams of two, they created floats for their very own parade. Using colorful balloons (of course!) and craft items (paper, yarn, feathers, pom poms, and more), the students created parade-worthy floats based on characters in children’s literature. The characters chosen were their favorites from a project they did at the beginning of the year called My Life as a Reader. 

On November 19, fifth graders paraded around campus, displaying their helium-filled balloon floats, which were attached to scooters. Ms. Casey noted that the students had to consider the weight of the craft items they chose to balance the drag of the items with the limited lift of the helium.

“Students also had to figure out how to attach them to the scooters so that the balloon was facing the right direction,” said Ms. Casey. She added, “They chose characters they loved in their younger years so that the littlest Spartans who came to the parade would recognize them. Some favorites included Piggie and Gerald (from the ‘Elephant and Piggie’ series). And the Very Hungry Caterpillar made an appearance as well!”

At Steward, learning and growth are achieved through the fearless exploration of topics that define our time. Ms. Casey said that teaching Lower Schoolers foundational skills such as how to ideate and build helps them gain autonomy and confidence. 

“It builds resilience because the first solution they try is not always successful,” she said. “Sometimes a child might not meet the challenge during a class period, but that is okay because as we struggle, we learn. Engineering allows students to explore their creativity and sharpen their problem-solving skills — vital components of the Steward experience.”