Teach STEM & The Expanded Core: Winter Lesson

Hi friends! This is the first of many new posts about teaching STEM and the Expanded Core Curriculum together. I started running a STEM camp two years ago and have immersed myself in learning about the relationship between STEM & ECC. Good news--there are ton of ways you can teach the Expanded Core and STEM. I'll keep sharing tips, lessons and ideas. 

I use STEM lesson plans for my STEM side of things. My favorite place to hit up is Teachers Pay Teachers. 

I used this lesson plan from TPT:

 https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Winter-STEM-Challenges-January-2231074. Pay attention to the terms of use when making copies or sharing. The lesson plans for this lesson are only $4 and you can buy digital extras for a good price. There are 3 different STEM lessons in this bundle. Below is a picture of my STEM lesson plan and my ECC plan (we added Braille labels using Braillables when we did the lesson).

The first part of my lesson focused on the Expanded Core areas. We spent some time digging in to learning about winter and sledding. We brought in several different types of sleds/tubes and had students check them out. Students climbed on the sleds, checked out their details and learned how they worked. Then we discussed the special clothing needed for winter (independent living skills), how to access weather conditions (use of AT) and how to get on the sled (orientation & mobility). Social interaction skills are always an important piece of community instruction. We had single person and two person sleds to discuss social pieces. We also addressed social communication (the type of language/words they may hear to need to know) and nonverbal body language. 

Below are pictures of the students checking out different types of sleds/tubes.

Discussion & hands on learning:

·      What is a sled?

·      What is a sled ramp?

·      Tubing vs. sledding

·      Where can you go sledding?

The STEM activities were pretty fun. The sledding lesson went well with the ECC part. The lesson asked for card stock paper to make the sled but we had plenty of Braille paper hanging around so we used that. We swapped standard font sized rulers for our LP/Braille ones. We did a few practice rounds so that our students who had no vision could get the hang of sending their sled (bottle cap) down the sledding ramp. We used tape to mark the sled distance. This makes it possible for our students to measure with their ruler. 

Note: we followed all of the lesson plans for learning the concepts covered in the STEM lesson. I like to use meaningful terms for our students so we are hands on as much as possible. For example, we rubbed our hands together and then palms on the table to learn about friction and we discussed units of measurement that students know for distance.

Here's how I incorporated ECC areas in this lesson:

Expanded Core instruction: Students will strengthen their understanding of sledding.

·      Compensatory skills: concept development of sledding

·      Social interaction skills: people go sledding together; social vocabulary, social etiquette

·      Independent Living Skills: what type of special clothes do you wear for sledding?

·      Orientation & Mobility: body & spatial awareness; directionality, mobility in the snow

·      Sensory efficiency: how does being outside in winter affect your senses?

·      Recreation & Leisure: exploration of sledding as a recreation activity

·      Career Education: understanding the rules or etiquette of the hill; who works at resorts?

·      Use of AT: how can you access weather reports and other information to find out more information about sledding?

·      Self-Determination: developing new skills; making preferences for different types of sledding (tubes vs. sleds/going solo or with friends)

SSTEM is a growing area for all students. Students with vision impairments do not need to be left behind! There are so many ways our students can have meaningful STEM experiences. I love that it also a great opportunity to extend learning by incorporating the Expanded Core.