Many thanks to Kathy Larson from Bloomer for this terrific guest post!
I started the Homeschool Club with the
thought that I would like to reach a new group in the community. Bloomer has a
local homeschool group that meets twice a month. I talked to several of the
moms and we agreed that the kids might need some experiences with public
speaking and working in groups that I could potentially provide them with at
the library. I agreed to host the Homeschool Club the second Friday of the
month. We typically get 20-25 kids with the
local group. I put it in our monthly newsletter and on our website calendar
each month. I’ve had one family join who does not participate in the local
homeschool group, but I haven’t actively looked for other homeschool families.
Each month I plan a different activity for
the kids. The first several months, we worked on public speaking--
the kids brought an All About Me poster to present in front of the group, next they brought in something
they loved, collected or were passionate about and they talked about that in
front of the group, which went even better, once they got rolling with questions for each other. After some research about teaching public speaking, in November, I had kids come prepared to answer the question "Would you rather live in a library, zoo or museum for the rest of your life?". They worked in groups to make posters. After the
posters were finished, each member of the group presented their reasoning to
the rest of the kids (this worked out awesomely).
In December we did reader’s theater skits
of The Three Little Pigs and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.
We practiced each skit once, made three
houses for a backdrop in groups, and then they performed the two skits for
their parents.
|
Three Little Pigs dramatized |
In January, I had them work on a STEAM
activity in a group. I initially had them line up by age, they had to do this
themselves with no adult help (until the end). Then they counted off by fours
so there would be a variety of ages in each group.
|
winning group--18.5 inches! |
We went over expectations for group work, and
then they were told the plan. “You are going to get a bunch of marshmallows,
small & large, and some spaghetti noodles. Your job, AS A GROUP, is to make
the tallest tower you can make in 20 minutes. I saw this idea on a few
different Pinterest pages. The first thing I gave them was colored pencils and
paper. They were instructed to draw out their plans. After they all had
individual plans I had them talk as a group about what ideas they were going to
use in their group plan. After they had their plans, I gave them the materials
they would need for the project. After 10 minutes of construction, I reminded
them that it was a group project. Many of them were working by themselves. When
there was five minutes left, I told them that they MUST remember it is a GROUP
effort.
At the end of the 20 minutes I used a yard
stick to measure their structures. The group with the tallest structure (which
had exhibited the best teamwork, perhaps coincidentally) talked about their structure
and process. I asked them questions from the group cooperation sheet. I also
had them say what they liked about the other group member’s ideas. I had each
group talk about their structures with similar questions.
Labels: homeschoolers, steam