Session Two:
July 9 -July 20, 2018
Theme: The Habitat Habit
Field Trip: Sweetbriar Nature Center: Date TBD. Click here for Permission Slip.
Click here for Emergency Contact Form. All permission slips and emergency contact forms need to be filled out and submitted prior to the trip.
Parent Visitation Day: Friday, July 20th, 10am
Citizen Science Activity: Habitat Network
- Students will use a team-designed native garden to collect data on the species included and invited, while learning the vast importance of providing native habitats for Long Island’s native species.
News from the Digital Den with Miss Stacey
This week in Extreme STEAM Science Kids our campers are exploring the Habitat Habit theme. We had a fun visit from Shadow Moon, Ms. Stacey’s leopard gecko and we discussed how his pretend habitat must mimick his natural habitat. In the Digital Den we literally put Extreme STEAM Science Kids on the map! Using a Citizen Science app called the Habitat Network, our campers helped to identify and outline different types of habitats on and around our grounds. This helps scientists to identify where different species are and where native habitats are needed. Our campers used the Habitat Network to help plan out the native garden we will be creating later on in the summer. They learned about how animals have adapted to their habitats so it is important to grow plants that they need to thrive. Our campers also observed penguins and some African animals in their natural habitats using world Webcams. We wrapped up the week with some habitat gaming to help our campers match organisms’ needs with their environment. If you or your child would like to continue the digital play at home, remember to visit our blog!
News from Robotics 1 with Juliana
I can’t believe Week 3 flew by! Time is going by so fast with our ESSK kids, since they are keeping so busy! This week, we started off fine-tuning our coding skills and played an awesome game called “Capture the Kingdom”. The children had a large playing board with different value playing cards and had to get to the other teams kingdom while coding and trying to get the most amount of points. This was very challenging and they continue to impress me with their coding abilities after such a short time! We also have some engineering going on with our programmers using PVC pipes and connectors to create their own mazes and then programming DASH to get thru the maze successfully. To end the week we focused on this block’s theme of HABITATS and worked on creating habitats and life cycles while having DASH travel through as we learned more about them!
News from Robotics 2 with Alan
This week, our campers learned more electronics and programming. Throughout the whole week, the campers learned how to use a multiple-color RGB LED to program a rainbow-color pattern, and how to use a potentiometer to control the brightness of a LED. In addition, the campers learned how to use a thermistor to measure its surrounding temperature. Everything they learned this week will prepare them to be ready to work on their “The Habitat Habit” project for next week.
News from Engineering with Kyle
In engineering class, students explored building with recycled materials we find around us every day and how they can be repurposed to eliminate their wasteful impact. The students built their own insect habitats from recycled plastic bottles and were encouraged to plan their designs to be efficient and reduce building waste. We are going to use these habitats to capture and identify species of insects native to Long Island.
News from Science with Tina
Hello and welcome to our second block of Extreme STEAM Science Kids. Our theme for this block is Habitat Habit. We started the week discussing the habitats of many different life forms, including our very own habitat. We learned how extraordinary beavers are and how they not only take care of their own needs but create habitats for many other animals and plants. The children created a creature and had to decide what it needed to be comfortable in it’s environment. As the week continued we learned how butterflies help our environment, learned the different species that inhabit Long Island and documented data for our Nature’s Notebook Observatory application. In hopes of attracting more butterflies to our area, we made butterfly feeders and strategically placed them all over Park Shore grounds. As always we took some time to tend to our gardens and space tomatoes. This week we planted string beans, zucchini and, just to brighten our area, some sunflowers. Checking into the Hydroponic garden, it is growing incredibly fast and we may be able to make a salad soon! Until next week, enjoy the lazy days of summer.
News from Artistic Design with Lisa
Welcome to our new session, The Habitat Habit! For this theme the kids were able to learn more about environments and how different creatures can survive and thrive in them. The young artists for their first challenge were given an empty bug jar. Their job was to imagine and draw what kind of insects or animals could be held in them and what habitats they need. Some kids went the traditional route of fireflies, ants and butterflies, while others focused on diverse terrains such as deserts and bodies of water! For their second project, the campers were given an opportunity to visit The Cave in the science building to do some live sketching and watercolor of the various aquatic creatures’ right under their noses. They enjoyed getting up close and personal while learning to train their eyes on painting from real life. Lastly, the kids had the chance to create 3D dioramas of their favorite animals in their natural surroundings. The campers were encouraged to tackle animals that are native to Long Island but not limited to just their immediate surroundings. Overall, everyone was incredibly imaginative and let their creativity flow with each new project they were introduced to!