I'm now a STEM Academy Librarian

So what does that mean - well it means a lot actually.  We applied in our district to be the first STEM Academy. We got it and things started moving.  First about 35 of us started the process to get our STEM certification from the National Institute for STEM Education.  It took months and months for us to do our observations and then do each module.  There were 38 in all.  I'm proud to say I'm the first librarian in the STATE of Texas to have this certification.  They weren't 100% sure but I may have been the first in the US.  Whoot Whoot!!!!  I'll take that.

So I thought I needed to step up my game in the library.  I'm still only in Specials rotation for Kindergarten and 2nd grade which are both in the afternoon.  My morning are total flex.  Most of it is spent with 1st grade coming to stations during their Daily 5 time from their classroom.

So I decided to revamp Cozy Corners, which you can go back and read about here.  I changed them from Cozy Corners to Investigation Stations.  I tried to incorporate more engineering things into them.  I have spent a lot of my Scholastic Book fair money/points buying things for these stations.  I also made a bunch of them myself and some I bought on TPT.  Yes I took the easy way out.  There are some great lego STEM mats and Play dough mats I found.

I included some pictures of the the titles of all the stations and some of them and how I store them.  Some aren't appropriate for Kindergarten so to make it easier for them I put a big Orange K on the ones they can use.

If you have read my post in the past you know I have sensory tubs, skill tubs and the challenge lab.  I still have all of those things as well.  You can go back and read about them as well. Contact me with any questions.

hoffmank@lisd.net

Kathy