First graders in Mr. Gudenius' class has been participating in a variety of STEM activities to introduce students to science, technology, and computer programming.
Students started with the "Hour of Code" introduction to computer programming in December. Students programmed various characters to make it through a maze and perform loops and tasks... some of the students persevered enough to finish all 15 challenges in the course! After returning from break, the focus has shifted to science, beginning with some activities about weather and energy. Students are keeping a weather log and will soon be doing experiments using tools to measure temperature and rainfall. They are also really enjoying hands-on circuit-building activities to learn about energy, electricity, and electronics using "snap circuit" kits the entire first grade will be sharing, thanks to a Peter A. and Vernice H. Gasser grant.