Goessel Public Library

It’s been a busy morning! This camp was all about construction. First we used tongue depressors to create catapults and exploding stick structures. The structures are held together by the tension that is created when weaving the depressors together. We tried making the longer chain reaction but that’s going to take more practice and time. Finally, kits from the Construction STEM tub were used to build transformers and ramps. We had a great time!

Today was a sun powered day at the library! First we worked with Nature Print Paper. Objects were placed on special paper and then put into the sun. After five minutes the objects were removed and rinsed in water for a minute. We made some pretty neat prints! Then we broke down in to groups of 2-3 kids and put together some solar kits. Watching the kids work together was really awesome.

Solar energy! The preschool-2nd graders listened to Sun and Moon by Lindsey Yankey (where the Moon discovered night wasn’t so bad!) and The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf by Mark Teague. We also danced to the Mister Sun Song! The 3rd-5th listened to Curious George Discovers the Sun by H. A. Rey. Then we all made solar ovens just like George! Except we can melt used crayons into new creations not veggie lasagna! As our last day finale, we ate concrete. sand. dirt and rocks! Don’t worry it was actually ice cream, vanilla wafer and Oreo crumbs and m&ms!

Taking care of our feathered friends, we created bird feeders today! Despite a lower attendance post holiday parties, we had a blast today! We read silly bird books, like Telephone by Mac Barnett and Chicken’s to the Rescue by John Himmelman. We even danced to Rockin’ Robin!

This week we are back to building AND using our imagination. Our focus was on the Eiffel Tower. Preschoolers used straws to create their towers. K-5th grades did a STEM activity – built towers out of gum drops and tooth picks! They were very creative – no two towers were the same! However, we did learn that triangles are the strongest shape. The Eiffel Tower was built with a lot of triangles – in fact the skeleton of the Statue of Liberty also has a lot of triangles. Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was a French civil engineer and architect. Eiffel designed both the skeleton and the Eiffel Tower as well as a number of other bridges for the French railway network, most famously the Garabit viaduct. The Eiffel Tower built for the 1889 World’s Fair was only supposed to stand for 20 years! It’s scientific usefulness saved it as it was used by French scientists to study astronomy, meteorology, aerodynamics and physiology and test experiments such as Foucault’s Pendulum and the radio

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Build a Better World – Taking care of our Earth Today we read books about how we can take care of the Earth – or “be green”. Then we created a Lorax planter to remind us to : recycle, reuse and conserve.

Build a Better World Preschoolers listened to stories about construction and guessed what was being built.. K-5th listened to Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building by Deborah Hopkinson. The Preschool-2nd then built a paper crane while the 3-5th built marble runs.

This Thursday we had the last After School Program STEAM – Magnets. We explored magnetism by making a DIY Wooly Willy, magnetic mazes and a pipe cleaner discovery bottle.

On Friday we had our last Preschool Story Time of the school year. We celebrated by reading about cupcakes, coloring cupcakes and of course eating cupcakes! Thank you Mrs. Susi for making cupcakes! They were delectable!

Today’s After School Program STEAM Campers learned about circuits. Circuits need to be circular – they need to have a complete pathway for electrons to flow through. We needed to have conductive material (we used tin foil) to go from the power source to the light and then back again so the electrons can go out and come back. A battery gave the force to make the electrons move through our circuits. When the electrons got to the Christmas light, they gave it power to make it work. Our circuits also have a switch so that it could be turned on and off – we used brass brads. This weeks circuit was a series – which means all of the parts are connected on the same pathway one after another. Next week we will try parallel circuits.

At STEM Camp #2 — 3D, we learned to use the Tinkercad program to print our initials and followed some of the tutorial on how to make a hole in a shape. Only one set of initials were printed today because it takes time.

In the next couple weeks, the items we made and some chosen from pre-made programs will be printed.

We received the 3D printer from a grant last fall – anyone can come in and use it for FREE!