The district hosted their annual K-8 STEAM night at Elwood Middle School on Jan. 17! For this year’s theme, Read It, Dream It, STEAM It, students were invited to bring the worlds of storybook fantasy to life through experimenting with science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics.

“We were looking for a way to integrate literacy and our typical science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM) themes together,” said Technology Instructional Specialist Krista Albrecht, “and we thought it would be interesting for students to participate in activities related to some of their favorite picture books and also to be exposed to some new titles.”

Students and parents journeyed through the school holding a map of the available stations that each contained a different activity. Students had the opportunity to use engineering skills to build a “campsite” for a family that got lost in the woods of a storybook, experiment with heart-rate monitors that tracked resting and active heart rates in real-time, experience augmented reality using “Merge Cubes”, enter a digital star lab, and much more.

At one of the stations, “If I Built a Car,” students were hard at work building rubber band propeller cars that ran on stored energy. Parents stood by, marveling at their children’s innovation, and commented on the refreshing nature of STEAM-focused events.

“The second the email hits home, my son is already asking to be signed up,” said Mrs. Calanese, mother to RJ, an Elwood Middle School student. “Today he reminded me that it started at 4:30—and that we shouldn’t be late!”