BY AMANDA PEVEY
ELMORE/AUTAUGA NEWS
Coosada Elementary School held their 1st all day STEM event on Friday, November 12th, 2021. S.T.E.M. stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The event lasted throughout the school day and was fun for the children that were in grades Pre-K thru 2nd grade.
Heather Perdue was in charge of the STEM day activities. She is the Computer Teacher and the Technology Coordinator for Coosada Elementary School. Perdue is also the head of the STEM committee with four other teachers, Courtney Gagnon, Rachel Fisher, Megan Moore, and Deborah Johnston.
The STEM event is a great day for children to do hands on activities with their classmates and enjoy working together as a group to accomplish their assignment.
Special guests were invited to attend the STEM event and interact with the kids. A special thank you goes to Perdue for inviting the partners to this event.
Special guests included Wendell Saxon, Elmore County School Board Member; Janet Krantz, Pastor of Robinson Springs United Methodist Church; and Chamber of Commerce member Minister for Robinson Springs United Methodist Church and Chamber of Commerce member; Vanessa Brown, Shay Atchison, and Melissa Easley; Elmore County Technology Integration Specialists and Steve McKenzie, Elmore County Director of Elementary Education.
Some STEM activities the visitors observed were disguising a Turkey, habitat for a Turkey, coding with mice, leaf hunt, leaf art, color by number on their Chromebooks, playdoh smash, Lego competitions, making a boat to see if it could float, making a paper chain, egg drop, making a pencil holder, and bubble math.
Children from Pre-K to 2nd grade were able to use their imagination and create things and do things that they wanted as long as they followed the tasks they were assigned.
Kay Yarnell, 1st grade teacher at Coosada Elementary, spoke with the EAN about the challenges children face coming into 1st grade..
“Last year during the COVID pandemic, these children were 4 and 5 year olds that could not share, or communicate with one another because they were separated apart from each other. Now, coming into 1st grade as 6-year-olds, they are able to work together more but it’s been a challenge because they are not used to doing it. When the children are told to do a task and complete it, it puts a lot of pressure on the child, but for today during the STEM Day event they have no pressure at all. They are able to collaborate, to design, to work together, and use their imagination to build something with their own ideas,” said Yarnell.
STEM Day is incorporating Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math by using hands on activities for the child to do in class and to work with one another. They also are able to use their own ideas, and imagination to create something amazing as well.
“I want to thank all the teachers for an amazing day. Their hard work and dedication to the students made this day possible. Also I want to thank the visitors that came out to our school to see all of the amazing things we are doing here,” said Perdue said.
For more information about Coosada Elementary School, please visit their website at: https://coosadaelemelmoreal.schoolinsites.com or call the office at (334) 285- 0273. The school is located at 5260 Airport Road in Millbrook, Alabama.
