Holy Family School offers STEM initiative to youngest students
NORWICH – Holy Family School in Norwich recently introduced a STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) initiative to the school’s youngest students, in an effort to provide the foundations of problem solving and critical thinking, skills widely recognized as being essential to a 21st century education.
Holy Family School principal Lydia Brenner explains, “We wanted to start laying the groundwork for STEM as early as possible, but wanted our efforts to engage the children in fun and age-appropriate ways. That’s why I was so excited to find out what Fisher-Price offers.”
With the help of special products by educational toy-maker Fisher-Price, Holy Family is able to offer children in Early Childhood (3-4 year olds), PreK, and Kindergarten foundational instruction that will not only help them in the short term, but also foster life-long skills like critical thinking, discovery, and memory.
In a typical session using one of the new learning toys called the Code-a-Pillar, Holy Family PreK students explore the basics of coding and sequencing: they attempt to tell the motorized Code-a-pillar how to get from a starting point to an ending point using a series of interconnected segments that each contain an instruction for the Code-a-pillar to follow. The toy encourages experimentation and reasoning as the students discover which patterns work and which don’t.
“We were amazed to see how quickly the kids figured out how the Code-a-pillar worked!” says Principal Brenner. Early Childhood students had similar success using the Chameleon toy, which teaches colors and number recognition. Brenner further explains that lessons on the Smart Board are tied to the STEM toys to enhance their role in the classroom, and to help connect the fun side of STEM to the important skills they teach.
According to Fisher-Price, “Our Think & Learn toys are for a new generation of learners. Kids learn the most when they’re having a great time playing, making things up, and figuring things out. We developed these toys to be really fun to play with and build the skills outlined by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21), that give kids the best possible start.” P21 (p21.org) is the national non-profit that promotes educational experiences designed for “a globally and digitally interconnected world.
Academic achievement is a point of pride at Holy Family. The school was awarded accreditation by Middle States last year, and has demonstrated consistent improvement in state testing in recent years. In 2015-16, the percentage of Holy Family students in all grades scoring 3 or better exceeded both the New York State percentages and even scores across the Syracuse diocese. Holy Family’s early STEM initiative feeds into not only the school’s academic program, but also encourages those who may wish to try the Robotics Club, which gives students hands-on experience with STEM projects.
Holy Family School, founded in 1922, is a Middle States Accredited school that serves students in preschool through sixth grade from across Chenango County. Holy Family is a safe, secure, and caring school that fosters responsibility, self-discipline, spirituality, and academic excellence. Holy Family’s Catholic education is intended to make one’s faith living, conscious, and active through the light of instruction.
Submitted Photo
Holy Family School principal Lydia Brenner explains, “We wanted to start laying the groundwork for STEM as early as possible, but wanted our efforts to engage the children in fun and age-appropriate ways. That’s why I was so excited to find out what Fisher-Price offers.”
With the help of special products by educational toy-maker Fisher-Price, Holy Family is able to offer children in Early Childhood (3-4 year olds), PreK, and Kindergarten foundational instruction that will not only help them in the short term, but also foster life-long skills like critical thinking, discovery, and memory.
In a typical session using one of the new learning toys called the Code-a-Pillar, Holy Family PreK students explore the basics of coding and sequencing: they attempt to tell the motorized Code-a-pillar how to get from a starting point to an ending point using a series of interconnected segments that each contain an instruction for the Code-a-pillar to follow. The toy encourages experimentation and reasoning as the students discover which patterns work and which don’t.
“We were amazed to see how quickly the kids figured out how the Code-a-pillar worked!” says Principal Brenner. Early Childhood students had similar success using the Chameleon toy, which teaches colors and number recognition. Brenner further explains that lessons on the Smart Board are tied to the STEM toys to enhance their role in the classroom, and to help connect the fun side of STEM to the important skills they teach.
According to Fisher-Price, “Our Think & Learn toys are for a new generation of learners. Kids learn the most when they’re having a great time playing, making things up, and figuring things out. We developed these toys to be really fun to play with and build the skills outlined by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21), that give kids the best possible start.” P21 (p21.org) is the national non-profit that promotes educational experiences designed for “a globally and digitally interconnected world.
Academic achievement is a point of pride at Holy Family. The school was awarded accreditation by Middle States last year, and has demonstrated consistent improvement in state testing in recent years. In 2015-16, the percentage of Holy Family students in all grades scoring 3 or better exceeded both the New York State percentages and even scores across the Syracuse diocese. Holy Family’s early STEM initiative feeds into not only the school’s academic program, but also encourages those who may wish to try the Robotics Club, which gives students hands-on experience with STEM projects.
Holy Family School, founded in 1922, is a Middle States Accredited school that serves students in preschool through sixth grade from across Chenango County. Holy Family is a safe, secure, and caring school that fosters responsibility, self-discipline, spirituality, and academic excellence. Holy Family’s Catholic education is intended to make one’s faith living, conscious, and active through the light of instruction.
Submitted Photo
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