STEM Lessons and Challenges Your Students Will Love

Hand-on, inquiry-based learning is so motivating for students. They explore and use teamwork to solve problems. Your students experiment and learn that things don’t always work the first time. They learn to persevere and collaborate. The STEM Lessons and Challenges book from Evan-Moor is filled with amazing STEM lessons your students will love!

Evan-Moor STEM Lessons and Challenges

**I received a free copy of Evan-Moor STEM Lessons and Challenges e-book for 3rd grade in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. I only recommend products that I use and love. 

My students constantly beg to do STEM challenges. I only do a few each year because they take so long to plan, and it’s hard to find STEM lessons that align to my curriculum. Evan-Moor solved that problem for me. As I scrolled through the STEM Lessons and Challenges e-book, I realized that almost all of the activities fit into my science curriculum.

The Anemometer activity is perfect for my weather unit. The Blubber Glove, Bird Nest, and Hibernation Station will be perfect for our ecosystem studies later in the year. The Egg Carrier and Windmill fit perfectly with our forces and motion unit. The lessons are aligned with the grade level standards, and with 15 different lessons, you’re sure to find lots of activities that fit with your curriculum.

Since we’re in the middle of our weather unit right now, I decided to try the Anemometer lesson with my class. Each lesson is set up the same way, so let’s take a look at the parts.

Teacher Overview

The first part of each lesson is a teacher overview. This is really helpful because it gives you step-by-step directions for setting up the lesson. It gives you ideas for before, during, and after the lesson.

Science Concept and Visual Literacy

This is my favorite part of the lesson! It is a passage that explains the science concept prior to completing the STEM challenge. It ties everything back to the curriculum and other lessons you’ve been teaching.

My class learned about the different types of weather tools and their jobs. We started the STEM challenge by reading more about the atmosphere and the wind. We looked at diagrams and pictures of different types of anemometers. 

STEM Challenge

The STEM Challenge is the main part of the lesson. It consists of several different parts, so let’s take a look at each one. 

1. Suggested Materials List – The materials list is divided into three parts: Items for each group, items for the whole class, and items for testing. This is a great tool to help you set up for the lesson. The book even includes a parent newletter asking them to send in the supplies you need. All of the materials are easy to find, but if you can’t get something, you can replace it with another similar item.

2. Planning Sheet – The planning sheet explains the STEM challenge to the students and gives them space to sketch their design and talk with their groups about how they’re going to complete the activity.

3. Design Process – The Design Process sheet walks the students through the steps of plan, create, test, and evaluate. Since this was my class’s first time doing a STEM activity in this format, I walked them through each step. I gave them a set amount of time for each part, and then we stopped and talked about what they could write for each step.

4. Redesign Process – This page allows the students to think about how they could improve their design. We didn’t have time for the students to rebuild their anemometers, but we had a great discussion about things that didn’t work and ways we could fix those problems. 

Try It in Your Classroom

My students absolutely loved designing their anemometers, and I can’t wait to try another STEM lesson! The Evan-Moor STEM Lessons and Challenges books are available for every grade level. Just click the link below to check it out for the grade you teach. 

First Grade

Second Grade

Third Grade

Fourth Grade

Fifth Grade

Sixth Grade

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Also check out the Math Skill Sharpeners book from Evan-Moor.

Find out more ways to engage your students with movement.

What Do You Think?

What are your favorite STEM activities?

Let me know in the comments below.

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