STEM Challenges and Books for Elementary Students During the Month of November
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STEM Challenges and Books for Elementary Students During the Month of November
Looking for some fun ways to engage in STEM and maker learning this month? November’s read-aloud selections offer hands-on learning that will keep your students exploring the seasonal changes around them, thinking creatively, and designing for a purpose.
There are so many benefits to adding a read-aloud to your STEM lessons. When we connect children’s literature to STEM and maker learning opportunities, we tap into important skills for our students including:
Problem-solving
Comprehension
Creativity
Divergent thinking
When you can captivate students by the possibility of something new and imaginative, it can lead to opportunities for learning in STEM, design and making. This can happen in your classroom by adding read-alouds to your STEM challenges.
Any book can provide a context for making, and you can implement these lessons at any time of year, but here are a few stories that are perfect during the fall and the month of November. Be sure to check out the November monthly menus to find all sorts of activities to connect to each book.
In November
In November by Cynthia Rylant explores seasonal changes for the plants and animals around us. As the air grows cold and the creatures prepare for winter, this story also explores how people gather together with their friends and families for Thanksgiving.
Explore the theme of changing seasons with the following activities:
Use recyclables to create a home for birds during the winter.
Write a poem describing your favorite things that happen in November.
Some animals store food to prepare for the long winter months. Create a device that will keep their food safe.
Get the Read Aloud STEM menu for this book here.
Fry Bread
Fry Bread by Kevin Noble Maillard is a Native American Family story that explains how everyone comes together to make fry bread. Students will be able to follow along exploring all of the five senses and all of the different ways that fry bread brings a community together. Students can do a little research and exploration with challenges like these:
Ask your family about a recipe from your culture, write down the recipe, and make it with your family.
The author of the book is a member of the Seminole Nation. Early Seminoles lived in homes called chickees. Research these, then build one using craft sticks and cardboard.
There are lots of different types of bread. Some people make pepperoni bread, banana bread, or zucchini bread. What kind of bread would you like to make? What would you need to make it?
Get the Read Aloud STEM menu for this book here.
Hero Mom
Hero Mom by Melinda Hardin explores the many different jobs that our military women and moms can do. Moms build, find missing people, work on trucks, fly airplanes, and do many other incredible jobs along with their everyday, ordinary super mom powers. This book highlights military moms who are truly heroes, real-life superheroes. After reading the book, students can explore a variety of military and Veteran’s Day related STEM challenges like these:
Veterans are people who served in the military. Do you have anyone in your family or neighborhood who has served? Send them a note of thanks!
Honoring Veteran’s Day often includes American flags. Construct a model of the flag using craft sticks, paper, and tape. Can you get it to stand up on your desk using play dough?
Create a helicopter using recyclable materials for the body and craft sticks for the rotating blades.
Get the Read Aloud STEM menu for this book here.
Thanksgiving Rules
Thanksgiving Rules by Laurie B. Friedman is the story of a little boy named Percy who is a self-proclaimed Thanksgiving pro. He explains all of the known and unknown rules that make Thanksgiving amazing. After reading this story, students can try some Thanksgiving, design-related tasks like these:
Percy draws a blueprint of Thanksgiving at his house. Create a blueprint of your Thanksgiving and include labels to describe each item.
Set a mood for your Thanksgiving celebration. Craft some place cards for the table or create a festive centerpiece using recyclable materials.
Percy has to greet everyone that comes over for Thanksgiving. Create a contraption that will help him open the door and welcome their guests.
Get the Read Aloud STEM menu for this book here.
I Voted
I Voted by Mark Shulman is a non-fiction book that explains how important it is to make choices. Some choices are simple. Some choices are harder to make. This story explains the difference between voting individually and voting within a group of people. This is a great way to explain the concept of voting to even your youngest students. A great story to read in conjunction with election season, students can try some voting-related design tasks like these:
Design a ballot and have your classmates vote on their favorite subject in school. Create a bar graph to show which one is the favorite.
Devise a contraption that will help to count all the ballots. What will your device look like? How will it keep track of the votes?
Design a brochure about why it is important to vote. Include information about elected offices and how others can get involved in the process.
Get the Read Aloud STEM menu for this book here.
Maddi’s Fridge
Maddi’s Fridge by Lois Brandt is the story of Maddi and Sofia, two best friends. They live in the same neighborhood and go to the same school, but they discover one big difference between their two families. After a full day of playing, they search for a snack. They start off at Maddi’s apartment and find nothing but empty, bare cabinets. Sofia goes home to a kitchen stocked full of food. Sofia spends the next week going through the process of trying to figure out how she can keep a promise to her best friend and also help Maddi with her food situation. This story explores the topic of poverty and hunger with the encouragement of finding others to help along the way. Your students can engage in innovative thinking and creative expression with activities like these:
The girls like to swing on the swing set in the park. Use pipe cleaners and craft sticks to construct some swings.
Research little pantries and other ways to help people with food insecurities in your community. Plan a way that your class or school can help!
Plan your favorite meal that would be good for kids. What would you make? Who would you invite over to share the meal?
Get the Read Aloud STEM menu for this book here.
This month, take some time to explore these (and other) great books. Whether learning about seasonal changes, family traditions, voting, or friendship November is a great time to engage in some hands-on maker learning experiences. For more November STEM ideas, check out our Read Aloud STEM menus.
Our November read-aloud STEM menus are full of activities for each of these books that will keep your students engaged and asking for more! Get the STEM Menus here!
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