Top Ten K-5 STEM-C™ free or inexpensive websites for teachers

At Entelechy Education, LLC, we embrace the K-5 STEM-C™ philosophy, which combines STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education with character education in the K-5 literacy curriculum.  Here are some of our favorite websites that support our current and planned titles.

1. At Entelechy Education, LLC, teachers will find a host of teaching aids related to the STEM/character education titles.  After reading Where’s Green?, download the FREE accompanying learning guide at EnteleKey™ Learning Guides.  (Grades K-1)

2. Find interactive simulations at http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/category/by-level/elementary-school, which show children how many things work. After reading What’s the Matter? (pub date Summer 2013), show this video on the basics of the states of matter: http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/states-of-matter-basics  (Grades 2-3)

3. The Character Education Partnership offers many resources for teaching about character education.  After reading Oxygen Finds Friends (pub date Fall, 2013), and discussing tolerance and differences, try this lesson plan on celebrating differences: http://www.character.org/lessons/lesson-plans/elementary/allen-creek-elementary-school/  (Grades 4-5)

4. NASA has many FREE teaching aids at http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/ After reading The Patient Planets (pub date Winter 2013), supplement your unit on the solar system and space exploration with this lesson plan: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/educ/docs/Lesson%202%20Grades%201-3_FINAL.pdf  (Grades K-1)

5. The Coral Reef Adventure film website at http://coralfilm.com/ has many teaching aids and games for children to help them learn about the ecology of reefs.  After reading The Rhythm of the Reef (pub date 2014), show them the associated video available at http://coralfilm.com/dvd.html.  (Grades 2-3)

6. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has links to lesson plans on money and financial planning at http://www.treasury.gov/about/education/pages/Lesson-Plans-for-Teachers.aspx After reading A Money Garden (pub date 2014), download “Money Math: Lessons for Life” at http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/tools/tools_moneymath.htm and learn how to become a millionaire! (Grades 4-5)

7. The Texas Tech University T-STEM center offers many lesson plans for teachers, including a unit on robotics at http://www.depts.ttu.edu/tstem/curriculum/robotics/robotics_content.php .  After reading A Robot Did My Homework (pub date 2014), download an ethics lesson plan at http://www.depts.ttu.edu/tstem/curriculum/robotics/ethics_robotics.php  (Grades K-1)

8. Renewable energy will fuel the future.  Find lesson plans on solar, wind, hydroelectric, and other renewable sources of energy at http://www.depts.ttu.edu/tstem/curriculum/robotics/robotics_content.php. After reading Ellie’s Electric Engine (pub date 2014), study the advantages of renewable energy at http://www.infinitepower.org/pdf/No2_96-806B.pdf. (Grades 2-3)

9. Crayola has developed many lesson plans for teachers using their materials at http://www.crayola.com/for-educators.aspx.   After reading The Balanced Bridges (pub date 2015), create your own prototype bridge for the EnteleTrons™ using this lesson plan: http://www.crayola.com/lesson-plans/bridge-builders-lesson-plan/  (Grades K-1)

10. For a myriad of free and inexpensive teaching aids for all subjects and levels, go to www.teacherspayteachers.com. Look for STEM-C™ resources to help you teach character education to children of all ages like “12 Guides to Speech and Action with Children” at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/12-Guides-to-Speech-and-Action-with-Children.  Also find other aids for older students such as “Creative Options for Writing Assignments in Middle School Science” at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Creative-Options-for-Writing-Assignments-in-Middle-School-Science. Or explore literacy topics like “Comma Sense” at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Comma-Sense.

To get information when each Entelechy Education, LLC titles is released, sign up here:  http://www.entelechyed.com/contact_us.

Weave STEM education into your Literacy Curriculum with The EnteleTrons™

STEM education focuses on an active student-centered learning environment. But how do you introduce STEM topics to children who have had little exposure to the S, T, and E? Because of extensive testing of math and language arts, children seem to feel that these subjects are the only important subjects in their educational development. Teachers struggle every week to find time for science lessons in their overloaded curriculum plan. Entelechy Education, LLC has a plan to help teachers connect their literacy lessons with STEM concepts and character education in one fun, easy-to-read series featuring appealing characters called The EnteleTrons™.

How does this work? Using one of our books, find where it fits into your curriculum. For example, Where’s Green? could be used in the literacy lesson on alliteration. (shimmering shadows, little leaves) It can also be used in the Science Discovery Center for a unit on rainbows. Still not sure where this book will fit in? Then consider the valuable lesson of cooperation within a group that the characters present to young readers. (When "Green" leaves the rainbow, many problems arise for the rest of the colors.) So there you have it: Alliteration, rainbows, and cooperation all in one 32-page book for readers in grades K-2.

But remember the first sentence of this blog? STEM education focuses on active learning. Help your children to understand the order of colors in a rainbow in this fun, active lesson: Attach streamers in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple to a yard stick. Swirl them around to feel like "Ellie the Electron" in the middle of the tornado.

Still not convinced? Look below at this chart outlining the lessons you can present with just one of our books.  Each book aligns with Core Content Standards. Find more ideas for active STEM lessons at our EnteleKey Learning Guides.

Early Literacy = Early Nurturing

According to Dr. Barry Zuckerman, founder of Reach Out and Read, "Research has shown that the first five years of life are critical to a child's language development. Reading to a young child, even before a baby can hold a book, will help the child develop a love of books because she will associate them with being on her mother's lap and hearing her mother's voice."

Wow - that sounds like classical conditioning to me. How can a kid lose if he or she associates reading with early nurturing? What a simple, yet important concept for new parents to understand!

Reach Out and Read brings books to children in doctor's offices who give them age-appropriate reading material. It will expand to 100 U.S. bases by 2013, in support of Joining Forces, a White House initiative to honor and support America's service members and their families. What better place to begin helping children than with those who must accept a parent's deployment. Those parents can easily record a story for a child and then have the home parent play the recording while the child looks at the book.

Watch this video to see the 2011 information and read EnteleTrons books to your children - they develop critical thinking and personal interaction skills.