The Best STEM Challenge for Primary Grades

Improve Student Learning with a STEM Challenge

Are you interested in STEM challenges? Do you want your students and their families to have fun while learning about the different aspects of S.T.E.A.M? (Yes, we added the “A” for art because one of us is an art teacher!) If you do, then the Sammie STEAM Summer Challenge is for you! We have created Sammie STEAM the adventure dog. He is designed to look like a cross between the scientist Albert Einstein and the artist Leonardo da Vinci. Sammie loves to complete activities and projects in all of the STEAM areas. The list of challenges that come with this resource are all aligned to either the Next Generation Science Standards or the Common Core Standards.

The Top Three Reasons Students LOVE this Challenge

Students get to participate in a wide variety of activities with their families! Parents, grandparents, and even siblings have fun!
Students have a choice of activities to choose from. While a list is provided, they can still come up with their own ideas. There ideas of places to visit, science activities to do, and things to create and build.
Students can earn badges and glue them on Sammie’s lab coat for each area in which they complete and document a challenge. If they earn all five badges they earn a certificate.

Why Teachers Love this STEM Challenge

Teachers love this challenge because students keep on learning even when they are not in the classroom! Students return from breaks enthused about what they have done! They are eager to share what they have accomplished; whether it be traveling to exciting places and making observations, engineering things, doing science experiments, or creating masterpieces! Teachers who have had students send them pictures of them in action with Sammie STEAM have instant bulletin boards! Teachers have also reported that families have had a very positive response to the activities, which aren’t your typical paper and pencil tasks.