Superintendent Update

As we head into Winter Break, LASD is launching a new newsletter to highlight the amazing STEM education our students are experiencing in our schools, even in distance learning. Thanks to the amazing teamwork from our incredible staff and teachers, volunteers and the Los Altos Education Foundation, our students are able to explore their creativity and STEM education through many fun projects.

This unusual holiday break provides a great opportunity to celebrate your child's achievements. We hope this STEM update provides some inspiration to explore, build and design with your student over the Winter Break.

We wish you a Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

LASD STEM gives students an opportunity to build, explore, and connect to the world around them. Even though the STEM lab is not open, students are still provided a STEM experience at home. Bags of supplies are sent home, so students can participate in a STEM project or build. Thank you to all the volunteers that made this happen.

Students can experience STEM in several different ways this year. Every trimester, each grade level will have a STEM project that is integrated into a subject area, meaning science, math, ELA, and/or social studies. Students will also have a build experience, where they will create, problem-solve, and iterate. Another way a student will see STEM is through our district-wide STEM Challenge! Each trimester the school will come together for this challenge. This challenge is for all ages! Their designs will be shared with the school community. Check out what students did for trimester 1.

2nd-grade students explored a variety of technologies that solved a problem in everyday life. They learned that all technologies have various parts that work together to solve a problem, and then they brainstormed some new parts to improve an invention they use every day - a backpack. This picture shows a backpack that includes a jetpack.

Students assembled their very own Solar Jitterbug. Utilizing their problem-solving skills, students persevered trying different ideas to make their “critter” move or find better design solutions.

Students built an enhanced pinwheel to measure mechanical energy that can be obtained from moving air. They made the pinwheel spin by holding the device while walking or using the “wind” from a fan.

Using the engineering design process, students designed and built a floating Aztec chinampa (floating garden). One of the students reflected, “One challenge I faced was making the chinampa float because the dirt kept weighing it down. Another challenge would be that the take kept on slipping off, so I had to use rubber bands and “weaving” the popsicle sticks into the strawberry basket.”

Applying their learning around thermal energy transfer, students designed a container that could hold their popsicle and keep it cool for a designated number of minutes determined by their teacher.

Students researched different architectural designs around the world and recreated them using materials around the house. One 2nd-grade student built the Neuschwanstein Castle and another student built the Burj Khalifa using pencils. It is hard to pick the original!

“My favorite part was making the center building and the drawbridge. I learned that it is hard to make a castle.”

Here is a sneak peek of a couple of projects for trimester 2...

A big part of our STEM program is computer science. Students starting in kindergarten learn to code. We celebrated computer science week with the “Hour of Code,” along with millions of other students across the world! Students were coding in their computer science class, during lunch, and after school. Although the hour of code is over, students still can go to the LASD Computer Science site to try out different projects. Check out some of the projects students created.

Thanks to funding from LAEF, every LASD student experiences STEM education and has the opportunity to learn to code through the computer science program. A huge thanks to our community for its contributions to LAEF. If you have not had the chance to donate this year, please consider a contribution of any amount: https://laefonline.org/District/1110-Untitled.html