Dear parents and guardians,
It’s wonderful to see that more than 10 weeks into our distance learning plan, our educators aren’t running out of STEAM. Far from it. Our teachers have shown great ingenuity in bringing hands-on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math lessons into the home.
Students have risen to the challenge, too. Just look at those taking part in Daniel Webster Magnet School’s two-week STEAMposium, held this year in virtual space.
You can see them on
the school’s website
under Distance Learning Plan. In the site’s virtual photo albums, you’ll see students posing proudly with the blanket forts, boats and bridges they have built, birds’ nests they’ve assembled, homemade ice cream they’ve whipped up, and so much more.
“The STEAMposium includes grade-level challenges, indoor and outdoor activities, writing reflections, and an activity tracker to engage students in thinking like engineers,” Principal Melissa Passarelli says. “They use their imaginations to tackle problems, ask questions, make plans and test and revise their ideas.”
This week, students in grades 2 through 5 met online with actual engineers to hear about the work they do and how it applies to our daily lives.
Ms. Passarelli reports that the students asked insightful questions: How did the engineers enter their chosen fields? What are the most challenging parts of their jobs? What skills do they use as engineers? Some savvy students even took the opportunity to ask for pointers on how they could improve their projects from the grade-level challenges.
“The STEAMposium is pushing students' thinking,” Ms. Passarelli said. “They’re using their imaginations and their creative problem-solving and expanding their reasoning skills in science and mathematics.”
We’ll continue to let you know about all the ways our amazing teachers are keeping alive the students’ joy in learning across the City School District of New Rochelle in these difficult times. Meanwhile, we want to t
hank Ms. Passarelli and Webster’s amazing STEAM team that put together this enriching program for Webster’s students: Kathy Coyne, Magnet Facilitator; Sandra Galano, Science Teacher; Dawn Huston, Teacher of Technology; Lisa Mastroserio, Art Teacher; and Jennifer Meyer, Literacy Teacher.
Thank you,
