Now that all of the schools participating in the Young Authors Workshop have completed the sessions with their facilitators, they’re going to share what they learned with each other and everyone else.
They’re going to do that using a zine (more on what that is later), with each classroom creating a part of a single publication, collaborating from afar. Dr. Coppins from SHARP Literacy and Adam Carr visited each of the classrooms to help the students get started on their submission.
Notre Dame primary building is just four years old. The middle school is almost 20 years old. The primary building is a dual language program. Students in K4 to 4th are taught in English and Spanish. Primary is coed, but the middle school is all girls. There are two homerooms of each class.
In 4A there are 18 girls and 2 boys. The reason for that is that many girls come to our school in 4th grade so they can enter the middle school for 5th grade. After 4th grade the boys go to a variety of schools. I teach subjects in English so in my homeroom only English is spoken.
The students do work in centers and other groupings so they are used to working in groups. Their behavior is quite good when they are working together. They enjoy the group activities. They are looking forward to Jess coming and the activities they will participate in.
Students in Matt Richardson’s workshop learned about digital privacy, which they demonstrate by covering their facesThe “Robochix” from St. Joan Antida High School paid us a visit to demonstrate their award-winning robotsNathaniel Stern presents on creating interactive multi-media images with help from a marlin hanging on the wallMichael McNeary leads the students in an engineering experiment involving batteries and spinning metal coilsDina & Marcela Garcia dress the part to teach students about the effect of sugary beverages on their teethJess Goehner leads students as they custom print their own t-shirts
On the morning of Jan 25, 2016, 4th & 5th graders from around Milwaukee gathered at Discovery World to kickoff an exciting project — SHARP Literacy’s 2016 Young Authors Workshop!
Throughout the next few months, students will be working with local professionals to engage in projects exploring STEAM, an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics.
The local professionals and project facilitators are an impressive and diverse group who have ambitious plans for the students:
Dina & Marcela Garcia, PhD candidate and health activist
Eggcellent Grillz explores the effects of sugary beverages on teeth
Nathaniel Stern, Artist and Educator at UW-Milwaukee
Creating interactive multimedia images
Matt Richardson, CEO/Visioneer at SmartWave
Telling a story with data using Human Centered Design Methods
Jess Goehner, Fashion Designer and Owner/CEO of Directive
Mono prints and screen printing tessellations
Michael McNeary, Principal Test Systems Engineer
Demonstrations using levitations, gyroscopes and magnets
On this blog, you can follow the project as it unfolds. Keep checking back throughout the next few months to hear updates from each classroom, as they share their many discoveries.
Lynda Kohler, President/CEO of SHARP Literacy, welcomes the students before they head off to engage in experiments and activities.
Full STEAM ahead!
Participating schools are 
Full STEAM Ahead! 