STEAM & Spanish: A new type of lesson

Our school is a STEAM school and we are encouraged to integrate STEAM concepts in our everyday lessons. That seems like a pretty tall order as a Spanish teacher but, I decided that if done well, it could also be a super fun time! So, I set to work creating lessons that I felt held true to my subject while also bringing in science concepts. "Alex el Científico" is what I came up with.

My goal since becoming an elementary level Spanish teacher last year (after 15 years at the high school level) was to create different lesson tracks for each grade that I teach, K-5. This would ensure that each year students are learning new things and participating in new and exciting activities. However, creating good quality lessons takes time and it has been a slow process. I am proud to say that I have now gotten a really great start on separating all of the grades into different learning tracks and I have managed to create three lessons for my new Kindergarten series and three for my new STEAM focuses series. Both continue with my the use of my alpaca named Alex for continuity purposes and I think they are both pretty fab. 

In "Alex el Científico", students are introduced to a culturally significant concept that ties into a science based activity. Students learn about the cultural side and science side together and then participate in experiments and activities using focus vocabulary in the target language. I just finished my first week using these lessons and I have to say that they were a smashing success. I decided that second grade was a perfect audience for my Spanish/Science mashup and we started out with a lesson about cloud forests in Costa Rica and the water cycle. 

Students made a rain cloud in a cup and a water cycle in a bag all while using key vocabulary like "nube, agua, precipitación, condensación, evaporación and lluvia". It was a ton of fun and I think they definitely absorbed some of the Spanish content.

You can purchase the entire lesson on my TpT including the lesson plan, water cycle worksheet, flashcards, cloud in a jar experiment sheet and presentation. Let me know how the activity goes for you and be sure to check out my other STEAM & Spanish combo lessons including a Don Quijote + Windmill Science and Galapagos + Animal Adaptations!

Cloud Forests & The Water Cycle Lesson