Westfield High School sophomore Taylor King helps preschoolers balance polar bears on ice floes in a counting game.
Reminder Publishing photos by Amy Porter, submitted
WESTFIELD — WHS biomedical pathway teacher Karen Saunders brought her 10th-grade anatomy and physiology students to Fort Meadow Early Childhood Center on Jan. 27 to run preschool STEM stations for 3 and 4 year olds based on author Jan Brett’s picture books.
Kindergarten through fourth grade literacy coach Kelly O’Donnell and pre-K to grade 4 STEM coach Lindsey Ayers said the students read the books in their classrooms before the activities, all based on themes including science, reading and engineering.
Ayers said all of the preschools in Westfield, including at the YMCA and Boys & Girls Club did the same activities.
Saunders said her students had run STEM tables for preschoolers at the Southampton Road Elementary School in the fall and had such a great time that they asked if they could participate again.
The stations all had plenty of excitement for the students. Sophomore Molly Boisseau read “The Mitten,” and had the students vote on which animal goes in the mitten first. In Snowy Shapes, Keira McArdle mixed together baking soda and conditioner to create “snow,” which the preschoolers then made shapes out of with cookie cutters.
Natalie Martins, Anooshah Shahid and Saunders helped save gingerbread friends by melting the ice cube they were in with salt water.
At other stations, Aubrey Wilson helped the 3-year-olds follow a path to put their animal puppets back in a mitten, and Kylie Hevey helped students to build a home for a gingerbread baby out of magnatiles.
“Today’s STEM Day has been an incredible experience for our preschool students, filled with hands-on learning and excitement,” said Fort Meadow Principal Jonathan Scagel.
“A special thanks to Ms. Saunders and her talented Westfield High School 10th grade biomedical pathway students, whose leadership and enthusiasm in running the STEM stations has made this day truly special. It’s a wonderful example of our older students mentoring the younger ones, fostering curiosity and inspiring the next generation of innovators,” Scagel said.
