STEAM Curriculum - Yavneh Day School

Science Technology Engineering Art Math

As part of our focus on curricular integration, Yavneh incorporates STEAM as the backbone of a Yavneh education.

STEAM (the acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) is an approach that is built on creating relevance to learning by focusing on the relationship between disciplines and can be evidenced across all subjects taught at Yavneh.

Yavneh students are encouraged to become the next STEAM pioneer.

STEAM Skills are Complementary & Symbiotic

STEAM, while a relatively new term, is not a passing fad nor a teaching trend. It is at the crux of most innovation throughout history. Before the Mona Lisa and before the Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci was creating blueprints for the first-ever flying machine. He was a mathematician, an engineer and also an artist. While these skills have been divided over time, they are in fact complementary and symbiotic – and that is what we teach our students.

As part of the STEAM process, students are taught to use the Design Thinking process from Stanford’s D. School. Design Thinking is a human-centered technique for solving problems in a creative and innovative way. It incorporates steps focused on empathy and risk taking, thus making the process more relevant to students.

Family Day of CodeFamilies come together for our annual Family Day of Code, Tinkering and Play and participate in coding, rocket launching, escape room, robotics and more.

Robotics CompetitionMiddle school students participated in a worldwide competition using Dot and Dash robots. The competition focused on solving different challenges related to the natural habitats of certain animals. The Yavneh robotics team received 1st place (out of 720) entries in California.

House Building ChallengeFifth graders were challenged to build a house of the "3 Little Pigs" that the "Wolf" (hairdryer) could not blow down.

Robotics ElectiveAs part of the Robotics elective, middle school students explore Arduino boards and other components to code. This program is run by Yavneh in partnership with CIJE.

Tracking the WindFirst grade explored weather and learned about wind and how to understand the wind directions. Students built their own wind vane to take home and track the wind.

Properties & States of Matter6th grade explored the properties and states of matter by examining how similar looking liquids can have different properties.

MeteorologyFor the 5th grade unit on meteorology, students learned about the layers of gases in the atmosphere and the concept of density. They created a density column with water and sugar to represent the five layers of atmosphere.

The World of InsectsSecond graders dive into the the world of insects. They learn about the life cycle of mealworms. And for other creatures, they built insect hotels that will be placed outside in our garden area.

First Grade RoboticsDuring Robotics in first grade, students learn the basics of looping to make a stronger foundation to understand multiplication.

The Human BodyFor their integrated learning unit about the human body, third graders learned the scientific names of bones, practiced Hebrew vocabulary, read passages, performed a STEAM exploration about joints using legos, and found prayers from the Siddur, all relating to the Human Body.

Ship BuildingIn preparation for their upcoming field trip to San Francisco to visit tall ships, 5th graders built their own ships. They tested them to see if they could float and then made their own "transatlantic journey" in the pool. They also challenged the boats against wind, "waves" and "cargo" using Lego figures.

Making Recycled PaperSecond graders learned how to make recycled paper. Connecting this topic with reading week, the students wrote a book using the recycled paper for the cover.

Electric Paper Circuit BuildingFor the unit on electricity, 4th grade explored parallel and series circuits and looked at how an alarm circuit works. They also discovered the advantage and disadvantages associated with each type of circuit and built their own electric paper circuits.

Middle School Innovation LabIn Middle School Innovation Lab, students are creating products or services to help solve problems. Currently, students are working on a full sized challah slicer and "go to" vending machines.

It's Magnetic!While learning about magnetism, 4th grade explored the properties of magnets during STEAM by doing a variety of hands on experiments.

Ice Cream FactoryFor STEAM, first grade learned about the science behind making ice cream. They researched the processes and systems of how to implement a factory. The students hosted an ice cream factory in their classroom for their families and the rest of the Yavneh students.