Straws & Connectors #TeacherGiveaway (X 11/9/14)

Finding time in your day and curriculum to provide students with relevant STEM activities gets more difficult each year.  Students cannot be expected to sit at a desk like dutiful little soldiers is not good for anyone, students or teachers.  Can you sit all day and concentrate on the information to ultimately digest and retain that same information?  Of course not, so why in the world should students be expected to?

Everyday toys can be turned into the most A*M*A*Z*I*N*G learning experiences that will last a lifetime.  Anyone ever had a student come back to tell you they remember sitting at their desks with a book as a treasured experience?  The Roylco Straws and Connectors let you be the AWESOME teacher you are with concrete experiences that are FUN!

Our initial goal using the Roylco Straws and Connectors was teamwork.  As the students were shown the box of Straws & Connectors, the boat pictured on the box was very enticing for many students.  Placing the various instructions on the doc camera for the class to view, the divisions began.  The hot air balloon was calling out to many students.

Dividing the class into two groups because we only had two sets of the Straws and Connectors, students enjoyed the opportunity to pull the pieces apart in order to use them.

Assembly directions for the various items the set will build were a bit challenging requiring much trial and error.  We under-estimated the size of the items which turned out to be quite large because the straws are quite long.  Our team work lesson was much larger than we expected.  Due to the various colors of straws and connectors, many wanted to make their creation one or two colors which is not an option because most of the straws and connectors are needed to complete the various objects.

How can you build something and not get in and play in the object?  We encountered that issue when we completed the hot air balloon at home.  But we were so PROUD of our accomplishment.

My little testers wanted to build a “fort” (of course)!  Combining the two sets, the fort for two creation contained a floor, sides and top in order to build the sturdiest structure possible.  Since we did this part at home, we added the sheet to complete our “fort”, adding pillows to the floor, and notice the “door opening.”   Notice the drooping top?  The sheet was a bit heavy for the structure.

Straws and Connectors can be used to create simple square towers to graph the amount of squares equal to the height of individual students that can be expanded to see how tall the single square tower can be built with one set of Straws and Connectors.  Incorporating math is super simple in this instance.  Creating patterns with the multiple colors would be a fantastic activity for younger students.  Can you imagine what middle and high schoolers would construct?

I live in a high STEM/STEAM Engineering area where I’m sure the adults would have just as much fun building as the students!

Roylco has many different sets of Straws and Connectors from this small size we received containing 230 pieces to the super large set with more than 700 Straws and Connectors!  Hmmm, how about a Straw and Connector day for the days leading up to holiday vacations or Spring Break?

Giveaway Requirements:

Must be a currently employed K-12 classroom teacher
Enter on behalf of a teacher and we’ll ship the prize to the teacher’s school address.
Ends Nov 9 at 11:59pm ET
Enter DAILY for more chances
Must not have won a Penniless Teacher giveaway in the past 60 days

We’re trying something a little different with this Product Spotlight by adding the giveaway to our Facebook page.  Let us know your thoughts!