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Look at the large amount of research as revealed in the article, “Math in the Early Years, A Strong Predictor for Later School Success,” published in The Progress of Education Reform, October, 2013.  Just to cite one piece of research in that list, Dr. Greg Duncan in “School Readiness and Later Achievement” writes about his discovery that “early math concepts, such as knowledge of numbers and ordinality, were the most powerful predictors of later learning.”  Early mathematical understanding not only predicts later success in mathematics through high school, but also predicts later literacy achievement even better than early literacy skill...

Iowa second grade students have a great time engaging with Storytime STEM-packs. Their passionate teacher creatively implements the activities and adds extensions, challenging her kids to make connections across content areas. Storytime STEM-packs have arrived: The kids have fun unpacking the boxes, looking forward to using all the cool materials in them.  On the Construction Site - The Story: Children are getting into the story, practicing their active listening skills.  On the Construction Site - Explore: Children act as engineers as they consider available materials and agree on a plan to build a house for the bear family.​  On the...

  Educators across Iowa are combining Storytime STEM-packs with Bee-Bot to develop STEM and computer science skills in PreK-2 students via children's literature. In an initiative funded by the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council and their STEM Scale Up Program to enhance the STEM skills of Iowa students, Iowa educators apply for grants to purchase Storytime STEM-Packs for their classes and libraries. Terrapin partners with Storytime STEM-packs to include-Bots in Storytime STEM Adventures.  Storytime STEM-packs are based on a popular children's book and contain all the materials needed for a variety of STEM activities to bring the story to life. Using the storybook as context,...

Storytime STEM-packs named as part of Iowa's STEM Scale-Up program Storytime STEM-packs was chosen from over 100 applicants to be one of thirteen STEM providers awarded this distinction in Iowa. In making selections for the 2021 menu, trained expert reviewers weighed evidence of effect, diversity impact, cost benefit ratio, sustainability, Iowa Core alignment and more.  For the full press release see here.  The Iowa STEM Council made a total of 730 Storytime STEM-pack awards, providing a customized collection of Storytime STEM-packs™ specifically targeting PK-2 mathematics, science, engineering design, and computer science concepts. During July and August 2021, Storytime STEM-packs conducted...