Amanda Gorman, Following in the Great Tradition • #ReadWrite4Justice

https://twitter.com/CalMathSci/status/1356361759917936641?s=20

Teachers, visit Activated Reader to download three  “Word Power Needed” Seminars from the 2021 Inauguration


We  don’t know if this is her library but Amanda Gorman is definitely following in the great tradition of MLK and others, READING and WRITING for Justice. Trevor Noah does some of the best author interviews— he seems to really love books! Watch the interview here.

Daily Show Interview

#ReadWrite4Justice, #BlackHistoryMonth, #STEMStarsAreReaders

Reading and Writing for Justice • MLK Day 2021

Remembering Martin Luther King: Reading & Writing for justice: #ReadWrite4Justice


Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King

STEM Stars Are Readers! • Strong Readers for a Strong Democracy

#ReadWrite4Justice,#STEMStarsAreReaders

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When the Pandemic Hit, We Home Delivered!

Linda Vista teachers were ready to start the Math & Science Challenge program in 2020-2021. Then the pandemic hit. We home delivered robotics kits but our model of in-class and after-school coaching to prepare students for weekend Math Science Challenge Events

is on hold while we wait for large events to be safe again. In the meantime we’re putting our energy into the STEM Stars Are Readers! online reading platform. Help us fund a classroom!

Happy Juneteenth! • National Society of Black Engineers

To get more diversity in STEM fields, we need to get more American children playing the “game of STEM”—coding, problem-solving, applied mathematics, and design engineering— at an early age. Let’s Get Our Kids in the Game!

Thank You Teachers, Students, & Volunteers for a Great End-of-Year Event

Saturday’s Event Was Stellar.
Thank you Mrs. Pham for making it all possible. Thank you teachers & students from the local elementary schools who attended!
The Team that made it all happen.


Half of the Junior Botball Programming Challenges are visible here, & the Fundraising station where parent-volunteers are raising money for new robots to meet growing program enrollment!


Thank you, Doug Arbon, San Diego Rotary Club STEM Chair


STEM Stars Are Readers!
Students who earned  5 programming challenge badges earned a free copy of The Secret Code Menace (a story of binary code by UCSD Electrical Engineering professor Pam Cosman)

New Reading Initiative: STEM Stars Are Readers!

We have noticed through our CA Math & Science Challenge work in underserved communities that even our “STEM Stars” (the top performers in math, engineering design, coding, and problem solving: the students with a true love of the game) often struggle to reach their potential due to poor reading skills.


Success in STEM careers is highly dependent on the ability to become an Expert Reader in your field of study (engineering, physics, medicine, computer science, mathematics, etc.). What holds many children from under-served communities back, as most teachers now realize, are:
  1. The lack of STEM books or the habit of reading STEM books at home or in the classroom
  2. The oral vocabulary gap they bring with them as kindergartners, which is related to lack of opportunity in preschool and which limits reading comprehension skills after 2nd grade.
    [Note: recently questions have been raised about the size or causes of a preschool oral vocabulary gap, specifically about such findings as  the” 30,000,000 word gap”:  is it  the  result of bad methodology? (difficult to count word-interactions in home settings, etc.) That research may be flawed but the empirical vocabulary gap in first grade students is based on robust research and is very real. The preschool causes of this “opportunity gap” are not something an elementary school teacher can do anything about; but once children arrive in school, if this gap is not addressed reading comprehension cannot be improved.

To help our students overcome these two obstacles we have started an independent reading initiative called STEM STARS ARE READERS! to encourage K-8 students to get in the habit of reading  science and math books.
  • Students in Math & Science Challenge will get free log-ins for the vocabulary-powered Activated Reading Lab (see more below);
  • STEM titles** will be available for sale at our Math Science Challenge Events and our website and we will work with our sponsors to purchase them and make them available free-of-charge to classroom teachers.

**One of our first titles is by a local electrical engineering professor Pamela Cosman (UCSD) who wrote a book, The Secret Code Menace: Cold Fusion, to introduce children to binary code used in machine learning code and chip design.


Students Who Completed 5 Programming Challenges earned copies of Dr Cosman’s book.

To help our STEM stars close the Vocabulary-Reading gap, we are partnering with Activated Reader: Vocabulary Powered Reading Lab. We will make the Activated Reading Lab available to our STEM Stars through their teachers, and through after-school programs, libraries, and youth centers.

Reading Flight Simulator-iPad Version

  • Activated Reading Lab is a vocabulary-powered reading “flight simulator“ designed to help kids who arrive in kindergarten 3,000 to 4,000 words behind their peers build the word power and get the guided reading practice they need to become Expert Readers. The program is available only through school subscriptions and to select organizations helping at risk youths and fighting the high school drop out crisis.
  • Activated Reader operating principlesWe Make Tools for Teachers • Protect Student Privacy • Believe Less (Tech) is More • Conduct Rigorous Research • Believe in Accessibility &  Affordability  • Believe That Democracy & Freedom Depend on Reading!

Make a Donation to Support All CA Math & Science Reading Initiatives:
  • STEM Stars Are Readers! — Science Reading & Listening Libraries
  • Activate to Graduate! — We close the gap to help you earn your cap.
  • “Open Doors” — Activated Reading Prison Lab/Seminar Program.

#STEMStarsAreReaders

San Diego Futures Foundation • March 23 STEMFest!

SDFF is a great organization that has been helping San Diego children get access to technology for over 20 years. They held a wonderful STEMfest at Copley YMCA on March 23.



Intro to K-2 Robotics with Pro-Bot® “Racer” Robot


Intro to 3rd-8th Grade Coding in C and Engineering– with Junior Botball

Winter 2019 Math & Science Challenge Events • Junior Botball Regionals: April 20!

The rainy season is perfect for indoor Saturday indoor Math & Science Challenge Events!


Math & Science Challenge Events are non-competitive “tournaments”  that allow K-8 students to experience the excitement of working to solve robotics challenges in the Arena.


Today we held our second Math & Science Challenge Event of 2019. Thank you to  Hoover High and Wilson Middle School for hosting.


And thank you for the ongoing support of the San Diego Rotary Club, the Hoover High Computer Club and Teacher Jack Wetzel, and Pam Pham and the other Hoover Cluster Elementary Teachers. They have worked together to create a fabulous early learning STEM culture for their students!

Rotary Club of San Diego have joined with school principals to promote  robotics based STEM

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