Leprechaun Trap Challenge (STEM): St. Patrick's Day

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Leprechaun Trap Challenge (STEM) Instructions: Build a trap to catch a leprechaun using everyday materials. Follow the design process below! Objective: Encourage creativity, engineering skills, and problem-solving by designing a functional trap that could catch a mischievous leprechaun. Planning Sheet: Materials List: What will you use? (e.g., paper, string, tape, cardboard, LEGOs, pipe cleaners, cups, paper towel rolls, craft sticks, aluminum foil, etc.) Sketch Your Design: Draw how your trap will work, labeling key parts and mechanisms. Trap Mechanism: How will your trap trigger when the leprechaun enters? Will it use a pulley, lever, or hidden entrance? Will you include bait like gold coins, glitter, or candy? Building Phase: Work on assembling your trap using the selected materials. Testing & Improvements: Try triggering the trap multiple times. Identify any weaknesses and refine the design. Reflection Questions: What was the most challenging part of building the trap? What ...
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Top things teachers should never do.

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Remember, teaching is a profession. You are a professional. Many times, we tend to forget that. Here are some some of the worse things teachers can do.

Scream and yell. If you want to look bad in front of your students and staff, then you will raise your voice. Sure way to shorten your teaching career. This is related to losing your temper in class. Don't do it. No matter what, keep your emotions under control. You are the teacher, boss, and leader. You can get respect without yelling.

Also on this note, classroom teachers should not single out a student and belittle them. This includes chewing them out for doing something, or not doing something. You will never brow beat a student into behaving or learning. You will only look like a foolish teacher. And quite an ineffective one at that.

This includes getting upset for every little thing. Little things happen in class. They do not all require punishment, referrals, calls to the principal, etc. Let it go. Acknowledge it, then move on. Most things you encounter in class will be very minor. Discipline is also logical. Don't make mountains out of mole hills.

Remember that you are the teacher. If you let your students control you and the class, you have lost. You will be a very ineffective teacher. You make the rules and you must stick with them.

Don't be unfair. Your tests, quizzes, and assignments should be such that the average student can get a passing grade. Grade consistently. If you grade hard, then soft, then hard, your students will play you like a fiddle.

Do not treat some students differently. They should all get the same treatment. You cannot be nice to one student, then have different rules for another.

Last but not least, do not talk about the school and staff in demeaning ways. Don't agree with students that another teacher is lousy. Don't complain about the school to your students. Don't gossip.

You must be a fair teacher, in complete control, and act in a professional manner. It's sounds simple, and it is. But teachers are human and can fall into certain modes without thinking. So be diligent!


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