Accidental STEAM from the Library Reading Program

“Read Seed and Feed” is under way with over 60,285 minutes read and reported in the first week of reading!   Books and periodicals are being read, banners are flying in the LS and MS parking lots, gardens of seeds are being “planted” in the Tanglewood library and MS collection space, librarians are blogging, and microgreens are sprouting in classrooms.  We even have a hash tag - #SSFSReads! (Thanks, Michelle!)

Each year your librarians strive to create a reading program that encourages students to read and illustrates how reading, in a quiet but ever-present way, empowers individuals to shape their own lives and influence the world around them.  In doing so we try to incorporate thinking and activity across academic departments.

Interdisciplinary and real world opportunities have been part of the SSFS approach to learning since its founding in 1961 - think maple syrup in 2nd grade and Assateague in 8^th.  Approaching projects through multiple disciplines is a much talked about in education these days, particularly when it comes to science.  You may have heard the acronyms STEM or STEAM.  Turns out the library reading program is moving full STEAM ahead.

S is for Science:  plant biology, seeds, gardening, nutrition, food cycle

T is for Technology:  blogging, posting, and tweeting

E is for Engineering:  the MS Gardening committee-made sub–irrigating planters from discarded soda bottles

A is for Art:  displays, Black History Month bulletin board, one class is making an artistic surprise for the rest of us

M is for Math:  calculations, conversions, estimates and predictions

When I asked a group of MS students, “Why read?” I got a diverse set of answers:  to learn, to understand others, to relax, to escape, to figure out stuff, to figure out about myself. 

Reading opens the way.