Books, Buoyancy, and Beyond: Literacy Night at Beverly Park
Last month, TAF’s TransformED school, Beverly Park, hosted its Literacy Night which also included student exhibitions. A wide range of community partners showed up in support of the evening, ready to meet students and answer questions.
Students kicked off their evening with a passport, their goal was to fill it with stamps as they encountered multilingual storytelling, the King County Library, Para Los Niños, a TAF STEM Challenge, and more. At the same time, families could view student projects, eat food, and engage with students and community partners.
The Penny Boat Challenge
TAF’s STEM challenge was all about buoyancy. Each student was given a piece of foil to craft into a boat. Next, they hypothesized how many pennies the boat would hold before sinking. Then, they placed their boat in water and counted as they piled pennies inside of it. Finally, when the boat sank, they compared what they observed to their test results.
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It was a night filled with community partnership and learning through trial and error, key components of our STEMbyTAF model.
As students watched their boats sink, they learned that wider, flatter boats can handle more weight because they displace more water.
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TAF staff and coaches also gathered at Beverly Park for their Literacy Night and exhibitions to ensure that every student in attendance had the opportunity to build and test their boats. Many having collected pennies to bring for students to take on the challenge.
On the day of Beverly Park’s Literacy Night, both Roosevelt and Brigadoon Elementary (in Tacoma and Federal Way, respectively) also presented their projects.
As a companion to the wilderness survival projects last year, Brigadoon students showed their learning about native plants to parents, other students, and TAF staff.
Partnerships with public schools like Beverly Park are vital to bringing more equitable learning models to schools. With over 1,500 students and six schools partnering to implement our student-centered model, we are committed to ensuring every student has the opportunity to reach their full potential through limitless learning.
Learn more about how you can create spaces where the only limit to student learning is their own imagination and curiosity by clicking below.
