Learning Scratch with Supriya

What’s it like to learn with Supriya?

Starfire students thrive with coaching from fun & passionate mathematicians, scientists, engineers, programmers, design thinkers, and artists!

Team member Supriya is making her mark in the classroom, sparking a love of coding for her students with coding lessons that center creativity and fun. 

Supriya I.

After a decade in corporate strategy and marketing, Supriya found her calling in teaching. Her transition to the social sector from the corporate sector brought her to Katha, an organisation in India working in education at a grassroots level. With training in Indian classical music and western music, she practised pedagogies using storytelling and music to bring children into reading.

Since joining Starfire, Supriya has developed engaging fun ScratchJr and Scratch curriculum. Kids new to coding respond to her passion for STEAM learning and thrive in her classroom.

Why learn with Starfire?

With coaching from STEAM professionals, Starfire students develop a deep conceptual understanding of STEAM concepts. Kids gain the inner confidence to persist and persevere to solve challenging problems.

Our teachers create fun, emotionally and intellectually safe, supportive learning environments. Starfire teachers inspire intellectual and personal growth in their students. Teachers love what they do and their passion is inspirational!

"My daughter has been participating in the Scratch Jr. program since the Fall of 2020 when she started Kindergarten. It has been wonderful to see her interest in coding spark with the wonderful teaching of Supriya. She looks forward to class every week and her self esteem has really grown."
-M.D.

Give your child the advantage of learning with a passionate STEAM educator! Join our classroom today!

What do Kids Need to Learn to be Engineers?

What skills do kids need to be engineers?

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Learning engineering with Starfire is the perfect way to help foster creativity and strengthen the natural engineering skills that all kids are born with!

Starfire students learn what engineers do and the skills they need to be an engineer, now and in the future! Read on to learn more about what kids need to be junior engineers! 
Creativity and Imagination

Do your kids like to build things with blocks? Do they like to play video games that allow them to create characters and different objects?

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When they do these things, they’re using their creativity and imagination. Good engineers use these two skills every day. Curiosity drives engineers to explore and create new things.

Problem Solving Skills

Engineers spend their days asking interesting, complex questions and generating answers using Engineering Design Process. All engineers need good problem-solving skills!

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Starfire students build problem solving skills in our hands-on, project-based engineering challenges. Kids design, test, build and improve their projects using design thinking and the engineering design process.

Collaboration

Engineers need to be able to work alone as well as with a team.

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Starfire students use their initiative as well as their collaboration skills in our small classes! Classes never exceed 5 students.

STEAM Learning

All of the elements of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math) are important when it comes to being an engineer. For example, civil engineers use art to create buildings and bridges that are pleasing to look at while also being able to stand tall. 

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Starfire Engineering classes integrate science, math, technology and the arts into fun, hands-on projects that showcase the richness of engineering!

Join us in our virtual classroom for classes starting May 3. Register today to start the engineering fun!

Why put the "A" in "STEAM" Learning?

Lots of educators and learning communities are talking about STEAM education. You may be asking, why include an arts perspective in STEM learning?

Starfire STEAM programming (STEM+Arts) links the creative arts to science, technology, engineering and math to give students the tools they need to the innovators, educators, leaders, and learners of the 21st century! 

By integrating art with STEM, Starfire gives students the creative spark to harness the capabilities of STEM skills. Our students fuse an in-depth knowledge of STEM with a focus on arts to creatively integrate and apply that knowledge to solve real world problems. 

Starfire teachers share their passion for the creative arts with our students. Art and creativity infuse Starfire’s enrichment classes, Fun with STEAM virtual labs and MathTastic Help sessions.

Starfire STEAM students take thoughtful risks, engage in experiential learning, persist in problem-solving, embrace collaboration, and work through creative processes. Students learn more and they retain more of what they learn. 

Find out more about what STEAM education can do for your child by checking out our current courses or getting in touch with the Starfire support team!

STEAM Challenge - Build a Boat!

Kids can engage in vibrant and plentiful STEAM learning opportunities, even in the tub! Check out this awesome challenge and let the fun flow.

Build a Boat:

Materials

• Aluminum foil square, recommended size: 6” x 6”

• Weights: Pennies, marbles, beans, LEGO figures will work. You just need something consistent

• Water

• Pan, sink, bathtub

Do This!

• Take a single sheet of aluminum foil, 6” x 6” works well, and fold it flat, pressing out all the air.

• Continue folding until you can’t make it any smaller. Will this little square of foil sink or float? Try it!

• You'll find that it sinks!

Now Try This!

• Now unfold the foil and fold it into a boat shape. Add some weight. You can use pennies, marbles, or even toy figures. How many weights can it hold?

• For an added challenge:

  • Race your boats in the tub!

  • See how many boats can you build and test in an hour?

  • Guess the maximum load for your boat - were you close?

Talk About This!

"Can you redesign a foil boat to hold even more weight?"
"What’s the most weight it can hold?"

Engineers and designers use the Design Thinking Process to solve problems. This means that they think about the problem, the end user, design a possible solution, test it, then try again to see if they can improve.

Why This Works!
Why could the same piece of foil not only float, but hold even more weight? Water has a buoyant force that pushes up, while gravity is pushing down. By spreading out the weight of the foil (unfolding it) the water had more area to push up on, decreasing the density of the “boat.”

Don’t feel comfortable going into the concepts of buoyancy or density? That’s okay! Focus more on the engineering design process of empathizing, building, testing, and iterating based on what you’ve discovered.

At Starfire, student learn to solve problems like designers and engineers. They are given a problem and constraints. Then they use their imagination to come up with an answer!

STEAM Challenge - Dinner Table Cube Math

Starfire knows every kid can excel at math! Math that happens within the family, the community, and everyday life supports kids to strengthen their math awareness, understanding and confidence. 

Kids can engage in vibrant and plentiful math learning opportunities, even around the dinner table! Check out the awesome challenge we've shared below!  We suggest enjoying them as a family.

We’re sharing a fun math challenge called “Cube Conversations” to promote math talk around the table from Steve Wyborney, an Oregon based math teacher.

Take a look at these increasingly challenging Cube Conversation images and ask:

• How many cubes?

• How do you know?

• What do you see?

• How else can you see it?

Starfire teachers share fun and collaborative math challenges that let kids know that they can excel in math and have fun! 

Why Learn to Code?

Students building new worlds in Scratch

Starfire believes every child can benefit from learning a programming language!
Starfire coding teachers are trained as computer scientists, R & D researchers, engineers and programmers. What’s more, they are inspired to share their love of coding and professional expertise with their students.

Students who code are more creative and innovative in their approach to framing and solving problems. Students learn mathematical and computational concepts—they problem solve and think mathematically using logic and systematic reasoning. Starfire coding students are exposed to a world of exciting possibilities through their programming skills. Learning coding from Starfire’s expert teachers opens up the creative and professional horizons of our students.

What do Students Do in Class?
Guided by Starfire teachers, students create projects that are personally meaningful and express their ideas through fun, hands-on projects. They will learn to imagine, design, create and share their own websites, projects, games and animated stories.

Speed vs Depth in STEAM Learning

Starfire teachers encourage depth, creativity and fluency in STEAM learning. We know that every student can be a “math person” or “science person” with the right encouragement and support!

Many students incorrectly believe that being good at STEAM learning means being fast. In our classes, we dissociate success from speed.

When we value fast computation over other skills, we discourage deep thinking, risk taking and meaningful progress. Starfire teachers teach students to think deeply, connect methods, reason, and justify their methods. 

Supporting a Growth Mindset!

Starfire Education supports growth mindsets!

A growth mindset is the belief that intelligence can be developed. Students with a growth mindset understand they can get smarter through hard work, the use of effective strategies, and help from others when needed.

Kids’ beliefs about intelligence have important consequences for how they learn and respond to setbacks. When students hold a growth mindset, they embrace STEAM learning, seeing challenges as opportunities to grow and attain mastery.

Starfire teachers inspire intellectual and personal growth in their students. 

Check out these Starfire teacher approved tips to encourage a growth mindset:

Focus on their effort and not their ability

• When you offer encouraging words to kids, give them feedback on their effort. Kids learn that their efforts and attitudes determine their abilities.
  
  "Wow! You’ve been practicing and your skills are improving. I'm so proud that you persisted with this challenge. You've grown so much!"

Don’t over-encourage

• Offering children words of encouragement doesn’t mean you have to sugarcoat things for them. When kids are dealing with setbacks, use their time of struggle to help them sort through their feelings and identify their inner strength.

Be specific

• Giving children feedback such as ‘good effort” or “you worked hard” doesn't always help them make the connection between their effort and the outcome of their actions.  Aim to be as specific and descriptive as possible.

Be sincere

• Children are good at recognizing when people aren’t being genuine with them!  It’s best to be genuine when offering words of encouragement to children.
  
  “Thank you for showing me some of the new skills you’ve learned in class today.  How do you feel about them?”

Live the growth mindset  

• Parents and teachers can embrace the process of learning and believe that children’s intellect and talent can grow with effort and support.
  
  "Your teachers share hard problems because they believe in you! Challenges helped me grow and learn things. They still do!" 

The Benefits of Virtual Classroom - Collaboration

Collaboration

Starfire is excited to share the top 5 benefits of learning in our Virtual Classroom. STEAM learning is a collaborative, dynamic practice for both students and educators. Our classrooms support enriching learning experiences in which all learners participate and grow.

Increased opportunities for collaboration

Learning in our virtual classroom puts a big emphasis on collaborative learning. Students screenshare and work together in breakout rooms. Students encourage each other to use class time effectively. Remote team work is a  practice that will reshape schools and workplaces in the future. The virtual classroom exposes students to this practice and equips them to meet the future.

Teacher Collaboration

Collaboration is a core value for the Starfire teacher community. Starfire teachers have come together to improve the experience children are having via remote education. New approaches to curriculum, curriculum delivery, and classroom management resources have been developed and mobilized. Starfire teachers Shweta, Usha and Pallavi spearheaded our team’s redevelopment of our electrical engineering curriculum for the virtual classroom. Together, they developed a fun, project-based program for Starfire students.

The Benefits of Virtual Classroom - Ownership & Participation

Ownership & Participation

Starfire is sharing the top 5 benefits to students and teachers of learning in the Virtual Classroom. One of the most significant benefits we have seen is the ability and eagerness of students to take ownership for their own learning. Teachers have the tools to encourage all students to participate and meaningful opportunities to check for understanding.

Students are encouraged to take ownership of their learning

Students have the opportunity to develop a more mature and responsible outlook on their own education. The teacher is not physically present, impressing the need for order, rather the student is self-motivated to develop the discipline necessary for excellence.A Starfire Engineering teacher says, “Students follow class rules, help each other, and even ask their parents for the space to work independently. They understand the impact of their behavior on their peers: they mute themselves if there is too much background noise, ask those making noise to keep it down and then unmute themselves. I’m so impressed!”

Increased Participation & more intentional opportunities to check for understanding

Students uncomfortable being at the center of attention or those who have a more tentative approach to collaboration are often wary of participating in class. However, when teaching over Zoom, teachers can use the polling function to have students answer multiple-choice questions anonymously. Engagement increases, as does the teacher’s ability to see which students understand the challenge at hand. Teachers can create more opportunities to check for understanding. There is less classroom management happening in the virtual classroom and more time to check in with kids. Teachers can stop more frequently, and give more practice work without concern about losing kids’ attention and momentum of the lesson.A Starfire music teacher enthused, “I can use anonymous polling to ask for opinions and check for understanding. Students feel more comfortable taking risks and trying out new skills.”

Students experience learning as integrated into their lives

Sparking a lifelong love of problem solving is a core Starfire goal. However, some students have experienced learning as a “siloed” activity that happens only in school. The virtual classroom integrates school and home life, opening students to the perspective of learning independently outside of their familiar school context. Home is not just a place to simply crash out and watch YouTube videos after school – it’s a learning environment.

The Benefits of Virtual Classroom - Digital Literacy

Digital Literacy

Starfire is sharing the top 5 benefits to students and teachers of learning in the Virtual Classroom. Today, we’re talking about how students are learning to use technology safely and productively.

Responsible use of technology

Young students are often proficient gamers and enthusiastic social media users. However, many will benefit from upskilling when it comes to using technology responsibly and for productive, mature purposes. A Starfire coding teacher says, “Functional, actionable technology knowledge increases while using our learning platform. Features that are a part of the online platform are discovered in the process of teaching. I have so many students who get fascinated by Zoom as a platform and its many functionalities and ask good questions about software architecture.”

Technological fluency

The fact that students are constantly attached to screens doesn’t mean that they know how to adapt to technology effectively and with a productive purpose. Learning in Starfire’s virtual classroom provides valuable lessons in how to adapt to new systems and software, and how to troubleshoot technical issues. Teacher Supriya says, “Teaching a technology class on a technology platform is an ideal way of delivering the class”

The Benefits of Virtual Classroom - Class Time

Safety, Accessibility and Class Time

Starfire STEAM classes have moved to an all virtual model. We are so excited by the positive responses of Starfire families and the possibilities unlocked by this change.

We’re sharing the top 5 benefits to students and teachers for the Virtual Classroom. Today, we’re talking about how we use class time and how class time is experienced in the Virtual Classroom.

Student safety

As teachers, our first job is to make sure children are safe and well. In online learning, we know that a parent is close at hand should a student require anything. Teachers don’t worry or spend time supervising approved guardians pick up and drop off.

More efficient use of class time

Tasks that can monopolize class time such as getting excused to go to the bathroom or waiting for students to get in line are managed more more simply in the virtual classroom. The start and conclusion of class are conducted quickly and smoothly. Students spend their class time on fun activities, engaged and focused on their challenges.

Accessibility for students with special needs

Learning from home provides students (in most cases) with a stable and secure environment that can be more easily tailored to their specific needs. See our Learning from Home resources on tips to adapt the home space for your learner. Starfire teacher Randel describes his experience with the virtual classroom, “students can focus better on problem solving without distracting each other. When a student needs to concentrate on a particularly challenging problem, it is easy for him or her to block all distractions from the rest of the class. Students can privately message me if there is something they need to feel comfortable or to understand the challenge.”

The Benefits of Virtual Classroom - Responsiveness

Responsiveness

Starfire STEAM classes have moved to an all virtual model. We are so excited by the positive responses of Starfire families and the possibilities unlocked by this change.

We’re sharing the top 5 benefits to students and teachers for the Virtual Classroom. This week we’re talking about responsiveness to student needs.

Small class sizes & Responsive Curriculum

Smaller Starfire virtual classes discard a classic “one size fits all” approach. The teacher has the ability to tailor classes more specifically to different students. The teacher also has the ability to adapt curriculum to suit student learning needs and interests. 

Grouping Students by Affinity and Interest

Classes are composed of students who are drawn together by their similar interests and knowledge levels, rather than simply their grades or school district. Students with advanced understanding can accelerate their learning. Teachers provide a curriculum that is responsive to the knowledge levels and interests of their student group. Students who share interests and affinities gain powerful social benefits from finding like minded peers. Starfire teacher Adrian has expressed surprise and delight at the amazing quality of the work produced by his “Animation in Scratch” students who are all experienced coders and interested in digital arts.

Computational Thinking

GIve your child the skills and the passion to tackle problems with innovation and perseverance with Starfire’s Computational Thinking class.  

Computational Thinking is the prerequisite skill for understanding the technologies, challenges and opportunities of the future. It is a systematic thought process, rather than a specific body of knowledge.

Starfire teaches the four cornerstones of computational thinking: decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithms. Decomposition invites students to break down complex problems into smaller, simpler problems. Pattern recognition guides students to make connections between similar problems and experience. Abstraction invites students to identify important information while ignoring unrelated or irrelevant details. Lastly, students use algorithms when they design simple steps to solve problems.

Computational thinking skills are important to many disciplines and careers and can be used to support student success across all disciplines including science, technology, engineering, math and the humanities.

Learn more about Starfire’s Computational Thinking class:
https://www.starfireed.com/computational-thinking

Mindfulness for Kids

How to keep our kids thriving during challenging times?

For kids of all ages, mindfulness is a powerful tool to increase happiness and well-being. This in-depth guide from The New York Times explains how families can cultivate this profoundly beneficial habit, and shares some valuable tips and activities that develop compassion, self-awareness and empathy.
https://www.nytimes.com/guides/well/mindfulness-for-children

Let us know how your family practices mindfulness in the comments!

Preserving Academic Gains

According to a new report by the Northwest Evaluation Association, students are at risk of losing 30% of reading gains and 50% of math skills due to school closures .

It’s more important than ever to keep kids engaged with academic material to prevent their skills from atrophying.

Educators say that intervention now can go a long way to keeping kids on track. Starfire is providing fun, dynamic enrichment classes to help students build their skills during the schools closure. We’ve also curated terrific resources to support parents providing education at home.

Help your student excel in challenging times with Starfire classes and tutoring services!

Zoom for Parents

The new parents tab on our website includes helpful resources to support your families continued growth and development while learning from home. We’ve put together a short explainer on the common video chat tool, Zoom, used in Starfire classrooms.

What is Zoom?
Zoom is a video-chatting tool. Zoom can be an empowering tool for kids, with features that help them learn in fun and engaging ways, express their creativity, and stay connected to others.  

How does Zoom work?
Zoom classes can be accessed on almost any device, including a standard smartphone. Download Zoom from the company's Download Center, iTunes, or Google Play. Parents receive a class welcome email 1-2 days before class from the Starfire teacher with all the key class information. The class links includes an 11-digit meeting ID that you click or tap to get into the class and a password. 

Before class, it's a good idea to open the Zoom software and test your webcam and microphone to make sure they're working well. You can also test your internet connection by joining a test meeting (if your Wi-Fi connection is unstable, you can improve video performance by connecting directly to your ethernet).

Why use Zoom?
Zoom is well suited for educational instruction. Teachers can implement many powerful instruction techniques to help facilitate dynamic, fun classes. Classes can be accessed at a later time for review. Everything that can be done in the physical classroom can be done on Zoom virtually.

Here's just a sampling of what you can do in Zoom:

• Screen share. This allows the entire class to view one person's computer screen. Students can even annotate a document on another kid's computer. Teachers can restrict this so only their screen can be shared.

• Whiteboard. This is a brainstorming tool that lets kids toss ideas around, such as for a group project.

• Breakout rooms. The teacher can divide students up into smaller groups, and then bring the entire class back together.

• Raise hand, clap, disagree, speed up, slow down. These are icons kids can use to: let the teacher know they have a question or comment, react to something, or ask the teacher to talk faster or slower.

• Chat with the group. Kids can send a message to the entire class.

How do I access Zoom classes?
Before the start of your first Starfire class, you will receive a welcome letter through email with a calendar invite from the teacher with a link to join the class. The link provided at the first class can be used to access each future class.

What are the best practices to keep Zoom classes safe?
We take the privacy and security of our classrooms seriously. Starfire uses the The Stanford University guidelines for our Zoom hosted classes: https://uit.stanford.edu/service/zoom/meetingsecurityguide
Our teachers control who joins the class through a digital Wait Room. Our classes are password protected for extra security. 

How to Support your student during class

• Review features: Try to make sure kids know basic functionality, such as how to: join a meeting through a link or login; activate the video; mute the sound; use the text chat; share their screen (so they can work on something together); record the class; and use any other special features.

• Create a calendar reminder for class.

• Adjust sound and video.

• Assemble necessary equipment: Kids may need earphones, a microphone, and paper and pencils to take notes. Teachers will notify you in advance if any special materials are required for class.

• Plug your device in and close all other tabs: Video-conferencing uses a lot of device power. It's a good idea to keep devices plugged in and, if possible, use an ethernet cord to connect directly to the internet. To prevent video from stuttering, close out of any other tabs so the device can put all its muscle into the video.

• Set expectations for how your child should conduct themselves on camera: Face the screen; mute yourself when you're not speaking; unmute yourself when you're ready to talk; listen carefully to other participants; use non-verbal tools to participate like “raise hand” and “clap”.

• Set up the device in a quiet area where you can offer support if necessary. Older students may prefer more privacy. 

• Review expectations for class: The same rules apply in the virtual classroom as the physical classroom - show respect, have a growth mindset, and be ready for fun!

Thriving at Home the Starfire Way

It’s a difficult time for parents and kids. Families are grappling with the question, in a time of so much uncertainty, how can we ensure our children’s continued social and academic growth? And stay sane at the same time?  

Starfire is here for you to provide hints and tips to keep your child thriving and your sanity intact! Check out our new Parent Resources page for tips to keep learning on track and a curated collection of high quality STEAM resources:
https://www.starfireed.com/learning-from-home

Here’s our perspective on one important aspect of managing learning from home - time!

Tip #1 - Time
Provide structure and consistency. Routines give kids a sense of security and help them develop self-discipline. 

• Create a daily schedule. Identify goals, school deadlines and family priorities when making your schedule. 

• Add time for everything you want to achieve, class, free reading period, fun, exercise, “math around the home”, meals etc. Don’t forget to schedule lots of short breaks to reset your little one’s ability to focus. 

• Stay on track by entering important events into Google Calendar and turning on alerts.

Starfire is Giving Back

Now more than ever, we recognize the importance of giving back and showing care to each other. We want to share our gratitude with community members in need. For every registration in our Spring II Session, we are donating $5 to Second Harvest of Silicon Valley Food Bank to make sure everyone who needs a healthy meal can get one. We have already donated $250 to SHFB.

We are all in this together!
Register now!

Spring Registration for Starfire Virtual Classroom Enrichment

Dear Starfire Families,

We hope that your families are safe and well. 

We are excited to share news about our Spring Session. Starting the week of April 13, we will begin Spring Session I of Starfire Coding, Math, Art and Design, and Electrical Engineering in our virtual classroom. 

We are offering two Spring sessions: Spring I in April and Spring II in May. We will offer Summer classes starting in June. Registration opens on April 6. Click on the link below to view the list of classes:
https://www.homeroom.com/sites/starfire-education-san-mateo

Starfire Virtual classes will be held on Zoom. Zoom is well suited for educational instruction: teachers can share screens and whiteboards, poll students, establish breakout rooms, and implement many other powerful instruction techniques. 

Our team of knowledgeable and enthusiastic teachers will be leading students. We are confident that our virtual Starfire classroom will provide your students with learning experiences rich in collaboration, community and fun. 

Best regards,
The Starfire Team