Each unit includes stories and practice pages that help children understand science concepts and provide a foundation for completing each STEM challenge. A STEM journal activity helps guide children through the engineering design process: plan, create, test, and record.   
 
Topics within each STEM challenge target earth, life, and physical science. Each unit covers a specific scientific concept and includes:

Science Story: Introduces each science concept
Practice Activities: Support children’s understanding
STEM Story: Fictional story with a problem to solve
STEM Challenge: Hands-on activity to solve a problem
STEM Journal: Provides a planning outline to help complete the challenge activity
Includes answer key.
 
First grade STEM skills include:
Connect words and pictures
Fine motor skills
Letter formation
Visual discrimination
Word meaning
Sequencing
Inference
Comprehension
First grade activities incorporate scientific concepts such as:
 
Physical science
Solids, Liquids, Gas
Parts Work Together
Making Sound
Life science
Living Things Have Parts
What Do Animals Eat?
Animals and Their Babies
Earth science
The Moon
Bodies of Water
Recording Weather
Use Smart Start: STEM for enrichment at home and help your child develop lifelong critical thinking skills.

See Smart Start: Read and Write books for colorful reading and writing activities that will help your child become a reader!

Getting kids excited about science, technology, engineering, and math at an early age is an important element in developing real-world problem solvers and innovators.

Somewhere along the educational ladder, students get intimidated by STEM subjects and start to shy away from them. However, with the Smart Start: STEM first grade activity book from Evan-Moor, six- and seven-year-olds are learning at an early age just how fun and intriguing these subjects can be. With parents acting as facilitators, kids engage in exciting, interesting science-based stories, activities, and journal challenges that foster critical and creating thinking skills.