Fourth-graders at Polk Central are focusing on STEM and STEAM activities this year, using Maker Labs in classrooms as part of that effort.

STEM represents Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, with STEAM including an Arts component.

As part of that initiative, students recently built gingerbread houses and wrote corresponding procedural texts. Class members had to use problem-solving skills to construct houses with certain criteria that involved the amount of weight the roof could support and how to make a roof that would fit the house.

Each class enjoyed decorating its houses in a unique way using various materials, educators said.

– Submitted by PolkSports.com