Maker Monday: 1st Grade Make Toys

In December, my first graders research transportation, communication and recreation in Colonial Times.  You can read about that here.  This year, I deceided to kick it up a notch and invite the classes in for time in the makerspace for students to make their own toy.  We talked about how in the Colonial Times there were no factories to make toys, no plastic and no batteries.  The children had to make toys from what they had on hand.  I showed them some of the different materials in our makerspace and then let them have at it.  Once again, the creativity the children showed, amazed me.

5 Things I learned from Kinder Makerspace

Kinder had their first experience in the makerspace this week... or let me rephrase I had my first experience with kinder in the makerspace this week! ;) I had one kinder class in each day to make a pompom launcher in the makerspace.  I really had no idea how this would work so here are 5 things I learned...

1.  Kinder kids LOVE glue!

2.  Kinder kids have great ideas! Yank the red pipe cleaner, the cup moves and the pompom comes out.

3.  Kinder kids can make things better!  She started with the pompom on the end of the straw, but it kept falling off before she could blow.  She looked in the bucket and found the lid to spices that had holes in it. The straw went through the hole and the pompom sat in the lid.  

4.  Kinder kids can think simple... or complex.

5.  EVERY kid can be a maker!

And one last thing... God Bless Kinder teachers!  I don't think I could do it every day!

Makerspace Still Going Strong

I must say, I really enjoy my makerspace time in the morning.  It is really fun to see the students in a loose, creative atmosphere.  It is funny to me to see what the kids gravitate towards, sometimes totally not what I expect.

Coding and Duct Tape have been huge hits, as I expected.  I do have to figure out a cheaper way to get duct tape though.  We went through a ton!  I had 4 different projects linked on my libguide: a flower, a ring, bracelets and a bookmark.

Three activities that surprised me were Finger Knitting, Shadow Puppets and GeoShapes.  Finger Knitting took over the school for a while.  Kids were bringing their own yarn and knitting at recess.  We had modern day knitting circles going on.  It was great. 

Students also enjoyed making hand shadow puppets.  It was fun to see which kids could make the shapes and which needed help and then to see their amazement when they were able to do it.    

For geo shapes, I had a sheet with pictures of different 3D shapes and told them they could use any of the materials in the makerspace to make their shapes.  Most chose tape and straws, but a few got creative and used pipe cleaners or fabric.  

I have one more round of makerspace for the year and I am thinking that I am not going to stick to the STEAM theme as much.  I have some different things I want to have in place for next year, so I thought now would be a good time to have them out.  

Teachers Make Too

I posted this tweet on my personal Facebook page and got some pretty funny responses from my teachers.

In my mind, I told myself that it was because they were jealous of the students getting to come to makerspace and learning and playing with new things.  We thought it might be fun to have a Teacher Makerspace Faculty Meeting and so that happened yesterday!

At first, I was nervous about it.  My teachers, like any other, are strapped for time and have a million things to do.  I was a little worried they would think it was a waste of time and not be receptive of the idea.  So I did what any good presenter does when faced with having a meeting with teachers...

I brought snacks!

I had a handout waiting on the tables when they came in from dismissal and number 1 said

1.  MakerSNACK at the snack bar.

I had put out bowls of cheerios, raisins, chocolate chips, goldfish, nuts and pretzels for them to create a snack of their own (get it... makerSPACE - makerSNACK).

Once everyone had their snack, I put on the projector a list of the 5 activities (one for each of our STEAM areas) with a brief description of each one.  I told them briefly about each one and about the materials needed (I had materials set up all around the library) and how to get to the resources on my library page.  Then I let them go.  

I gave them the choice of 

Science - Balancing Act

Technology - Augmented Reality and Stop Motion(I couldn't decide)

Engineering - Pipe Cleaner Challenge

Art - Finger Knitting

Math - Fraction Pictures

There was a lot of chatter and a lot of creating going on. Surprisingly the teachers reactions were similar to students.  Some were frustrated with the finger knitting.  Some picked it up right away. Some were competitive about building the tallest pipe cleaner tower.  Others were trying to make the weirdest structure.  Some were very serious about their Stop Motion video.  Some were being extremely silly.  All were super excited when their augmented reality picture came to life.  

And then there were these...

Yep the off-task ones!
There's some in every group, right?

Actually, I very rarely see kids off task when they come to makerspace.  But these teachers were creating something... just not what I intended.  Maybe they are the G/T ones?

Here are more teachers engaged in the different activities...

Finger Knitting

Augmented Reality

More Finger Knitting

Pipe Cleaner Challenge

            

             Stop Motion Video

All in all, I think the teachers enjoyed themselves... a little stress relief goes a long way this time of year.

Makerspace Update

Happy New Year!  Where does the time go?

We are in our 3rd round of makerspace activities here and so far things are going well.  You might remember, the first time they came to the space we all did the pipe cleaner challenge.  You can read about that here.  For the second round, they had choices based on STEAM activities (not for every letter though).

Technology - Stop Motion Animation video
Engineering - Tennis Ball Tower
Art - Origami

I have task cards for each of the activities but still have to do some explaining when all the students arrive.  Here is an example of the task card for the Tennis Ball Tower (I got the tennis ball tower idea from this blog which I found on Pinterest)

Some of the task cards have QR code links to how-to-videos like the Stop Motion Animation task card. 

This was really an eye-opening station for me to see how creative the students were.  Some just took off with it.  Here is an example of one some 5th grade girls made.

For origami, I printed out and laminated pages from this website .  These directions with the pictures were pretty easy to follow.  However, for the 2nd graders, I recorded myself making 3 things and then put a QR code to the video so they could follow along that way.  It worked better for the younger ones than the written directions.  

The kids are loving the makerspace so much and have asked how they can do this stuff at home so I put links to the activities on my libguide so they can access the videos and directions at home.

The one thing I am still struggling with is getting them to stop and clean up when it is time.  It is a disaster when they leave some times!

Makerspace Day!

Today I started my makerspace!

I am meeting with one grade level each week and 4-6 kids from each class each day.  I decided to have 4 days that I meet with the kids instead of 5 in case there is a holiday or school event that interrupts a day.  That way those kids that missed can come of the 5th day.  

I am starting with 5th grade, so this morning I had about 32 students in the library.  I read them the book The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires.

This is a great book to introduce the concept of makerspaces because the little girl has a plan to build the most magnificent thing.  After many attempts of having it turn out wrong, she gets mad and decides to quit.  Her assistant (the dog) suggests they take a walk and as she walks she notices that in all the wrong things she did, there was something a little right in each one.  So she goes back and finally comes up with the most magnificent thing.  After I read, I explained about the makerspace and the schedule and then I went over my expectations for their time.

I did want them to be able to have a challenge the first time, so I gave them the pipe cleaner challenge.   I didn't do it exactly like that because we had only about 10 minutes.  As I walked around talking to the groups I heard things like

"we need a good foundation"

"it needs a floor"

"it won't stand because there is no support"

Every student was engaged with their partner for the 10 minutes.  They were talking to each other and reworking their idea when it fell over. 

The hard part came when it was time to clean up.  They didn't want to stop!  I will have to find a better system of using a countdown timer or something so they can see how long they have to work.  After they put the materials away, I asked the students if anyone wanted to comment.  One student commented that no one had the same idea and that the structures all looked different.  So I took that moment to say that there were going to be no right or wrong answers during their time at the makerspace as long as they were thinking and working it was all good.  

Here are some pictures.  

Makerspace... I got the OK... Now I'm Freaking Out!

Welcome back to another school year!  We finished the first week and I have finally come up for air. Over the summer, my district offers a "Librarian Re-Boot Camp" where we can attend PD and brainstorming sessions.  One of the sessions I went to this year was about makerspaces and it got my wheels turning again.

I have been intrigued by the idea of makerspaces for a while, and even tried a sort-of-makerspace last year with 5th grade (see post), but I have always struggled with the logistics of it at elementary school.

     

     When would students come?

     Who would come?

     How would I manage it?

     How would I keep it supplied?

     How would I monitor students and continue my regular lessons and checkouts?

I get the idea for middle and high schools where students have study halls or lunch periods, but I just couldn't wrap my head around it for elementary.

So after the session at Re-Boot Camp, I decided just to stop making excuses and just figure something out.  My school has school-wide interventions from 8:00-8:30 every morning starting in mid-September and while I have always had a 2nd grade reading group, I thought this might be the perfect time to implement the makerspace.  I could offer each grade level a week at a time and each class could send 4-6 students per morning.  By the end of the week, hopefully every student in the grade would have made it through for at least 30 minutes.  I am also going to give each teacher some sort of pass for 3 students to come down during the day if they have some time and want to continue working in the space.  

I wasn't sure what my principal would think so I wrote up a proposal and emailed it to her before we started back in August.  I also wanted to make sure this was going to be seen as a valuable addition to our school so I proposed that I would offer STEAM activities and supplies in the space.  

Well, she loved the idea and gave me the go ahead!  And while I am excited about it I am freaking out a little (ok, a lot) trying to get ready to really put it into action.  

I have been searching twitter, pinterest, blogs and any other sources I can find about makerspaces and it is starting to come together.  I will add more posts as I get more things figured out.  If anyone has resources or suggestions for activities that they love in the makerspaces, ways to manage the space, how to fund the space, or any other tips they want to provide, I would love to hear them!