Thing 30 DIY - Makerspaces

So many great resources here!  I fell down a rabbit hole though watching the videos on recreating Twinkies and Cheetos :).  Brought back memories of trying to recreate graham crackers, cheese crackers, and other foods for my kids when they were diagnosed with Celiac disease.  Some successful and some not so much!

The link to makertubs and the challenges David Romano has for his students look very doable.  Loved the reference to the four C's - Communication, Collabortaion, Critical Thinking, and Creativity.  I am going to try and incorporate some of  his challenges or modify them for my 30 minute classes.  

Often when I do makerspace I will group students.  Que groaning, sighing, and eye rolling.  It is so wonderful to see most of that all go away as they start to work together with minimal referring.

I have dabbled in makerspaces in my K-6 library.  I have borrowed the set of Little Bits owned by the district and just purchased my own set with book fair profits. It fosters teamwork and collaboration.  Kids loved it!  It worked best with grades 3 and up.  My kit should arrive the week we return from break and I'm looking forward to using it.  In prior classes I instructed the students to use the diagrams in the kit to assemble a wheeled vehicle.  The teams were so excited to complete the project. This year I am going to give a short lesson on electricity prior to them using the kit, maybe using BrainPOP.   I think it will help those that haven't grasped the basics on electrical currents and help them be more engaged.  Applying what they know to the real world - go makerspace!

 I also use a 3D printer in my library when I have it on loan from the district.  My last unit with first graders involved research and a green screen video on coral reef animals.  We closed out the unit by printing a sea horse cookie cutter for each of the students.  I struggle though because other than watching it, the students aren't actively involved in creating the objects.  I tried Tinkercad last year, but 3D drawing has a long learning curve for students (and teachers!)  My goal this year is to print something I have drawn on Tinkercad.  Prior attempts have not been successful....

I learned that makerspace doesn't have to be fancy, expensive, or complicated.  A skein of yarn and a book about cat's cradle string games will engage students.  I modeled how to tie a knot and make a loop of yarn, and then make "witches broom." Just tying a know I found out was a new experience for some kids.

  

 Most of the students hadn't heard of Cats Cradle, except a few who had learned about it from an aunt or grandma.  Students were motivated to learn, and those that either knew already or picked it up quickly taught others.  Some are regularly coming in the library asking for another piece of yarn, so I keep a supply ready and the book on a table!

I am very fortunate that I don't have to justify makerspace in my building/district.  My admin and RCSD is very supportive - with staff and funding.  My principal and some teachers came into the library when the students were doing cats cradle and they joined in with the kids. Perfect way to connect.  I did the lesson the week before Thanksgiving break.  I encouraged the students to share their new skill with their families during the holiday break.

Makerspace provides and opportunity for critical thinking, creativity, and probably most importantly collaboration.  I want my students to leave elementary school knowing that libraries are a place for life long learning, and makerspace is a motivating and fun way for them to experience libraries and all they can offer.

Thing 25: Green Screen Fun

So much fun with green screen!  I made this video with my group of 7 first graders that I have a few times per week for enrichment.  We read Magic Tree House; Dolphins at Daybreak and then did research on coral reef animals.  I had a group research sea stars and a group research sea horses.  As a final project each student colored their animal, chose a favorite fact to read and then we practiced, practiced, and did more practicing!  I have a new appreciation for our music teachers and any classroom teacher that has their class perform :)

I first learned about green screen at a tech camp this summer.  My friend and I made a short video of Mr. Bill, his dog Spot, and Mr. Hand - people of a certain age will recognize these SNL characters.  This explains Mr. Hand in the video above :)

  The PD presenters were very generous - we all left with a sheet pizza box painted lime green.  Well, it sat in my library all fall until I saw this topic in cool tools and thought it would be a great final project for this group.  I just wish I would have read all the resources on Cool Tools before I started and not after!  But reading them this evening has proven to be beneficial because I can reflect on what went well, and what I will change for the next project.

Challenges

I had students color cutouts of their animals and forgot to tell them not to use green, or even yellow that is close to green.  One student chose to redo his, and the other student loved that the inside was invisible and used it anyway

Not all parents gave permission to have their children's faces on a public video, so I modified the project to only include their voices.

I didn't anticipate how many practices it would take for students to successfully read their fact, move their animal, and wait quietly while others performed.  Also, it took me many attempts to find a location for the green screen, the iPad, and the students that worked well for me to film it without having the carpeting or the library sneaking into the picture because I moved the iPad.

I needed assistants to hold the cue cards for students to read.  Next time I will have them memorize their lines.

Green pipe cleaners worked perfectly for the students to hold the animals - the goal was to have it look like the animals were swimming.

Laminating the animals and putting them on card stock made it much easier for the students to manage them, and helped them remain intact during all the practices.

I think I will try book reviews with my older students for my next project.  I loved the idea of putting the student's pictures on book covers!  

Hi,  I'm Susan Reuter and I'm a librarian at School 52, a K-6 school in the Rochester City School District.  Glad to be back on my blog after successfully transferring it to a new email address -  which took numerous attempts :)  I updated the theme and read through some of my old posts.   I took the class three years ago and learned about many new technologies that I have used with my students over the years.  I'm looking forward to learning about new technologies and tools for my students.  We are now a Google Suite school and I have access to a few iPads that I can borrow from a classroom.