Makerspaces are still an unchartered territory for me . . . . well, I actually dabbled in it a little. I bought different sets of blocks on Groupon and Amazon. I had the kids work in small groups to create various items (bridge, house, etc.). We reviewed what it meant to work as part of a team and how to resolve issues as they arose. The kids loved it and worked well together. They would ask throughout the year if they could play with the blocks so there was definitely an interest to work with their hands and create!
Reading about other makerspaces has inspired me to take it one step further this school year. Last year I thought about having Maker Mondays and this year I am actually going to go through with it! I've been collecting items (cardboard, egg cartons, bottles, tape, etc.) so I have materials for my students to work with. Space is an issue so I have to think about how I am going to organize and store materials and students projects until they are finished with them. I did find some good ideas from the links.
Students love making and creating! They love sharing with me (they get super excited if I'm taking pictures). They love answering questions about their work too. We all love to create we just don't always have the time and space to do it! Library can offer the perfect place for this to happen!
What I have witnessed over the past year is that often times those students who may not necessarily shine with computer work or paper and pencil work, really shine when they are allowed to allow their creative side to thrive! The benefits are two-fold! It's amazing to watch the student who may often need help from others be the one who is now the helper! It levels the playing field and changes the learning environment completely!
When students are given the space and the time they are able to be creative, the more creative they are, the more self-confident they become which in turn gives them confidence to be more innovative!
I am going to let the students decide what kind of things they'd like to create in the library! This idea I got from a blog post on Coo Tools.We will figure this out together!
The happy creators of a "Bridge Challenge."
Isn't it great to see those kids blossoming! Have fun with it next year.
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