Our Middle School Maker Journey
See below for sample MakerSpace Activities with directions
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Ms. Gallacher Teacher Librarian
Our MakerSpace Journey
Our MakerSpace Journey
JWMS Middle School
JWMS Middle School
Click here for the Harry Potter Makerpage from my HP Club
Funding for MakerSpace activities comes from our SPSA school funding, I request $2000 - $5000 each year for materials.
MakerSpace Movie.mp4
Snap Curcuits
Snap Curcuits
Purchased through Demco
Snap Circuits 2
Snap Circuits 2
Purchased through Demco
Starry Night mini pictures. I ordered the mini canvas, from Amazon, and some Acrylic paints, and gave the students a few examples; they did an amazing job!
Fabric Painting
Fabric Painting
Purchased from S & S WW
Popsicle Stick Scarecrow by
Popsicle Stick Scarecrow by
The Sharp Bunch
Spooky House art project directions From Art Teacher in LA
March Madness Book Playoffs
March Madness Book Playoffs
Select the top 16 most beloved books from our library collection. I'll be curating matchups, such as Twilight versus Harry Potter, ensuring each round features similar book types. Check out the playoff sheet for details. The competition kicks off on March 1st, with weekly voting every Friday. Witness as the votes are tallied, progressing through each round until only one book emerges victorious
Little Bits
Little Bits
Purchased through Demco
Scratch and Draw
Scratch and Draw
Puchased through Amazon
Perler Beads
Perler Beads
Puchased through Amazon
I love the holidays!!
I love the holidays!!
The Christmas Candy Canes were a big success. Supplies were pipe cleaners and beads. I liked short pipe cleaners as they were the right size, you can cut the long ones in half. To start twist the end and make a small ball then put on the beads, make another ball, and then shape it into a candy cane.
December/xmas/winter Crafts and activities
December/xmas/winter Crafts and activities
Love the holiday season. So many arts and crafts go with winter and we try new ones every year. This year I reached out to my neighbors on the Nextdoor App and asked for arts and crafts supplies, was overwhelmed by the response I got! If you google "Christmas Crafts" you will find a plethora of ideas. This month is probably the messiest month in the library, which drives me a little crazy, but we have so much fun it is worth it. If you have an amazing art/winter project please email me (agallacher@psusd.us) and send pictures and directions.
Art/STEM Makerspace Projects
Color Diffusing Pictures
Diffusion is the process of molecules moving from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. The molecules move until the concentration becomes equal throughout. I brought the supplies from S&S Worldwide.
Blind Date with a book, not really a Makerspace but a fun library activity.
Popsicle Stick Christmas Trees
Popsicle Stick Christmas Trees
Popsicle sticks are great for arts and crafts and are cheap :) Yarn is one of those things that everybody has and loves to give away! I buy colored popsicle sticks from Amazon (they have ones with notches in them that are handy for this project) and ask for yarn donations, staff always seem to have tons of it, and buy the bobbles from the dollar store.
Popsicle Stick Stars
Popsicle Stick Stars
Get out your gorilla glue and glitter. I use glitter glue as it is a lot less messy.
Paint Chip Samples Christmas/Holiday Cards
Paint Chip Samples Christmas/Holiday Cards
Every time I go to the hardware store I grab some paint samples and save them for this craft. (see below) I also use paint chip cards for our April color poems.
Glittering Lights Cards
Glittering Lights Cards
For this activity you need glitter glue, card stock, markers, and scissors. I just create a demo and let the kids go to town.
Sample Card
Sample Card
Some students follow mine and some get creative and so their own thing.
Paint Chip Cards
Paint Chip Cards
You will need paint chip cards, glue, and card stock (glitter, stickers or other decorations are optional).
Paper Circuits
Paper Circuits
https://www.makerspaces.com has amazing paper circuits projects that they share, for free, with teachers, make sure you sign-up for their newsletter.
How Many?
How Many?
Every other year I create a book Christmas tree and challenge students to figure out how many books in the tree.
Christmas Tree with popsicle sticks
This student decided not to use the yarn.
Perler Beads Christmas designs
Perler Bead Santa
Demco and Amazon have Perler Beads and design books.
Thanksgiving/November MakerSpace projects
Thanksgiving/November MakerSpace projects
Let get our bubble wrap on! Corn Wreath. I have not tried this yet but plan on doing a smaller version of the project. Maybe just one corn instead of a wreath. Time is limited to before/after school and lunch. We could also combine different student corns to make a library wreath.
Craft Lace
Craft Lace
I put out directions (I found on the interwebs) and give links to youtube videos. Students make keychains and bracelets.
Plastic Lace book
Plastic Lace book
I found the book on Amazon and it has some easy ideas for kids that want to be more creative, I have found there is always one student that know how to get them started, I suck at this.
Keva Planks
Keva Planks
I just got these planks this year, from Demco, and they have been a great success. Students are building some amazing creations, I will defiantly get more! I am going to have to figure out a way to go deeper on this one!
Mine is not as pretty as the one on the interwebs, but . . . it works. I had my TA's do the painting and I traced to shapes on the form for students to cut out. Nov 2019
Mardi Gras Masks
Mardi Gras Masks
I brought the masks on S & S worldwide. I put out a bunch of leftover beads, feathers, and other items and let them be creative.
OzoBot
OzoBot
Students learn to code by using colors. By building a maze with colored markers they can make the robot perform lots of different moves.
Chess
Chess
Although chess is not a MakerSpace, they are not creating, it is a fun way to get students using their problems solving skills/logic.
Halloween/October MakerSpace projects
Halloween/October MakerSpace projects
My Library Tech., Jacques Moss, came up with this one. Students use construction paper to create Day of the Dead skeleton with a twist, students must choose a book character, or characters, to illustrate their poster. Students are given construction paper but some are choosing to draw instead of cut, I told them there are no rules besides it must be a skeleton/s and have a book theme.
MakerSpace Challenge
MakerSpace Challenge
Students must build a stand for a small pumpkin using straws and masking tape. Any student who builds a stand to hold the pumpkin wins a pencil.
Spiderwebs and fun!
Spiderwebs and fun!
Kids love to craft, we purchased the popsicle sticks with notches on Amazon, a teacher donated the yarn, and we brought the spiders at the 99cent store (they were rings and we cut off the ring part). We used a glue gun to glue the sticks together and the spider on the web.
Fun with Paint
Fun with Paint
This is a quick and easy project the students can do before/after school or at lunch.
Put a Drop Cloth Down!
Put a Drop Cloth Down!
We have new carpet in the library, so we use a drop cloth to catch paint before it hits the carpet.
Dash Maze
Dash Maze
Create a maze using masking tape, with a start and finish line. Students use the blockly app to program the robot to complete the maze using block coding (this video explains how to program the Dash) (Here is another one that is a little longer but does a better job of teaching). When students complete the maze they win a small prize from our prize draw.
Stop Motion Animation Using Stikbots
Stop Motion Animation Using Stikbots
We purchased these kits on Amazon. The App, that comes with the kit, is easy to use and kids can create short videos quickly. You can use ipads/ipods or kids can use their own phones.
Lego Center
Lego Center
We started with a donation from a teacher and have built our lego collection over the last 3 years. This is the only permanent Makerspace we have.
Lincoln Logs
Lincoln Logs
Kids love free play and then we do a best cabin contest at the end-of-the-year.
Students lover oversize games.
Students lover oversize games.
Connect four, Giant Jenga, Tic-tac-toe, Checkers
Library Game Center
Library Game Center
We use a poster maker to create signs
Tissue Art
Tissue Art
Tissue Art
Tissue Art
Wrap a tissue around a pencil and tap in glue then put on the paper.
Kano: Make your own laptop
Kano: Make your own laptop
I thought it would be difficult to put together but my Middle Schoolers did it fairy quickly and are excited to start coding!
Kano
Kano
Our biggest problem was getting tech to put it on the network.
We had to much fun making Harry Potter Christmas decorations for our HP book tree
We had to much fun making Harry Potter Christmas decorations for our HP book tree
We got most of our ideas from YouTube
Harry Potter
Harry Potter
We used over 100 Harry Potter books to make our tree.
Our kids had so much fun with these, they are a little pricy so we only ordered 20 and they were gone in 2 days. I have ordered much more for next year.
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More Kano Picts
More Kano Picts
Wish more girls would try!
Snap Ciruits & Perler Beads
Resources:
The book I love and has helped me the most is "The Kickstart Guide t Making GREAT Makerspaces" by Laura Fleming! I actually won a copy from MakinMaker and I love it, great ideas and the book has shown me how to get the most out of our projects.
Renovated Learning: Building a Culture of Creativity + Discovery in Education
http://renovatedlearning.com/2015/04/02/defining-makerspaces-part-1/
The Daring Librarian: Makerspace starter kit (updated)
https://www.thedaringlibrarian.com/2018/08/makerspace-starter-kit-updated.html
What is a Makerspace? (they have amazing resources to share)
https://www.makerspaces.com/what-is-a-makerspace/
Google Slide with MakerSpace Movies
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1w1OSLcuTG54wLi0uIR6eFOZLXdlp69E_8vNtNd3n7yc/edit?usp=sharing
5 Reasons Makerspaces belong in school libraries
http://ideas.demco.com/blog/5-reasons-makerspaces-belong-in-school-libraries/
Library Makerspaces: the Bold, the Brave, and the Uninitiated
Makerspaces - The Benefits
https://curiositycommons.wordpress.com/makerspaces-the-benefits/
How to start a MakerSpace space
http://ideas.demco.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/How_To_Start_a_Makerspace.pdf
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