Makerspace

Kindergarten students studied how snowflakes are made. They each created their own snowflake making sure to include six starting branches. We then left them overnight in Borax solution filled jars which created the crystals. A special thanks to all the parents and teachers who ate extra spaghetti sauce so we would have enough jars. 

Fifth graders studying weather created working anemometers we used to calculate the wind speed of the fans in the room. We learned the trick to color one cup a different color so it's easier to count the number of rotations.

Fourth graders make snowflakes out of equivalent fractions. We made wonderful messes.

Not many pictures for this activity where students created a cloud in a jar. It went so fast and the camera didn't really pick up the "cloud," but students got to see how clouds can be formed. 

First grade students studied different land and water forms. To review, they researched in books and designed their own land/water form on paper, and then created it using Legos. The class when around to the different land/water forms and had to guess which one had been designed. Groups then explained what they had created.

Kindergarten students studying weather made working wind vanes designing them with the animal of their choice. 

Students who received the SWAG award from their teachers got a special Makerspace time where they raced Sphero robots through mazes.

The idea came from here. With the help from Ms. Hererra and Ms. Petersen the STEAM Engineering Design Process wall art is up! Took several weeks of cutting cardboard, gluing, and spray painting. Thanks to Ms. Petersent for the Cricut work. Can't wait to use this with students. 

Finally the Prusa Mini 3D printers are up and running! 5th graders designed 3D bookmarks with Tinkercad and will have them as mementos from Bethany. 

Students are using the Epson table-mounted projector to follow Lego instructions. 

Collaborative lesson with Sra. Salamanca and her Spanish immersion kindergarten class. We read the book Move! in English and Spanish and then students learned how to control the Sphero Bolt robot to make it move like their chosen animal.

One of my favorite Makerspace activities. Sra. Herrera's class led other classes in the making of paper from recycled paper. They taught students about recycling facts using infographics they made using Canva and read Henry Cole's book One Little Bag.

It was the perfect day to make a kite. Ms. McCollum's class made kites in under a half hour. A new record for a Makerspace activity. We used recycled plastic bags for the tails. I will need to get pictures of them in action outside.

Students in Ms. McCollum's kindergarten class got to compare characteristics of animals. After reading Except Antarctica by Todd Sturgill and If You Were a Penguin by Wendell and Florence Minor, students learned why penguins (and whales and seals) can withstand the ice cold and humans can't. They tested our ice cold water with their fingers and then again when their fingers were covered with "blubber" (shortening). 

It's getting real. The 3D printers are here! The two Ms. Longs are getting it done.

3rd and 4th grade students practice fractions while bowling with Sphero robots. 4th graders were able to reduce their fractions and tell which was greater. Pro tip: If you slow down the speed of the Sphero you can drive it more easily, but 3rd and 4th graders don't like to go slow. :) 

After studying Ben Franklin, Ms. Toney's 5th grade students chose a Makerspace station to create a contraption. The hovercraft station really impressed as when they had extra time, they made up games to test out their hovercrafts. It was a nice tie-in because we used some projects from our World Read Aloud Day author, Kristina Holzweiss. 

Kindergartners create 3D Shape Monsters in the Makerspace. They made up names for their monsters and, of course, used googly eyes with other Makerspace supplies. This activity came from Science Demo Guy STEM on Teacher Pay Teachers.  Special thanks to Ms. Little for helping to cut out the crafts for the students. We realized that was going to take up more time than we had to have the kinders cut it out.

2nd grade students in Ms. Pless's class use the Makerspace to learn about measuring. We read Measuring Penny by Loreen Leedy. Then, students used Straw Builders, MagnaTiles, Keva Planks, Fiddlesticks, IO Blocks and wooden blocks to try to build the tallest tower. They went around to the different groups and estimated how tall each tower would be. Finally, students used rulers to accurately measure the towers. Ms. Pless provided clipboards for students and a sheet she created so students could be the professionals in doing the measuring. We could have easily doubled the time with this activity.

I took librarian Kelly Hincks idea for menus for teachers while listening to Amy Hermon's School Librarians United Podcast and adapted it for the Makerspace using Canva.  

4th graders make Valentines for Vets using a variety of Makerspace supplies, including using homemade paper in Ms. Herrera's class. Students also got to use author Jarrett Lerner's "Introduction to Hand Lettering." 

Kindergartners make Valentines for Vets using a variety of Makerspace supplies, including the favorite "googly eyes." I think every kindergarten Makerspace activity will have to use googly eyes now. 

4th grade students in Ms. Herrera's class make paper from recycled paper. We could have done a lesson on adjectives with all the comments on how it looked and felt.