Jen Schild

1st Grade

Meet the Maker: Jen Schild

My name is Jen Schild and I am a first grade teacher at Ronald Reagan Elementary. I feel that creating a Maker's culture in important in the classroom because it gets kids using authentic problem solving while promoting empathy for the people around them.

Provocation: How can we help teachers or students find an effective way to carry and transfer necessary supplies from one place to another during large transitions throughout the building while keep their hands free?

Maker Plan: (Teaching Empathy)

This is a problem that many students and adults have in our school, but specifically in our class this year.

Maker's Plan Through this plan, you will see that we use skill builders to work through design processes to give us the practice we needed to be ready to create our prototypes.


What we are making, Why we are Making, Who we are Making for:

We are making a product to assist others traveling throughout school with supplies and tools.

We are making to help others.

We are making for students and teachers.


Maker Skill Builders & Highlights

Ready, Set, Design

This was a skill builder. We had a bag of materials and a challenge to solve.

Ready, Set Design Activity


Big Maker Book

Rainsticks

When given a challenge and a set of materials, how can they make a working rainstick.


Design Thinking Using the Lauch Cycle

Groups were given a folder to move their rockets along through the process.

Testing Protoype

Students used several sessions at the Maker Space to build and test their prototypes.

Student Product Samples

These are videos showing our Ready, Set, Design challenge and Rainsticks we made as a skill builder. There is also a video of a group testing out their prototype.

B744B72A-9AD8-492B-B596-3571773D0179.MP4
Rainsticks
IMG_0372.MOV

Additional Teacher Resources & Reproducibles:

Additional Teacher Resources & Reproducibles:

The Big Book of Maker Space Projects by Collleen Graves and Aaron Graves

Launch cycle image

Must know tips for Teachers:

Work with your digital learning coach

Give time limits or projects could go on forever:)

It may be wise to choose groups for the skill builders, so kids can work with many different peers to practice building those collaboration skills.