Global Maker Day!

Today we participated in our own version of Global Maker Day. We didn't formally register for the event, but were inspired by the idea of 'making'!
What is /making'? Well...it is the act of making things! Seems simple, and it is! Many schools are creating Maker Spaces in libraries and in classrooms. This is a space where kids can make! Making is a fun, interactive, hands on approach to learning. It can also be linked to curricular outcomes very easily (ELA, Math, Social Studies, Science, Art...it's all there!). When kids are Making they are using what we call the Design Process. Making can be different from Choice Time in the sense that some direction will be given, there needs to be a plan (including supplies that are needed), there is a process (what do you need to do, do you need to make changes, did something not work, would another material work better, etc.) and there is reflection.
Watch the video on The 4 Cs...(Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking and Creativity). It is a cute video based on the book Going Places by Peter & Paul Reynolds. We watched it today and the class totally understood its message!

Some of the thoughts of the class after watching Above and Beyond:
-You need to think outside the box
-Sometimes you need to persevere when things get hard
-Now everyone will want to change their ideas to make their car (from the story) more interesting
-It's okay to be different and think differently from others
-We need to have a growth mindset (over a fixed mindset)

Our Process Today:
-I went shopping at Dollarama, found stuff around the room and had donations from Murray spread out into the middle of the carpet as the kids came in

I'll admit...it was scary to start the day with a mess! However, the kids did a fantastic job cleaning up. We are starting to organize our supplies so they are easy to access next time we need them!

-The class was surprised and ecstatic to see the pile of 'treasures' and started looking through the pile to see what was there
-We talked about the ideas we had yesterday (on Monday we had a quick brainstorm of what each student wanted to make and we made a shopping list so I would know what to buy). Some ideas changed after they saw what supplies they had to work with
-We each took 3 pieces (from the supply pile) and in our Learning Logs we drew a picture of what we were going to make
-Next we did a gallery walk so we could see what everyone else was going to make
-Based on what we saw we formed groups because we wanted today's Maker time to be a collaborative piece
-After that...we got Making!

These are works in progress!

What I Heard Throughout the Day:

-What a great idea!

-I should try that too!

-Wow, that's cool!

-What if we...?

-Maybe we could...?

-Can you help me?

-I really like...!

-Do you need...?

-How did you make that?

-Can I help you?

-What should we do next?

-That reminds me of...!

The list goes on and on!

Here are some pictures of what we made!

Pretty cool stuff!!

We had lots of people interested in a Hallowe'en theme, a group of modelling clay dragons, others were interested in making people, houses and even a curling rock!

I'm really pleased with how the day went. The class had fun. They worked on Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking and Creativity as well as the Design Process. AND I wasn't left with a huge mess! Everyone was engaged. What more can a teacher ask for?!

Next Steps:

-Continue creating a Maker Space in the room (we are working on moving things around to utilize the cupboard with some labeled bins so we can be organized)

-Reflecting on what we've made, created, built (did it change from the original plan, what did you do when you came across something that wasn't working, were you able to communicate with your group, what do you notice/wonder about other projects in the room, what might you do differently next time or what really worked well and you would do again or suggest for others to try)

Some of the class may think we got to 'play' all day long...that is true, but I promise there was also a whole lot of learning going on too!

*If you have anything you'd like to donate to our Maker Space let us know! We will see if we can find a use for it!

Until next time,

Danielle :)