Building in the Makerlab

Last school year I started promoting monthly stem challenges in the library.  This idea began when I was looking for something extra for my students to work on during a recess period when my students are able to visit the library.  This December, I decided to run a Gingerbread House Competition as our monthly STEM Challenge.  This was patterned after some of the gingerbread house competitions I have attended in the past.  Of course those competitions had real gingerbread houses made from candy and gingerbread.  The idea with this competetion was to make everything out of paper and crafting materials.  Students were allowed to work together and were given about 2 weeks of 20 minute increments to work on completing their houses.



The Rules Were as Follows:
Flyer and Rules

Gingerbread House Contest Form

Voting Ballots

                                                                                                                         

I don't know about you, but I am always looking for awesome reading promotions to do with my students.  I teach 5-8, and it can sometimes be a bit challenging to get my 7th and 8th graders excited about reading. 

This November, I attended AASL and attended a session on reading promotions at the middle school level.  The presenter talked about a reading promotion she ran called Unwrap a Good Book For Christmas.  I had done something similar to this last year and Valentine's Day "Blind Date With a Book" and it seemed to go over well, so I thought this would be a perfect fit as well.

Here's How the Promotion Works:

Over the past year, I have learned the importance of blogging.  It is a great way to share your ideas with others, keep a record of your successes, and make connections with other educators.

About six months ago, I began the process of redesigning my blog.  This involved creating a new design for my header.  Unfortunately, I have absolutely no artistic skills, at least not when it comes to drawing.  My mother is a very talented artist, and even holds a Bachelors in Fine Arts from Moore College of Art in Philadelphia.  Who better than her to create a design for my blog?  My mother is a huge part of my life and has been an inspiration to me both personally and professionally.  I feel blessed to have her in my life.   The header symbolizes my love for literature, technology, and design thinking.  This school year I was fortunate enough to get funded for a Makerspace.  Every day proves to be a learning experience for myself and my students.  No matter how challenging the day is, I still always leave my school thinking how much I love our library makerspace.

My blog page was created fully with the help of Christi Fultz of http://www.designbychristi.com/  If you are looking for a blog designer, I would highly recommend Christy.  I ended up changing my blog design several times, and she was extremely patient with me, and kept the price the same.

Keeping a blog is challenging, but I highly recommend it.  We ask our students to write all the time, but are we writing?  My goal for this new blog is to share my ideas, and blog on a regular basis.  It is my hope that my posts can inspire educators in the way that I have been inspired by so many of the bloggers that I have followed through the years.