In the 2021-2022 school year, I collaborated with our 6th grade science teacher to incorporate makerspace activities into her curriculum. We decided on a hybrid approach where for some projects, students would come up to the library makerspace and for others, I would come down to the classroom. So we decided to purchase supplies (using … Read more
Our libraries are no longer solely the silent, individual study zones that they used to be. More and more schools are recognizing the value of collaboration, and the library can be the perfect place to support it. But traditional library environments (think heavy wooden individual tables, tall, imposing stacks, etc) don’t really provide a collaborative … Read more
The Four C’s are big in education right now: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration and Communication. We talk constantly about how we need to be teaching our students these skills. I’m not always a big fan of buzzwords – even though I’ve only been in education for less than a decade, I realize that they come … Read more
Connecting Students to the World Through the Cardboard Challenge Makerspaces and maker projects can be amazing catalysts for connecting your students with others. The Imagination Foundation’s Global Cardboard Challenge is one of my favorite maker activities to help my students feel connected to the world and see the power of making. Combine that with a Skype … Read more
Our 2016 Cardboard Challenge We’ve been doing the Cardboard Challenge at Stewart every year since we first started our makerspace in 2014. See our 2014 challenge here and our 2015 challenge here. Our challenge is inspired by the YouTube video, Caine’s Arcade and the Global Cardboard Challenge. Every year we start the challenge by watching … Read more
I’ve been working lately on finding more ways to collaborate with my teachers on lessons. While starting up a conversation with our marine science teacher, I learned that she was working on a unit about coral reefs with her students. Working together, we came up with a plan to focus on coral reef restoration. Inspired … Read more
A few days ago, I posted a review of the book Make Space: How to Set the Stage for Creative Collaboration. But just a simple review does not give you the full story. While reading through this book, I was constantly jotting down notes and ideas for things I wanted to try in my library. … Read more
Make Space: How to Set the Stage for Creative Collaboration is a fabulous book for any educator looking to change up their learning space to support students collaboration. Even though this book is not directly about schools (it focuses more on offices and universities) there’s so many practical lessons to be taken from this book. So … Read more