I’m starting up a new regularly occurring segment on Renovated Learning where I’ll share some of the awesome stuff my students have been making over the past week. I’m still trying to figure out exactly what to call it (Build of the Week? Project of the Week? Feature Friday?) so if you have any suggestions, let me know 🙂
We’ve had our Epic LEGO Wall up for a few weeks now and my students absolutely love it. It makes me smile everyday when a student will walk in and be awestruck by it; and I smile even more when they ask me if they’re allowed to build on it and I tell them to go for it. There’ve been so many amazing creations – from abstract art to classic video games, words and letters and everything in between. My students beam even when they just get to add a few bricks. I hadn’t really thought about it until recently, but making gives my students a voice – it lets them make their mark.
Here’s some of my favorite recent LEGO wall builds:
My students were either infants or not yet born when 9-11 happened. But on the anniversary two weeks ago, several of them worked together to create a flag on our LEGO wall. Then several more students added to it later, making sure that it had exactly 13 stripes and 50 stars. I loved seeing them work together on something so meaningful, planning out exactly how to lay it out to make it correct.
Sometimes even the simplest projects can be the most appealing. I love how my students are leaving little messages on the board, from “signing” their work to statements like this one.
Even the teachers have gotten in on the making. One of our reading teachers built this one during our after-school program. I love how it takes the traditional concept of building up with LEGOs and turns it on its side (literally)
I love all the little projects that sneak into the nooks and crannies between the larger ones. One of my favorites is the little forests that keep popping up. They’re a relatively simple build, but they look so whimsical.
One of my student assistants got super excited when he told me that he wanted to create something from one of his favorite games, Portal. I’d never heard of it before, but I told him to go for it. Soon after he finished, almost every student exclaimed: “Cool! It’s Portal!”. So maybe the LEGO wall will help me stay on top of things (even though this game is actually a few years old).
That’s just some of the awesomeness. If you want to see more, make sure you follow me on Instagram as I post images of the Epic LEGO wall there too.