I mean it started out a Build-A-Bear with the BEST troop ever!
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| First outing as a Girl Scout troop. Yes.. my bear has 9 hearts...representing each girl in my troop. The name.. Warm Lace.. which is the first letter of each of the girls name. Blessed doesn't even begin to describe my love for this troop and their families! |
Each month I have been setting myself professional goals.. and I still have LOTS of ways to grow, but one of my goals this month was to open my Makerspace. I have been watching the Twitter feed about all of these amazing Makerspaces.. and I have been reading all of these amazing blogs about their Makerspace.. and I look at mine it is SO different.
I wanted my Makerspace to be book based (by the way.. I am almost done applying for my next masters.. LIBRARIAN!) The big first idea I had was to get every classroom and grade level through the makerspace each six weeks. I was also going to divide kids so it was smaller groups. Then reality set in.. and I realized that those are super lofty goals. So, I started with 1st Grade... but still book based. With Thanksgiving and other holidays coming up, I wanted to start with a book that was going to be more about being good community members and see where it went from there.
So, we started with the book Boxes for Katje by Candace Fleming. This is a FANTASTIC book!
Things we talked about:
-Looking and comparing on maps where the two main characters were from
-What might be in the boxes?
-What does Katje do?
-How did Rosie help Katje?
and so much more.
We then had the discussion on how Rosie helped Katje's community by providing things that they might not have (they were amazed that they didn't have meat or sugar.. or chocolate!) We then talked about how we could help our community.
Our discussion went to
-Does everyone have money to buy food, and talked about canned food drives
-Not everyone gets presents
-How we can help the environment
-Donating clothes to those that don't have money to buy more
The first graders were so involved in how they might be able to make the community better. With the season I believe they were more passionate about not everyone having toys for birthdays or other holidays. So.. our first graders will be having a Toy Drive.
I introduced them to the fact that this is an awesome idea.. but they are going to be makers (and I wasn't going to help them.. they were going to figure it out themselves.. which they all got SUPER excited about!) so how are we going to tell our community about the Toy Drive, what do we need to do next?
Things they brainstormed about:
-phone calls home
-notes in our Thursday folders
-making decorated boxes for people to put their toys in
-making announcements
-making posters
Who knows.. I could totally have some students come in and say you know what.. I want to make my own toy or something even bigger and better.
I made this quick little video (I only see these kiddos for 30 minutes this week and next week) for teachers to show their students. The next time they come in.. they are going to be MAKING!
When they come back.. I can't wait to see what they come up with. So, I know that it is not like the regular makerspaces.. but who knows what is going to come out of this to help our community. Even better a group of first graders read a book, made a connection and now want to make a difference. I will be posting the good, the bad, and the ugly (and preparing for my next grade level too!)
