The "making" has begun! As I have written about before, I have become pretty excited about the idea of makerspaces and getting kids (and adults) to create and innovate. Last year, I was fortunate enough to have a Makerbot 3D printer grant funded (thank you Makerbot and some amazing donors!) and my third and fourth graders worked hard as they learned about creating and failing and trying again. In the spring, I applied for and was awarded a grant from a wonderful local group, the Coginchaug Valley Educational Foundation, for makerspace items. This summer, I got to work ordering some amazing items such as Raspberry Pi, littleBits, MakeyMakey, and Makedo. The librarian in me could not forget about the books and there are beginning to be more and more great ones available. To complement the maker items, I added books such as Rosie Revere, Engineer, Iggy Peck, Architect, and the Nick and Tesla series (mysteries with some making happening in between chapters). 

EdcampCT took place on August 16th this year and the first session I went to was a Maker session with William Ian O'Byrne (Twitter: @wiobyrne), professor at the University of New Haven. He brought some simple supplies and got people making! The project was a LED nametag. Here is his blog post with ideas and directions. People had a lot of fun experimenting and trying to get them to work. It was a little tricky, because the LED lightbulbs are TINY and you have to get things just right in order for the circuit to work. But that challenge is part of the fun.

One of the first grade teachers at Brewster School didn't get to go to that session, but was so inspired and wanted to try it with her students. So we went for it! We only had 30 minutes that first day, which in hindsight was way too short. When the students arrived in the library, I got them seated and started out by reading Rosie Revere, Engineer. We had to skip some parts, but I wanted to establish a purpose for our project with them. 

I had pre-cut card stock and students selected the color they wanted. Mrs. Loffredo helped the use a craft punch to punch a small hole in the card. Copper tape with sticky backing was given to the kids, as well as a button battery. We helped them place the 2 strips of copper tape parallel to each other and get that LED bulb in the right place so that the circuit works and the bulb lights up! Such excitement on the faces of the kids when that bulb lights up. It is not easy, which makes it all the more worthwhile. 

We only got 4 of the students' nametags completed during that 30 minutes, but Mrs. Loffredo took the supplies to finish up in her classroom. She continued the experience by having students write about it in their journals. It was a wonderful way to begin another year of collaboration in the library! 

Special thanks to the Coginchaug Valley Education Fund for supporting us!

A GIANT thank you to the Coginchaug Valley Education Foundation! I applied for a grant this spring and tonight was thrilled to be one of ten amazing grant recipients. My grant was titled Follow Your Passion and Make It! Through this grant, elementary students will be learning, growing, and creating in a Makerspace. We will be making cardboard come alive with Makedo and littleBits. MakeyMakey and Throwies allow students to tinker with circuits. All of these resources give students the ability to design, create, tinker, fail, and try again. In addition, we will be adding books that involve making or crafting to inspire kids! For a great example of a library Makerspace, take a look at the Westport Public Library. 

Come back to read more about what we are doing in the Makerspace next school year. We also will be having a mini-Makerfaire to show all the amazing things!

Today 4th graders at Korn School played in the sandbox. No, we didn't bring sand into the library (although that might be fun). Our tech integration teacher and I shared a new app with them and let them figure it out. We talked with them about some C words: Creative, Critical thinking, Communication, Collaboration (P21.org poster) and the folks at Fablevision added Compassionate. We loved talking about thinking outside the box too! A final thought before students got to work was the idea of Failure - not giving up and trying again in a new way to solve the problem. We believe that these are key ideas for 21st century learners. 

We want students to use these 5 C's as we use the 3D printer from Makerbot in our library in the next weeks. Students will be using the Blokify app to create designs that we will print. We cannot wait to see what they create!

Students and teachers in Regional School District 13 showed a little courage and a LOT of excitement December 9-15 during Computer Science Education Week. Trying something new that most knew little or nothing about was a big challenge. But the Hour of Code was a huge success! 

Students and teachers in grades K-12 participated. Some used code.org to get to the Angry Bird/Zombie tutorial and learn some basic computational thinking. Some used iPad apps such as Kodable, Light-bot, Daisy the Dinosaur or Cargo-bot. However they did it, these newest coders loved it and wanted to do more. Watching kindergarteners, who, when asked if they thought they would be good at coding said, "NO!", grow big smiles on their faces and try again and again when they got stuck, was an absolute pleasure. Fourth graders jumped right in and helped each other when they were puzzled about what to do next. They were all building stamina and the ability to persevere, even when things got tougher. 

Teachers were taking risks here - big ones! It definitely made them feel better when they were reminded that they really didn't need to know what to do - the kids could do it! When teachers tried it, they LOVED it! Many confided that they became a little addicted themselves. 

The Hour of Code provided a way to show just how essential computational thinking and coding are for the future of these students. I think it truly helped teachers, who had little or no experience with coding, to understand students for whom this is a passion, a little better. I can't wait to see where this excitement takes us next!

Click HERE to see 6th grade coders on Channel 30 news.

Click HERE for article in The Town Times (see pages 14 & 19).

It was amazing! Pierce, one of our Korn alumni, came over on Thursday afternoon and together we got the printer going. It was a little nerve-wracking; we actually read the directions. We really didn't want to break it or cause any problems. We followed the directions step by step (the screen on the printer tells you what to do). We got all the parts put in the right places and then we had to align it. That took a little time, but we figured it out. And then it was time to try it! So it heated up and it worked. The SD card that it comes with has projects already programmed, so we picked the shark and watched it work. It was really neat. It is a new way of thinking about printing, because there is that added dimension, but we could immediately see all kinds of possibilities. 18 minutes later (or so), it was finished. The 3D printer was fascinating to everyone! My 6 year old daughter was mesmerized. My principal and some staff members stopped by to ask a question and couldn't stop watching. We created another shark and then a bracelet (see picture below). Our next step is to program our own items. I asked Pierce to do a little research over vacation. He is so passionate about technology! It is a pleasure to work with him! I can't wait to see what he discovers and what we will create next! I also can't wait to share it with the students and see where it takes them! To be continued . . .

UPDATE! On Thursday evening, Nov. 21, this project was funded! Amazing! Several families from our school community had supported the project and were matched by another donor. Then, Makerbot and a final family finished the funding. It is so exciting to imagine what we will be able to do and how many kids we will be able to inspire. Thank you, thank you.

Many of you know how passionate I am about Makerspaces, making, tinkering, and inventing. My children and I had an amazing summer "making" all kinds of things from soda bottle boats to balloon propelled lego cars and "throwies" made of LED bulbs and batteries to cardboard creations. We have been inspired by Caine of Caine's Arcade (please watch - it is so amazing!) I have read blogs and articles and am inspired daily by the book Invent to Learn by Martinez and Stager. I believe so much in the ideas of having students think, create, share, and grow. Creating a Makerspace in my school libraries is a huge goal that I am working toward this year. But I think it is worth it. Students deserve this opportunity.

Last week when I was at the American Association of School Libraries conference in Hartford, one of my good Twitter friends Andy Plemmons told me about an amazing opportunity from Makerbot and Donors Choose. They have teamed up with the goal of putting a 3D printer in every classroom! This is not a technology that is simply for colleges, universities, industry and other agencies to explore. This technology can be for everyone and what better way to move our students forward? Creating a Makerspace with this type of technology brings together what we do in the library every day - research, thinking, questioning, connecting with experts. All 21 century skills which will take our students places we can only imagine.

I submitted my proposal last night and it was accepted this afternoon. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that this project will be filled so that we can start thinking about how to use 3D printing and other Makerspace ideas. 

Please take a look at our project Follow Your Passion and Make It!, consider donating, and hopefully share about this project with others. I believe that our students will benefit in so many ways from this opportunity! I can't wait! 

If you are able to donate by 11/26, use the word INSPIRE at checkout and Donors Choose will match donations up to $100.