With the 8th grade ELA teachers, Griffith & Shu, (they're our busiest customers almost!), using Makerspace to create group presentations for a classic novel they've read, (Around the World in 80 Days, Treasure Island, Dracula...) we find ourselves in need of more junk! Below is a pic of the box we're putting out in front of the Media (Thanks, Ann - creative making! and SEMS for the idea! So many great activities going on - and so many high/low tech. Will post more with pics, but for now, here's our junk box And here are some pics of the 8th grade classic book presentation
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It's in the works. Our first community Makerspace activity! On January 30, from 9 to 12, we will offer a Makerspace activity for our KMS students and their families. up to 25 to create jewelry and accessories from cast out computer parts. Stay tuned for more information!
Mr. Hill's 7th grade Social Studies classes built their communities in Minecraft this week. I had I had the chance to spend the second day with them. One student asked me, "who's responsible for bringing Minecraft to our school?" I answered, "me". He hugged me!
Thank you, UNCG for our fall supply to keep our Makerspaces up/running. Here's a list of this go-round's purchases:
Minecraft.edu - 1 server & 35 user licenses 5 iPad airs/otterboxes 2 vga lightning connectors $100 app purchasing card 10 Flashforge Pre-Cut Blue Heat Plate printer sheets 4 box cutters 3 arduino uno ultimate starter kits 2 littleBits Electronics Premium Kit 2 Jewelry making tools kit 3 Nickel Free Silver jewelry makings 1 compact & wireless microphone 3 Chibitronics Circuit Stickers Classroom Packs 300 CR2032 litium coin batteries Came out the side door after a looooong day to see the following: a very young tree that had managed to force its way through the crack in the concrete directly next to our building. I hadn't been out that door for quite some time. There's some symbolism here. What do you think?
I have so enjoyed the break. It has given me a lot of time for reflection and play. For Christmas, our oldest son, the PayPal Sr. Design editor gave me my very own subscription to Minecraft! I spent one day playing - getting over my fear of Creepers, Zombies and the other things that go bump.. and groan in the night. Below are some photos of my learning. I also documented my learning with signs on the walls. I've made a (nother!!) video of those below the pics. Here's the VIDEO on YouTube
Hey! I also was playing with my new phone, LG4 and it dawned on me... Couldn't we ask people to give us their old phones, reset to get rid of the personal info and use the on the wireless as devices in the classroom? Working on that possibility. We could FILL the classrooms with devices I think! And, I applied for a Winston Salem Foundation grant for three (3) Hummingbird robotics kits for our school. Fingers crossed! Great organization btb. I've benefited twice and Rob, (my Fulbright-guy) has once. I've applied to NCTIES for their Outstanding Teacher award. I received three very humbling references, thank you Leslie, Dr. Helms, and Marianne. If you've not had the opportunity to appreciate NCTIES and all it offers, click on all caps links and become aware! Too! I really like HeadsUp!, the app from Ellen DeGeneres, but while it used to offer a "create your own deck" feature, I can't find that anymore, so I located another one, Charades! that does allow me to create my own and I've done one for 6th grade vocab review of Ch. 1. I've searched unsuccessfully for one that will allow me to upload pics - that would be an even more fun way of practicing vocab!! I'll keep looking! I rebuilt the 3D hologram for smartphones, see my 10/17 post, and link. I was thinking with 6th Grade Science beginning planets soon - suppose they created their own 3D video, Blender.org has free, open source, (redundant?) software that looks overwhelming, but awesome. Wonder if I could get buy in? Mr. Boyer is already doing Google Cardboard - Mission to Mars and we've got two Arduino Ardusat Space Kits in the Makerspace... Too much might be too much.. but it is really cool :). Finally - (I feel like there's so much more!) I've received ethernet cables and 4 workstations from Ms. Miller at Central Office to create jewelry/trinkets/stuff out them sometime this month in the Makerspace. Keep watching for more information! Way back in September, Mr. Walsh's students were my first classes to do Green Screen. We put up extra Green Screens (aka bulletin board paper in several locations around the Auditorium and had 5 groups going at the SAME TIME! It was chaos, but upon reflection it was good. (Thanks, Mr. Walsh for guiding me to that realization!) I don't think I knew how to embed videos back then, so here's one from that session - a great work! 6th Grade Math Classes create their own holiday songs with math rules! Ms. Bunch and Ms. Collins with the help of the KMS Makerspace joined forces the last week before the holiday to have their math students create a math rule video using a specific backdrop and the Green Screen app by DoInk. Below is just one of over an hour's worth of great songs that will be shared after the holidays. It's been a great 2 weeks off! A little anxious to be hitting the ground running with Mr. Hill's 7th grade Social Studies doing Minecraft.ed as Ms. Furno's did before break. I've had the 3D printer home over the break as well as 3 ipads, and the drone. Sadly, I've not touched the drone. It's just to *wild* for me! Hoping someone will step with some hutzpah to get it up/flying and getting used in the classroom. Mr. Boyer and Mr. Shu have agreed to come fly it in the gym after school, but we'll be competing with Basketball here in Jan.
Over the break, I did figure out the problem with our 3D printer - the extruder was not sitting close enough to the base!! - I've been printing since then. Still have lots of student work for Genius Hour to print out. I did do some fancy work for myself - I have to figure it out to help others... right? So here's the story with photos.. We received a great coffee tin filled with.. Italian coffee from our middle son Rob who's in Venice for a year on a Fulbright scholarship - that's another story. Anyway the tab broke to latch the lid to the tin so I MADE a new one - took lots of measuring, and three tries, but here are photos! ollowing on the last post with Ms Furno's students and their/our first Minecraft.edu experience... Highs? Student engagement, collaboration, working with tools that will benefit them in the long run... Lows? Laptops that wouldn't hold a charge... hmmm - I believe that's it and so I will say day 1 was a success! Yesterday though was our first day in the Urban World. Poor 3rd period, (they have encore first 2 periods) they were such the guinea pigs - we just turned them loose after introductions and said "work together" - "do it".. 4th and on we began to assign jobs - housebuilders, canal builders, treasure hunters, gatherers, tool builders. We divided the class into to groups. When they logged in they put a G1 or G2 after their names so they could see who was in their group. Mike, (UNCG) was awesome! Very grateful for his ability to spend time on campus and lead us in this endeavor. Next day, we assigned groups to work together on Rounds 2-3-4-5. It's hard to balance curriculum and play. Divvying up the other 4 rounds and having Ms Furno talk about each Round as they were assigned helped tie in curriculum. She's going to follow up on Friday with a full discussion of the application - and perhaps she will complete the assignment via paper/marker. Mr. Hill is going to wait until after the New Year. Andy, District Supervisor is coming in to see - it's exactly what we want - for Downtown to see how we can engage and cultivate independent learning. No doubt Minecraft.edu is engaging, but for curricular purposes? Flying and creative mode where the students had all the resources was very helpful. |
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March 2016
KMS MAKERSPACECreated through the generosity and affiliation with UNCG and its Transforming Teaching Through Technology Grant, (T4), Our KMS Makerspace will offer our students creative ways to design, experiment, build and invent as they deeply engage in learning at Kernersville Middle School. Categories |