Lewis and Clark Learns

My goal for this school year is to strike a balance between making, thinking, and reading in the library.  This summer I read many books about creating amazing MakerSpaces and several focused on fostering the love of reading.  Our MakerSpace is up and going so I have been thinking and implementing ways to encourage the love of books.  At the beginning of the year, Mrs. Haynes and I added a spot where we can share with the kids what we are currently reading...a very simple idea.  Mrs. Haynes commented the other day that several kids had inquired about the book she had been reading. At the time, I had not had any conversations about my reading choice.  But today that changed!  I was waiting to walk a kindergartner back to the library after a little bathroom break (she was a little worried about the big kids at the bathroom) so I was standing there when Grace, a 4th grader, started talking to me about the book I had been reading, Behind the Bookcase by Mark Steensland.  She had already r

This is going to be a BIG week in the Lewis and Clark Maker Center!  Three clubs are beginning...6 sessions of MakerKid's Club for 2nd graders (other grade levels will follow), Page Turner's book club for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders and Storytelling Club for 4th and 5th graders.  MakerKids is a new club for us with the addition of our new MakerSpace and Page Turners will be seeing a few new ideas including Shelfies and creating "My Reading Year" journals. Additionally, we will be voting on the designs for our LFL from 18 K-5th grade entries and celebrating our summer reading! Plus, I will be getting ready for next week's Dot Day festivities and working on a couple of grant opportunities.   Several great things happened last week.  A student of ours talked to us about setting up a Chess Tournament.  We are really excited that he felt empowered to come up with this idea.  We are more excited that he will be the one to organize  and run it with only a bit

This will be our first year celebrating Dot Day at Lewis and Clark!  My fabulous Parapro's husband told us about it last year but we just couldn't fit it into all that was going on.  So this year I started reading and learning about it during the summer months after seeing it mentioned often on Twitter.  I have recently been planning how to bring this day  week to LC students and make it so very meaningful.  We will be spending the week making our mark creatively and really thinking about how we can impact Liberty, Missouri, the United States, and ultimately, the world!  I am teaming up with fabulous first grade teacher, Ms. Oyler and her Lewis and Clark Service Learning Club to reach out to people and places who may need assistance or simply a smile.  We will be starting locally and moving globally.  We will hopefully be connecting with former LC 4th grade teacher, Chip Bloecher and his family as they begin a mission in Honduras.  I worked this weekend to begin public