Lewis and Clark Learns

Storytelling Club this morning was a B-L-A-S-T!  We practiced our stories a couple times through and learned about how important emotion is when telling a story.   We then focused on conveying different emotions through a couple of games.  We are so thankful for Mr. Haynes for volunteering his time to our school!

We had a great day today!  So many experiences to take in.  Early release days mean that I only see the kids for 30 minute sessions, so it is considered a choice day for kids.  Fortunately, I will see the same groups on Monday for our regularly scheduled time.  Today, kids had the following options: Games of Logic, Legos, K'Nex, TinkerToys, Osmo, or MakerSpace Apps.  We were busy all day... Legos Rush Hour Osmo Games Of Logic TinkerToy Structures

Mrs. Haynes and I are so thrilled to be awarded another LSD Foundation grant.  We are developing book clubs for kids to plan and run on their own.  We MAKE, THINK, and READ in the LC Library Maker Center!

For our last session of 2nd grade MakerKid's Club we created art bots.  I showed kids a simple example of an art bot, set out the supplies, told them what the end result needed to be, and set them off in small groups.   We learned so much from this experience   ...sometimes we fail and we need to try again, and sometimes our second attempt fails also.  ...sometimes other people have great ideas. ...testing an art bot on the carpet is not as successful as on a hard surface. ...some markers work better than other types of markers. ...markers work better than crayons or colored pencils. ...because Mrs. Haynes is an engineer, we learned that our power source needed to be secured tightly so that energy wasn't lost. ...our power source worked better on the top or bottom of our container rather than on the inside the container. ...we learned how to open an electric toothbrush package without needing help:) ...we learned that putting the batter...

Saturday, October 11th was an amazing day in our Library Maker Center.  We hosted our first Imagination Foundation Global Day of Play.  Families came together to play student made games and use their imaginations to create what they wanted out of cardboard.   We had a fabulous turn out for a busy Saturday morning.  Families started arriving at 9:00am and the library was buzzing until 11:30am.  Kids came before and after soccer practices, dance lessons, and karate classes.  Kids came with friends, parents, and grandparents.  Some families stayed the entire 2 1/2 hours!  Some families just made, some families just played, and some families did both! The interactions between siblings and families was fabulous.  Parents helping kids, kids telling parents how they could help, siblings helping one another, and even grandparents sharing time with grand kids.   Since the MakerSpace has become part of our library program, many famili...

My fifth graders have spent the last several weeks working on Rube Goldberg Machines    They are now really excited to share the results of their efforts. I have loved seeing their excitement for learning, working together, problem-solving, and even working outside of the library on their machines.  Earlier this week my first class shared...the library was busting at the seams with kids.  Unfortunately, library is now a special class so we have set times that classes come in and that REALLY restricts some things I can do.  I asked my 5th grade teachers if their kiddos could stay through 4th grade specials so they would have time to set up their entire Rube Goldberg and share it with 4th grade.  The teachers were more than happy to have them stay longer:).  It was great for my younger kids to see that even the 5th graders face failure and learn from it as well. This particular class decided that their Rube needed to pop a balloon to be successfu...