Thing 23: Makerspaces

Well, I am supposed to be track one, not track three, but when I saw that my friend who works at Fairport Public Library was involved with a second grade field trip to Rochester Makerspace, my interest in this was piqued.   This is something that I should know about.

I began to explore the concept of Makerspaces.  So basically, I understand  the idea of makerspaces to be open forums where "makers" can come in and tinker or experiment with materials to solve a problem or create something new.  My inner child wants to jump up and down and sing at this concept.  I think I just found Cloud Cuckoo land, and I get to play the part of Princess Unikitty from the Lego movie if I can do this with my students.  Yes, we need to play with Legos.  How do I get my hands on Legos for my school library?  Like I think I really need like two Lego Classic large sets.  I would offer broad design challenges inspired by comics in the Lego Club magazine or Lego easy reader books.  Or I would just let the kids sit at a table and play with Legos.

As a Pre-K through second grade school, I am also inclined to think that making should involve construction paper, glue sticks, scissors and crayons or colored pencils..  Like this project is open-ended and useful:
http://makeitatyourlibrary.org/play/corner-bookmarks#.VOtS4Mco7bg

I also came across this really cool game that I myself want to play, and I think the kids might enjoy it too, as a bonus:

http://extraordinaires.com/

 

So seeing as how I just spent nearly $200 in my imagination, perhaps it would be best to stop before my imaginary wallet is too thin to see.  I think what I will actually do is do my best to take Mr. Finch's class on a field trip to Rochester Makerspace and consider the creative inspiration of the makerspace concept in planning my lessons here in the library.

Thing 1: Blogging

I am the new library media specialist at Early Childhood School #57.  I somewhat hesitate to call myself the "library media specialist" because up to this point there has been a whole lot of library but very little of the media. I am looking forward to the Cool Tools professional development series as a path toward changing that.

My school is the only PK-2 school in the Rochester City School District.  There are two preschool classes, three kindergartens, three first grade classes, and three second grade classes.  There is one special education at each grade level.  There is a mix of experienced staff and relatively new teachers.

The library is about half the size of a classroom with just over 6,000 books in the collection.  I have four computers: two for student use, one for circulation, one laptop and a SMART board.  Every classroom in the school has a SMART board, and K-2 classes have iPads for students to use.  We have a great tech guy that helps with any hardware issues, but does not work with students at all.  I plan to do a lot with planning lessons this year, and Cool Tools will be a part of that. :)

This is my first year working in a school.  I don't mind dating myself, because when talking about technology I believe that it is relevant. I am among the oldest of the millennial generation, meaning I grew up with (several) computers in my home.  My parents were/are early techies.  My high school started allowing students to use the Internet for research when I was in 10th grade (slow dial up with impossible filters).  After school I put myself in danger by hanging out in chat rooms, emailing strangers, and even arranging personal meetings with brand new Internet friends at the local mall!  Cell phones started to become very popular when I was in college.  Pagers were incredibly cool in middle school.

In contrast, the past few years of my adult life have been mostly technology poor.  I had two children while completing my master's in library science, and then, overwhelmed, I took a few years off of work so that I could focus on raising my children.  Our family budget was tight, and we weren't able to replace broken computers and went down to one family car.  We didn't even have Internet access in our home or anything, so I used the public library for Internet access.  It was a different lifestyle in which I found a greater connection to the people around me and enjoyed better concentration and focus in many tasks.  Now I am working in a school library, so I get to get back into technology use.  I straddle the digital divide - I do!

This is great!  I really enjoy taking technology courses because I can pick up using the tools much easier and faster than if I need to learn them by poking around.  I am excited about Cool Tools!

The Read-Aloud Scaffold by Judy Bradbury

At the children's book festival on Saturday, I took advantage of the opportunity to listen to Judy Bradbury speak.  She was prepromoting her latest book, which I think that if we are able to implement some of the plans she presents might just have the potential to get our kids off to a great start as readers.  I am really looking forward to her new book which will be out in March.

So, even though I don't have my p-card yet (thus I am unable to use district $ to buy books), I did buy another one of her books for my own self.  I will even share it with you if you come visit me in the library before or after school because I am just that nice.  The reason I bought this one is because I was totally sold on her message

Some people think that there is no room in the Common Core for fiction read aloud.  We all know in our hearts that this is not what is best for our kids.  The key is in how we understand the term "informational books."  Informational books means that books we use to find information.  Fiction books DO contain information, but it may be embedded within a story or a poem.  In this awesome reference book she offers many examples of how to gather information from fiction texts including resource lists by subject, extension activities, time requirements, author stories, and citations of poems that may take only 30 seconds to read but reinforce information beautifully and can be used any time throughout the day.  I was impressed.  She has so many ideas of how to use fiction read aloud an effective part of the curriculum.