Look What We Can Do in the Innovation Commons!

This year has been so much fun purchasing and rolling out all the wonderful MakerSpace and STEM activities that I have added to the Innovation Commons.  What I have discovered is that the kids need very little direction and just dive into their creation and investigation.  Most recently I ahve been working with Kindergarten and 4th graders.  The biggest take away for the teachers has been they notice zero behavior issues during this time because the students are so engaged.

Here are some of the great things I have added and a little about them:

Snap Circuits - "Snap Circuits® makes learning electronics easy and fun! Just follow the colorful pictures in our manual and build exciting projects, such as FM radios, digital voice recorders, AM radios, burglar alarms, doorbells, and much."
I started with the Snap Circuits Jr and it became so popular that I ordered a larger kit, as well as the Rover and Green Energies Kits.  For students to really begin understanding the working circuits in an explorative way is very important.  They really feel the ownership of making something work.

Contraptions & Structures


Students love using contraptions and structures by Keva.  They design, build, and engineer buildings and marble ramps.    "Young thinkers can build unbelievable ball track structures with this simple stacking plank system. Create ramps, funnels, chutes and crazy contraptions like the "Black Hole" and "Bounce Plate." Then find out if the ball rolls as expected. Fostering unlimited creativity and experimentation, KEVA planks build an early understanding of proportion and balance, while teaching basic principles of physics and engineering." Many view this as such a creative outlet that it's their go to center.  

Other purchases that I have made that the students find amazing:

Osmo

Tiggly

Sphero and BB-8

Dash & Dot

Lego WeDo 2.0

Little Bits

Magformers

Ozobots

K'Nex

Currently my Kindergarten students are working on creating a city for Bee-Bot to be able to drive through.  If you aren't familiar with Bee-Bot, he is a programmable robot for the younger students.  They give him directions by pushing the arrow buttons on his back.  Once they have put in the correct sequence, they hit start and Bee-Bot will move how they have programmed him.  We've used him to teach programming but also to practice shapes, letters, sight words, and numbers.

They are learning about communities and each child chose a different type of building in the community they wanted to build.

The most important thing that needs to happen with the many STEAM activities is the discussion.  Whether it's collaboratively with peers as they work to solve problems or you as the teacher asking them to share what it is they are doing and how are they making it happen.  Discourse is important.  Here is document shared by my district that I have found very helpful.

P is for Penguin

First graders at Jefferson were able to speak virtually with the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, CA. They learned about the African Penguin from one of the academy’s experts and got to see the Penguins that live there live!

These first grade students have been learning about penguins over the past couple weeks. They received a penguin (stuffed) in the mail asking for the class to take care of him. They immediately began researching and designing a penguin habitat to determine if we can keep the penguins at Jefferson. During this virtual lesson, the students were able to ask and answer questions. The teachers and I were so impressed with the students because they had some fabulous questions to ask our virtual expert! They learned some great information as we continue on in our penguin unit. This was one of the best virtual lessons I've ever conducted. The interactiveness and the level that the presenter was able to talk at completely benefited our students. Each student was completely engaged as they listened, answered, and even demonstrated penguin habits like waddling and swimming. The greatest moment was when one of the students, who really didn't speak at all in kindergarten, stood up and asked a question of the presenter. Such an amazing experience!

The types of connections that can be made through video conferencing tools like Skype, Google Hangouts, Adobe Connect, Cisco Jabber, and more help to expand the learning environment by offering students a virtual window to a real world outside of their community. Content for these can be chosen to align with your curriculum to help enrich it and make it more relevant. With virtual connections, you can eliminate time and distance. You are able to tap into others expertise. Students become more engaged and the relevancy helps content to stick with them. There are many places that you can use to leverage these connections. Places like NASA and Yellowstone National Park have staff dedicated to educational presentations and experiences. These types of connections allow you to create new experiences for the students that may never have otherwise been possible. This is using technology to redefine the learning experience of our students. Think about who you could bring into your classroom; marine biologists, professors, authors, scientists, archaeologists. The sky's the limit. For more information, talk to your Innovation Specialist or look for classes to be posted in My Learning Plan.

Digital Citizenship Week - October 18th through October 24th

IT'S DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP WEEK.

I've been posting a tip a day about digital citizenship thanks to the help of Common Sense Media. I have been sharing these tips to my professional learning communities, emailing to staff, and sharing on our school's social media pages. Digital Citizenship is an important topic that often gets missed when we get our kids online, whether at school or at home. Below are the tips that I have shared and will be sharing this week. It's never too late to have the digital citizenship conversation and keep your kids safe, respectful, and responsible online.


Monday - Today's Tip: Be Safe


Often children don't understand the importance of internet safety and that how talking to a stranger online is just as dangerous as talking to a stranger in public.
KEEP PRIVATE THINGS PRIVATE.
Talk about what’s OK for kids to share online and what’s not.

• Younger kids: Get kids to think about safety without scaring them. Don’t share your name, address, school, age, etc. Ask: Why don’t we want strangers to know certain things about us or our family?
• Older kids: Don’t broadcast your location, send photos to strangers, or share passwords with friends. Ask: What kind of information can be unsafe to share, and what’s fair game?

Talk to your kids about being safe online. Here are some great resources from NetSmartz that can help http://www.netsmartz.org/InternetSafety

Tuesday - Today's Tip: Be Kind


Try to instill a sense of empathy in your kids. We should always act online the way we are to act with others face to face.
Remember: there’s someone else on the other side of the screen.
Did you know that writing in all caps can make the other person think that you are yelling or angry with them?
It's hard to detect emotions through writing in an online environment. Make sure to think about what you say, could it make someone else feel sad or mad if they read it the wrong way?

• Younger kids: Treat others like you want to be treated -- and always follow a website’s rules for behavior. Ask: How do you see other kids behaving online? What are some nice things you’ve seen other kids do?
• Older kids: Post constructive comments, and avoid getting into flame wars with trolls. Ask:What kind of positive behavior do you see online?

Wednesday - Today's Tip: Be Responsible

DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU SEE.

Just because it’s online doesn’t make it true. Not everybody is who they say they are.

• Younger kids: Teach kids to be detectives. Ask: How can you tell whether something is true online? What are some signs that something might not be true?
• Older kids: Use reputable sources. Learn to recognize red flags. Ask: How can you tell what’s a reliable source of information? What are some signs something’s a scam?

Thursday - Today's Tip: Be Safe


DON’T OVERSHARE.

Think before you post. Use privacy settings.

• Younger kids: Help kids understand what sharing something online means. Ask: Who can see what you’re doing or saying online?

• Older kids: Encourage kids to pause before they act. Ask: What are some questions you can ask yourself before you share something online? Have you ever regretted something you’ve posted or said online?

Think about your Digital Footprint. What is a digital footprint? The information that they put online leaves a digital footprint or "trail." This trail can be big or small, helpful or hurtful, depending on how you manage it.

Friday - Today's Tip: Be Respectful


STAND UP FOR OTHERS.

If someone’s getting bullied or picked on, speak up, report it, or reach out.

• Younger kids: Make sure kids know they can come to you for help. Teach them how to flag misbehavior. Ask: What would you do if you saw someone being mean online or in a game?
• Older kids: Give kids tools to use in a crisis. Ask: If someone was being mean to you online, what would you want your friends to do? Do you know how to flag or report bullying on a social network or in a multiplayer game?

UDL: What is it, Why Does it Matter?

What is Universal Design for Learning (UDL)?

From LMC to Innovation Commons

A majority of my work this summer was focused on putting everything I had learned with readings about STEAM and Maker Spaces, as well as what I had learned form my learning experiences to schools in Finland and California, and reinvent my library media centers.  The goal was to make it more than "just a library".

Above is the LMC space prior to the redesign at Jefferson Elementary.  The space did not allow for any of the key components that were needed to shift this space to an Innovation Commons like creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication.  This space was originally designed as a simple library space for book checkout and a place for students to sit at tables and work.  After visiting schools in Finland and California, I strategically redesigned the space to work in the favor of the above listed components for an Innovation Commons.

The layout to the left was designed after much thought, reflection, and collaboration with the understanding that this space needed to be a central hub for personalized learning and would help promote student achievement.

Our student population is also very genre orientated which helped me make the decision to genre catalog our fiction section.  The space still needed to promote literacy and remain a library at its core.  But through space redesign reading could be highlighted amongst the new components and the texts could support STEAM, makers, and personalized learning.

The Redesigned Space

To quote one of my students, "I love this space.  It's the best place in the whole school".  That was music to my ears.

The space to the left is our MakerSpace and STEAM Space.  It has items for student inquiry, items for the kids to create/make with, and items for students to work with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics) activities for critical thinking and personalized learning.  Items in this space will continue to grow and a monthly STEAM activity will be available for students to always allow for new opportunities in critical thinking and STEAM components.  Many of the items I was able to get through Scholastic, STEMfinity, and  MakerShed.  I have been continually curating STEAM activities and projects to complete with kids, either as enrichment opportunities, independent learning activities, or after school clubs, on Pinterest.  Check out my board - https://www.pinterest.com/missandy22/steam-library-activities/

The space to the right is our E for everybody section (housing pictures books).  We have some comfortable furniture for students to read or work, highlighted new books, a carpeted area for a read aloud, and a table space for small group work or collaboration.  The furniture in this space is smaller making this space nice for younger kids.  All the books were shelved so that they are not high for the littler ones.

This space is the fiction space.  When I genre cataloged, I chose to focus on Sports, Historical Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Mystery, and Series.  The redesign of the space will allow the genre cataloging to be highlighted and easy to access for students.  Each book is stickered with its own genre sticker and signs above the section match the sticker colors and the cataloging identifier (i.e. Realistic Fiction book by Carl Hiassen will be labeled in Destiny as R FIC Hia). There is a table for collaboration as well as comfortable seating for the students to lounge and read or work.

This space is the non-fiction space.  The space works as an inquiry section that not only allows a space for small group work, but also a strategically placed space off the computer lab that allows for students to research on the computer or in the non-fiction space without teachers losing sight of their students.

Within all the space, we have technology available in the form of Chromebook, PCs, and iPads, for the students to utilize.  We have a green screen kit, Safari Montage broadcasting cart, Mac creation station, and a SMART Interactive TV all setup for use as needed.  A majority of this equipment is mobile allowing for staff and students to work where best fits their needs.

We are just in the first week of my introduction of this space to students and staff but already am I getting some great feedback.  I can't tell you how excited I am to continue onward!