Friday, November 20, 2015

Over 65 Makers at our last November Meeting!

This week we had the last Makerspace of November (and the busiest!!). In December I asked for donations of puzzle pieces, craft sticks, beads, gems, and paint to make ornaments. I am not sure about the paint but we will see if we can create without the mess! Send me any ornament ideas at coopmti@masd.k12.wi.us!

Thursday, November 19, 2015

62 Makers! And we Received a Grant!

This week, we had 62 students come to the Makerspace on Friday! We also learned that we got a grant from the Mukwonago Education Foundation to purchase more supplies for activities! We thank them for their support of our creativity! We will be working together (students and I) to decide what needs we have. This month, our duct tape pens are going well but we could use more duct tape and scissors. Next month we will be making ornaments using craft sticks, puzzle pieces, beads, paint, and more. Students always have the option to choose to do their own projects as well.

Duct tape pens..
 A lot of playdoh this week...
 Creations...
 Craft stick projects inspired by our Folk Fair...
 More duct tape pens...
 Lego building (we would love more of these!)...
 More duct tape pens...
 Sharing supplies...
 Look at those happy, creative smiles!

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Vocabulary Superheroes!

This week, we will be celebrating the Principal's Reading Challenge on Friday! We are doing a superhero theme and Mrs. Blochowiak will be reading in the library at all recesses. Students are able to bring books to join her to help develop SUPER READER skills! This week's library lessons have been about what super readers do. The second graders used this great organizer from teacherspayteachers (a freebie!) to become Vocabulary Superheroes.

Working in partners...
 Learning new words based on Fancy Nancy books (they are perfect for vocab!)...
 Write the word, draw a picture, write the meaning, use it in a sentence...
 Brainstorm: to talk over ideas...
 Fascinating: the fancy word for interesting...
 We love learning new words!

Friday, November 6, 2015

44 students at the Makerspace with duct tape pens!

This week, we watched a tutorial on making duct tape pens. Some students participated while others chose to do choice projects. Those who did participate are going to bring back their pens next week (and maybe for a few weeks) to finish!

Duct tape pens...
 Choice projects...
 Duct tape bookmarks...
Play-Doh :)
 Duct tape pens in 5th grade!

Have a great weekend!

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Project READ- Chicka Chicka Boom BOOM!

This was our first Project READ of the year! It is for younger siblings and stands for Read, Eat, Activity, and Dress up. Our theme was Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, so we wore letters on our clothes! We read and listened to the story and then did 3 activities: coloring page, painting our hands to make a tree with coconuts spelling our name, and a magnet dog game. The dogs had magnets attached to their noses so they had to pick up a magnet letter and then color it on a coloring page. The students (and parents) loved it! And the kids got to take home a stuffed dog at the end. Then we made a snack with graham cracker trunks, green apple leaves, and chocolate chip coconuts to make the Chicka tree.  Gotta love Pinterest :)

Coloring page...
 The dog picking up magnet letters...
 More dog/letter fun....
 Painting our hands to make a tree with our name...
 Mrs. Coopman's final project (the kids did better!)....

Hope to see everyone December 22nd for Little Critter! Wear brown!

Monday, November 2, 2015

This week, 3rd grade is working on reinforcing the parts of a non-fiction book. First we read Karl & Carolina Uncover the Parts of a Book (image from amazon):
Then students got in groups and played a game that I thought up! They had a set of cards with different parts of nonfiction books (table of contents, index, photographs, captions, etc). One student from the table would choose a card and tell the others the part of the book. The others had non-fiction books in front of them and the first to find the part (by raising their hand, decided by the student who pulled the card) got to keep the card. Then the next student drew a card until all cards were out (and then they could switch books and play again). They did a great job finding the different parts and it was a good check for me to see who was understanding and who wasn't!





It was a fun way to reinforce the parts of a book!