Why It's Time to Make Learning Fun Again

Yesterday afternoon I visited a former student, Tanya. She was in my fifth grade class in 1993. What a joy it was to see her and meet her family. She is tapping maple trees on her property to make syrup. This is something that she learned in my class. We reminisced about all of the things we did in fifth grade. The many field trips, edible wild plants, rockets, and camp. 

Tanya, who is now a school board member at my former school, is passing this passion for learning and trying new things to her children. Her family also raises beef, chickens and sheep on four acres of land. Tanya’s husband, Dave is a tool and die maker and is adept at fabricating tools. This led us to a discussion about educational philosophy. We discussed how schools have developed a culture of testing and the negative effects on children. We spoke about how learning should be novel, hands-on and authentic and the importance of play and imagination in the learning process. We talked about how maker’s labs can foster that kind of learning. 

Too often as teachers, we are overwhelmed with all of the things that we have to get done in our classrooms and it is difficult to step out and develop new things. I want to encourage you as a teacher to put aside the textbook, and engage in something fun and novel for both you and your students. 

Yes, it is scary to step out of your comfort zone, but it is equally rewarding for both you and your students. Will you fail? Yes, you probably will at some aspect of your activity. This is how you learn. Revise what went wrong and then set the activity aside for next year and try a new activity. 

If you set a goal of developing a hands-on activity once a week or even once a month it will make your job a lot more fun and will provide for an enjoyable learning experience for your students. Build your repertoire of activities and soon your classroom will be the talk of the school!  

March 14 Pi Day Classroom Spectacular!

Don't forget about March 14 - 3.14 - also known as Pi Day! Pi Day is a great opportunity for you to encourage exciting and hands-on learning in your classroom teaching about the radius, the diameter, and the circumference of circles. Pi = 3.14159265359... and keeps on going.... We really like to have fun with math. When you make math fun and applicable to real life for students, the principles come to life.

Just as a refresher...the circumference of a circle is determined by multiplying Pi times the diameter (Circumference = Pi x Diameter) . And the area of a circle is determined by multiplying Pi by the radius squared (Area = Pi x Radius²). Pi Day is perfect for exploring this seemingly magic math number. Give your kids challenges for determining area and circumference and then toward the end of class enjoy some pie of your own! Your students will go crazy.

You can also work backwards with these computations. If you know the area of a circle, divide by Pi to get the radius squared (Radius² = Area / Pi). And if you know the circumference of a circle, divide by Pi to get the diameter (Diameter = Circumference / Pi).

So why is Pi such a big deal? Because it works for EVERY circle! It's a constant, regardless of the size of the circle!

We like pie around here.
We especially like lemon meringue pie.

Sue remembers the Pi equation using this little formula:

Area = Pi Are Squared

No. Pie are round. 
Cakes are square.


....We're working with some real jokers here...

For some great classroom activities, check out our Pi Day Spectacular just in time for you to whip together an impressive and fun day for Pi Day on March 14! Students especially enjoy celebrating with pie or pizza pie at the end of the day! Lemon meringue, anyone?

Learning Through Play

Do you remember as a child how you would play with your dolls or with your army set? You used your imagination in creating real life scenarios. The concept of using play to learn is key for children to enrich their experiences and make connections with real life. Play is hands on. It requires curiosity and creativity. It is a perfect way to introduce authentic learning to your students.

Often children's museums have miniature sets. You'll find grocery stores, construction sets, play kitchen. Kids love to pretend using real life objects!

You can enrich your students' play in the classroom by using these concepts and integrating your curriculum.

For example, you can use cooking in your classroom to explore measurement, temperature, multiplying (halving, doubling or tripling a recipe!), fractions, portion size, reading a recipe, collaboration, following directions all while enjoying the experience. You don't need a worksheet to explore these concepts!

Taking a step farther, once you have the basic skills involved, students can create their own recipes and alter or tweak the recipe to their taste! This encourages creativity within the boundaries of skills they are learning.

One of our favorite ways to include play in the classroom is by setting up a miniature restaurant. We build a Hamburger Shack and stock it with pretend food items. Then students order from the workers and the workers must fill the order and calculate the cost of the order correctly.

Students hone their skills on charting, adding, using a calculator, making change, and customer service. We have a download available for you to make it easy to give the Hamburger Shack a try in your own classroom!

All you need is love...

Since my retirement last summer, I've picked up small teaching job and am volunteering at our local high school ag department. This week I met with five students and we have two IBC containers that we're getting aquaponics started in for the semester. If my experience is anything like in the past with aquaponics, that number of interested students will grow quickly!

However, the latest craze we have been exploring are using SMD LEDs to create holiday cards. We created a few for Christmas...but with Valentine's Day on the horizon we wanted to do something a little more impressive {if you're going to give your Valentine something, it's worth the effort to look good, right?!}. Check it out! Our technology experience is growing, too.

We even made a GIF.

For real.

We're getting pretty savvy around here...

via GIPHY

To make this card yourself, you can get our step-by-step directions by clicking here, or I can give you a rough breakdown. Basically you need three pieces of paper or cardstock, some SMD LEDs, (we used four in our example), copper tape, a coin battery, and some creativity!

Decorate your paper in any card style you'd like. On one piece, you'll need to decorate the "outside" to make a card, on the other, you'll decorate the "inside" and leave the back side blank. These will be fitted together at the end.

Run your tape to create a parallel circuit. Place your LEDs and battery in place, testing your LEDs as you go along. Take your third piece of paper, cut to fit over the copper wiring. Punch holes on that third piece of paper so that you can see the LEDs. We also cut a heart out of the middle so the lights really shine through! Tape the inside message to the outside message, fold, and send to your love. Full step-by-step directions can be found here.

Makers Lab: Train Table Update

For the past several weeks our construction crews in the Makers Lab have been busy building by first connecting two tables, then attaching styrofoam to the tables, and using a hot wire knife to cut and shape pieces of styrofoam for two large hills on our train tables.

The first hill (the one you see above) is Holy Hill on the top of which sits Holy Hill Church a landmark that can be seen for many surrounding miles. We've also planned and sketched the roads and railroad tracks as well as Friess Lake.

We also have students working on constructing scale trees, foliage, and a replica of the Holy Hill Church. These are all to scale. We used Google Earth photos, saw the length of a car in the parking lot, we extrapolated the length of the building from the length of that car.

In the photo above, a student is applying plaster gauze to form the contours of the hillside.

The second hill will be a local ski hill complete with a chalet and a working ski lift (we hope!). All this will be done in N-Scale.

Makers Space Tour - Illinois Children Museums

Last weekend we took a mini family vacation to Moline, Illinois. Our grandkids are crazy about John Deere and it's the perfect place to take them for big JOHN DEERE fun!

While in the Quad Cities, we visited the Family Museum a small, but fantastic place for children to learn through play. I combed for ideas for organizing our Makers Lab while we were there!

The Family Museum in Bettendorf, Iowa had an elegant way to lay out their workbenches where children could come in and build from materials that were provided. Just look at these work sites! They even have multiple heights to accommodate various heights of kids.

This museum was geared toward younger kids, which we witnessed with our younger grandchildren (those under 5) feeling right at home. The older two kids, 6 and 11, still had a good time and were able to make and create.

Our second museum stop was a detour on our way home. We stopped at the Discovery Center Museum in Rockford, Illinois which was amazing! We were visiting over Halloween weekend so we were lucky to participate in a Pumpkin Chuckin' special event where kids launched pumpkins using a large and a small scale trebuchet. Inside the museum, we couldn't get the kids out! This time we only had our two older grandkids, the rest had headed home. The older ones enjoyed themselves and I think our younger ones would have had just as much fun.

There were great opportunities for the kids to create and make. Our two kids designed their own woodworking projects and built upon their skills.

The following two photos are some of the items on display. The atmosphere was inspiring.

I saw some wonderful examples of organizing and establishing the Makers Lab that I couldn't help but comb for our Makers Lab. Check out the materials storage below. These are 3 and 5 gallon buckets set into crafted plywood shelving units. Holes are cut into the plywood and the buckets rest neatly inside. Duct tape in colorful patterns is placed across the bottom one-third of the buckets to help keep items contained. For any of you in a Makers Lab or Makers Space, you can imagine what this collection can bring to the chaos that is a Makers Space!

These are larger cardboard barrels with various pieces of wood, styrofoam, cardboard, plastic... essentially junk! But this junk can be treasure when sorted and stored so children can easily begin imagining and creating. And when the time is up, it's easy for the kids to sort their items back out.

If you're looking a creative way to spend an afternoon in the Midwest, I'd recommend both the Family Museum in the Quad Cities area and the Discovery Center in Rockford, Illinois. Your kids will thank you for it...and you'll probably have fun too!

Middle School Design Day

We had a middle-school-wide Design Day with our sixth, seventh and eighth graders. We wanted to give children the experience of using engineering design principles.

The engineering design principle is sophisticated trial and error method. First you create your idea, then sketch it out. Next you build a prototype. Finally you build your final project. All along the way you are testing, revising and modifying your project.

We we set aside about 45 minutes for this challenge. The students were working in multiple rooms so that they had enough room to work. We gave them their challenge and sent them to work!

CHALLENGE
Build the tallest tower.

MATERIALS

• Four half-sheets of newspaper per team
• Four full sheets of newspaper per team
• Duct tape
• Pencil
• Paper

Prototype materials: Four (4) half-sheets of newspaper and duct tape
Drawing materials: Paper, pencil
Final project: Four (4) full sheets of newspaper and 24 inches of duct tape

Students began by making a drawing of what they planned their tower should look like. They then constructed a small prototype. After which, they had about 20 minutes to construct a freestanding tower using 4 full sheets of newspaper and 24 inches of duct tape.

Here is the result. I didn't capture a photo of the tallest tower, but what I will tell you is that neither of these below are the tallest! The winner was over eight inches taller!

Makers Lab: Scale Model Railway and Local Community

When students in the Makers Lab are at a break in their own projects, they have a group project that they can work on. The class is making a replica of the surrounding landscape, roads, and railways on a scale train table. The train table is in the early stages. We believe that learning should be hands on and applicable to real life. 

The students had mapped out the local area and were beginning to make scenery using plants cut from their school prairie. Near the end of the class, Mr. Hoefs was showing them the next step: creating the Kettle Moraine glacier formations that make their local community unique in Southern Wisconsin. These glacial formations allow for stunning, albeit roller coaster-like, driving conditions during all seasons. In the coming classes, the students will begin forming these hills and valleys and the switchback main highway that runs through the stunning landscape.

Makers Lab: 3D Hologram Creation

Quiet and unassuming. I initially thought that Alex was avoiding me. I sat down next to him and asked him about his project. He's creating a 3D hologram. The day I visited, he was waiting on a shipment of glass that is thinner to arrive. But he was happy to show me his prototype that he has designed.

He has carefully drawn his pattern on the sheet of thicker and cumbersome glass. He showed me how he plans to us a glass cutting tool and then create a pyramid from the pieces. Once his pyramid is complete, he will create an iPad stand to shine the image from the top of the pyramid. The image will be, “cut into four pieces which will create the hologram,” as Alex explained to me.

I am astounded by these students. I am in awe. Each student is driven by a different motive. A different perspective. A different interest. But they are all equally enthused. It made me want to go back to school so that I could tinker and make right along with them.

Makers Lab: Magnetic Soccer Game

This is my last post from my visit to the Makers Lab last week. I'll be back to post updates on all of the projects in the next couple of weeks!

The enthusiasm of the kids is rubbing off on me as I hurry from group to group. I am nearing the end of the 45 minute class period and I hurry to the table next to Tyler programming and writing code, where Artie and Luke are creating a magnetic soccer board.

They are using cardboard for their prototype, but they explain that plywood conducts the magnets better so that is what they will use for their final product. They were using a hot glue gun and various magnets and metals to determine the smoothest playing. It was so fun to watch these two as they worked. They were a great team. They worked together and bounced ideas off of one another.

They were so happy to show me their work. Once they get their players glued onto their magnetic "skies" and moving smoothly on the board they will begin to move towards their final product. I can't wait to show you an update (and hopefully play a round or two! Seriously, who wouldn't want to play this game with these little magnetized-LEGO people?!). 

I can't wait!

Makers Lab: Solving a Teacher's Dilemma

“Mrs. N is always running late. This car will help her get between the Makers Lab and the math room faster,” explains Martina, a seventh grade student. “While traveling in style!” adds Rebecca, Martina’s classmate. Rebecca was using a handsaw to cut an axle. Their next step was to figure out how to connect the axle to the bike tires that they had disassembled from a donated bicycle.

I was impressed by the confidence in Martina and Rebecca. They were comfortable using a handsaw and a clamp. They measured twice before cutting. They were focused and enjoying themselves as they worked. And when the time came to clean up, they jumped in and helped their classmates clean up. In fact, they all worked together to get the Makers Lab back in shape for the next class.

Clean up time! The class worked as a team to get the room back into order at the end of the class period.

Underwater ROV in the Makers Lab

During my visit to the Makers Lab, Allie and Alyssa took a break from scenery creation on the train table (more to come on that in another post!) to show me their underwater submarine prototype. It’s a propeller-driven model that they created from a plastic coat-hanger, weights, electrical tape, a motor, wires and some C batteries.

Waterproofed motor

“We hot glued around the motor to cover the holes and then wrapped it with electrical tape to waterproof it,” Alyssa explained. 

They are waiting on a kit to arrive in the mail. Allie and Alyssa priced out the separate pieces of their final submarine, but found that purchasing the kit that the company offered would cost less because of the sales tax on each piece purchased separately. 

When their kit is complete, they will launch their underwater ROV in the local lake with a waterproofed camera to survey the bottom. They demonstrated their prototype in the aquaponics tub for me. Might as well put that tank to use while waiting for the water to balance so that they can add tilapia fish!

A & A demonstrating their submarine prototype.

Going for a swim!

The motor runs a propeller that moves the ROV.

What's Happening in MakersLab

Here we go again! Our middle school boys are building our second aquaponics system using an IBC (industrial bulk container). Here we're using a reciprocating saw to cut apart the metal frame of which the top will be our plant container and the bottom will hold tilapia. We encourage students to get their hands dirty with hands-on learning. We show them how to safely operate the Maker Space tools like the sawzall they are using above. Our goal is to help these students learn to think more creatively through the engineering design process. We encourage risk taking and failure that can help lead to success. 

In fact, this is the second year for our experiment. Last year we "failed" often with our aquaponics. But we revised and tried again. And again. And again. We learned a tremendous amount last year and are refining our design and methods to improve production this year. Keep watching for updates! 

Question: How many middle school girls does it take to carry a 4x8 sheet of plywood down the hall quietly?

Answer: It's impossible. It can't be done!!!!!!

These girls are working in the MakersLab to construct a scale model of the neighboring town of Richfield, Wis., including buildings, hills, landmarks and a model railroad system.  Keep watching for updates.

P.S. They did get it down the hall, but it wasn't pretty!!!

First Week of School Field Trip | Part 2

Some people might think I'm crazy by going on a field trip the very first week of school, but I've never been a conventional teacher. I aim to make learning hands-on, to foster creativity and curiosity, and to make learning authentic and applicable to real life. And sometimes that means taking a field trip during the first week of school!

During our field trip, the students were challenged to find and identify as many glacial deposits as they could. Here, two intrepid eighth graders are searching for a kame (the kame is right between them in the background - the gumdrop shaped hill!).

Here we're atop of Parnell Tower viewing the kame field in the distance. Our eighth graders were challenged to calculate the height of Parnell Tower in three different ways using only a 25-foot tape measure, a stop watch, and some steel marbles. This led us into a great discussion of Galileo's experiment with falling bodies as to whether a larger body would fall faster than a smaller body. Our calculations determined that the tower was about 46 feet in height (actual height: 60 feet). We then discussed variables and possible errors in our system of measurement. Our field trips are not just field trips! They are learning adventures!

First Week of School Field Trip | Part 1

The earth grade studied the flora and fauna of the ice age. They also studied glacial deposits and how they were formed. We tied this into an in-depth discussion on global climate change. The picture above was taken at the Henry Reuss Ice Age Center in Dundee, Wisconsin. We had an opportunity to climb and esker and kame and view many glacial hill formations. 

Mammoths lived in Wisconsin during the ice age but scientists believe that they died out due to hunting pressure and change of habitat.

This outwash plain was formed by a raging river coming from the glacier carrying fine outwash (fine gravel and sand).

The glacier also deposited many large rocks and large pieces of copper like the one shown above. These are called erratics. This is a large piece of copper weighing over 300 pounds that traveled over 300 miles from copper deposits in the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. 

Back to School Link Up | What Friday

Last day of the Back to School link up at Blog Hoppin'. Today's topic is What Friday. What do you like teaching the most?

I like to teach any lesson that's hands-on. So I attempt to craft my lessons following four criteria:

1. The lesson must challenge students.

2. The lesson must be novel.

3. It must be hands-on.

4. Finally, it must be applicable to real life.

To give you some examples, in studying the rain forest, I will actually have my students build a full-sized rain forest in the classroom. Or when studying rockets, we will build and launch rockets.

In this photo, students are solving a challenge with a limited number of supplies and time!

When students have an opportunity to build something with their hands and apply it to real life, the lesson immediately has meaning for them. And a bonus is that the kids love the activity. So they are learning and loving learning at the same time. Can you think of a better way to create passionate learners?

Be sure to check back in the coming days for a brand new FREEBIE at our store! In the meantime, check out our two favorite FREEBIES already available to you right now!

A Maker Space in Every Classroom
Quicksand in Your Classroom

Enjoy your weekend...it's my last of summer. I head back on Monday!

~Jerry