Tip - Depending on "Dollar Deals"

Hopefully you have seen my previous posts regarding making Makerspaces realities:

Discovery Education iMake iLearn Blog

Personal blog continuation

Here is yet another tip to consider if you are in the process of developing a Makerspace in your educational space. #OurSTEAMCafe has come about without much in the way of a budget. I've been making magic from my wallet.

Tip - Depending on "Dollar Deals"

Stop and Shop (Food Store) Dollar Deal Bins - Most food stores have either an area or a bin that changes periodically with items on sale or at deeply discounted prices. My local food store labels the boxes “Dollar Deals” and some boxes are $1 items, $2 items or $3 items. Of course I visit the $1 box first! You never know what you will find. But those small items necessary for a makerspace can be gathered quickly and inexpensively here. Depending on the week, you might find varying sized mini-chalkboards, containers, pot cloths, soaps, q-tips, tongue depressers, cups, wipes, sponges and more can be found. Those small bulk items likes straws and cups can be purchased in great quantity for much less than purchasing them in the average aisles on an average day. May I suggest visiting these bins frequently as they constantly change.

These past few tips I've shared are merely a few of the things I have discovered along my way. I would love to hear/learn about your discoveries. How are you bringing your Makerspace dreams to life?

Tip - Pharmacies, More than Just Bandages

You may have seen my March 25th DEN Blog Post. I shared 5 ways to help bring a makerspace into reality in your school community. In creating a makerspace/shared community learning center, I have found it necessary to think-outside-the-box. I had to ponder ways to make small steps towards reaching my goal. Here is another idea of such a small step.

Tip - Pharmacies, More than Just Bandages

Of course, having a first-aid kit available is an important small proactive step in creating any makerspace. But your local pharmacy may offer even more opportunities for making your dreams a reality.

Many of the larger chain pharmacies these days offer loyalty rewards programs. You can sign up with your email to receive discounts. Check your email periodically. Additional coupon savings become available to electronically send to your loyalty program cards.

The everyday items you need (mouthwash, socks, candy, makeup, etc), earn money back and coupons you can receive. Also don’t overlook the specific manufacturer coupons. Buy 1 specific brand battery package and get the 2nd free or half price can help keep the gadgets in your room running. 

Last week, I had $4 in rewards to spend. Have you ever noticed that even though these pharmacy locations are usually chains, several carry different items? Keep your eye out for when is the perfect time to actually cash in those rewards. Would it be better to save 20% on an inexpensive bag of cotton balls or 20% on markers? With my $4 rewards I purchased clay, chalkboard labels, and clips for adding to #OurSTEAMCafe supplies. 

The next day at another store of the same chain I nocited a sale. Work the weekly sales that are offered. These activity buckets were on sale as buy one get one 50% off. They certainly helped me gather quite a few assorted supplies inexpensively. Wish I had saved my $4 off for this purchase. But we teachers go above and beyond so my students and staff now have access to the supplies shown in both photos. 

I'll have more suggestions to share from my own endeavor soon. But in the meantime, I'd love to hear how you are maximizing your dollars and making your makerspace dreams come true.

Picking up STEAM

So #OurSTEAMCafe has had a little bit of a pause. The space was needed temporarily to provide an accommodation for a much needed building situation. But soon that project will be complete and my S.T.E.A.M. Cafe project will be up in full swing. Looking forward to "picking up STEAM". More and more teachers have been discovering the community space feel that I tried to create. Several have started contributing: sharing ideas, some accessories for coffee and tea, ideas for inexpensive instructional tools, and better supplies. Love this team experience.

Today a district provided math professional development took place in the space. I loved hearing teachers comment about the change in the physical space. And now I so look forward to hopefully creating a change in perception and use. Perception and eye's-view can make all the difference. A little out of the box thinking can perk us up and brew up some great ideas.

During today's math professional development the lead brought in one of those wonderful Dunkin Donut's Box of Joe's. (Love those) Unfortunately, today's box didn't seem to want to pour as is. While I was preoccupied with something else, someone opened the box. Did you know the box is designed with overlapping cardboard flaps?! I didn't. In the past I have just seen it as all one piece - a Box of Joe.

But on closer inspection, the box is rather uniquely designed. Underneath the overlapping pieces of cardboard is a metalic pouch that holds the warm coffee. Since the usual tipping action wasn't working to get coffee from the pouch, the teachers applied a little "out-of-the-box" thinking. A squeezing action applied to the pouch would force the coffee out of the pouch through the spout and into their waiting coffee cups. How creative and awe inspiring for me. I had to snap a picture of the inner workings. The PD lead let me keep the remaining coffee for anyone else that might like some that afternoon. You can believe before I went home this afternoon, I cleaned out that pouch and labelled it "Keep for Engineering" with a sharpie. Do NOT throw that away. Now THAT's STEAM Ed! What a great discussion about insulation, heat, force, airflow and more do I see in our future! How are you thinking "outside-the-box"? What have you discovered lately?

Since a few months now have gone by, it was time to take stock of the items in #OurSTEAMCafe. Time to see what needs to be renewed, dusted, revamped, replaced, or replenished. So as I dusted and reorganized I snapped a few pictures of the centers I go to reorganize this week. More centers to get refreshed (still had to complete my Instructional Technology Facilitator role) soon. But here are a few photos of the S-T-and M areas.

Science Area

Technology Area (Left)

Technology Area (Right)

Math Area

Hour of Code Party 2014

As promised here are some photos from our Hour of Code Kickoff Celebration for staff:

During the week of December 8 through the 14th all classes at school participated in The Hour of Code during their scheduled computer times. Students had an opportunity to explore http://code.org, http://blockly-games.appspot.com, and/or http://lightbot.com/hocflash.html.  

I love that students are still asking if they can use Blockly when they come to the computer lab. I'd say that was a successful implementation.

How did your school (or class) celebrate Computer Science Education Week and The Hour of Code?

Hour of Code is Coming

December 8th through the 15th is designated as Computer Science Education Week. Code.org is spirting an initiative to challenge 10 million students to give computer programming a try. It is called The Hour of Code So many resources are available at:

• hour of code -
• Code -

I am preparing a kickoff party for Monday to help teachers begin to think about ways to celebrate The Hour of Code in their individual classrooms. This should be so much fun. I will have photos of our event soon. But I wanted to share something that I created. I used the only software found at Avery.com to create business cards with commands on them. A class could use these to "program" each other or their teacher. Shuffle the cards. Choose one. Follow the command. You have created a program. It might be fun to create attribute cards too. Like numbers. How many steps forward or how many steps backward? But for now, this is what I created. Thought I might share. FYI, the robot clipart is available inside the Avery.com software. Thrilled with that. I decided to go with a Robot theme for our celebration. Our students will have an opportunity to try several online and offline resources. I can't wait to see their comments.

Click here for pdf

I'd love to know what you think of the file. Will it be useful to you?

STEAM Café Started

This year similarly to other schools our building needs are larger than our building space. So the mobile lab that I built two years ago was to become a classroom. Thankfully administration supported the idea of my using some space that was once part storage and part faculty lounge. The space was more a storage area than a faculty lounge. But we did have a microwave, refrigerator and a bathroom. Over the summer I was blessed with the opportunity to visit Nashville, TN with the Discovery Educator Network Summer Institute. We discussed and explored many educational and edtech themes together. Thanks to Kristy Vincent we had a maker faire evening. Recently I had done some reading about STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts and Mathematics) instruction in the classroom and elementary school. With all these ideas swimming in my head and thought of where will I work with staff? And how will I encourage my colleagues to bring some creativity back and yet still make strides towards the common core? I passed a coffee house in Virginia called "Steamy's Cafe" twice. Each time their attractive sign out front caught my eye. While exploring a teacher store on our road trip (What else do teachers do on summer vacation roadtrips?) it finally clicked. I emailed my principal with my idea. What if I borrowed the "teachers' lounge"? I could redesign it to have multi-use spaces. We could of course setup an area with laptops for professional development. We could setup an area to make the lending library useful again. We could setup an area for teachers to come have their break and enjoy a lunch together. I'd like to incorporate the STEAM idea. Maybe make it the STEAM Cafe? And the idea was born.

So when I returned from my road trip I got to work. I reached out to members of my PLN and DEN-ln. Thank you guys! I asked if you had the opportunity to design such a space what materials would you put out. There is a joke that goes around Facebook - Teachers the only profession that steals from home and brings it to work instead of the reverse. I looked around my boxes (created when I packed up the Mobile Lab). I looked around our apartment. I visited The Christmas Tree Shop, The $1 Zone, Walmart, Target, and online stores. Supplies were gathered. Areas were designed for the various intertwined disciplines of STEAM. Coffee pots were invested in and more.

The space developed and unfolded. There was no official launch. Teachers just slowly discovered it. Some are so enamored they declare, "Don't tell people. Let this be our secret". Others are joyful and share the news with others, "Have you seen the STEAM Cafe? I'll bring in some coffee. Should we bring in some milk? Oh I have left over Halloween candy can I bring it to share?" I admit I love hearing the conversations.

So thank you to everyone and their enthusiasm. Thank you to administration for letting me have a vision and run with it to fruition. Below are a few photos from the transformation. I unfortunately don't have many before photos. But believe me it was dusty and stacked with boxes of useless items. Things were condensed and reorganized, cleaned and rearranged.

Here are a two before photos:

And now for the fun part - a few after photos:

Coffee Area

Science Area

Science Area:
Realia, Discovery DVDs, magnifying glasses, pinwheels, etc.

Science Area

Technology Area:
Laptops, SMARTBoard, desktops, Technology Scrabble

Technology Scrabble - ty DEN friends

Computer Resources

Engineering Area:
Kinex, Legos, cardboard, Popsicle sticks, battery lights, vinegar and pennies (chemical engineering)

Art Area:
Paint, stickers, glue, stencils, construction paper

Math Area:
Dice, unit blocks, geoboards (found during cleanup), books, play money

Sorry this post took so long to get written. I was busy designing and creating. I was busy teaching. Now that I've had a day off, I look forward to returning to my new space. Both this space and I will be growing and developing throughout the year. I hope to have more to share as we move forward together. If you have any ideas for additions/suggestions please share. I'm always open to ideas.

#DENsigh5

Today's #RememberDEN or #DENsigh post is for Porter Palmer. I love the way you see all of us. I wish there was a mirror that let us see what you see. From the first moment we each have the privilege of connecting face to face with you, you know right away who we are. You bring us into your heart. The love with which you greet us every time after be it virtual or physical is heartwarming. Today I noticed this pink mirror that said, "Princess" around the frame. Of course the nickname brought you to mind. But it also made me think of how you see each of us with such love. For that I am grateful. Thank you for loving us all as each of us are.

#RememberDEN, #DENsigh for Porter Palmer.

They need to make one trimmed in rose gold so that I could then purchase it and send it your way. This is not the quality that befits our DENprincess.