Group items tagged

"I've been wanting to build my daughter an engineering wall for a long time.  A place for her to learn and play about some of the basics of engineering like pulleys and lights and pumps.  She loves designing and building, but all of the walls I had seen seemed either too complicated to build or not sturdy enough to be worth the time.  Then we went swimming and I had a burst of inspiration.  Pool noodles!  Light enough to hang on a wall, and sturdy enough to last a while.  And enter in my favorite wall hanging supply, Command™ products to get the job done.  Here's how we made an Awesome Pool Noodle Engineering Wall for Kids."

"One year ago today, I put up that last brick and finished building our Epic LEGO Wall at Stewart.  Since then, I've been awed and humbled to see so many other schools build LEGO walls.  In classrooms, in libraries, in hallways, on old mobile whiteboards.  I can't take credit for all of these, but it's nice to know that my posts about our LEGO wall have inspired and helped others to create theirs.  It's so exciting to see such a variety of spaces, and to see so many schools embracing interactive, creative spaces for their students.  A little over a month ago, I put out a call on my blog and on Twitter for pictures of your LEGO walls, and you all did not disappoint.  So here's a delightful sampling of LEGO walls around the world."

"I've been wanting to build my daughter an engineering wall for a long time.  A place for her to learn and play about some of the basics of engineering like pulleys and lights and pumps.  She loves designing and building, but all of the walls I had seen seemed either too complicated to build or not sturdy enough to be worth the time.  Then we went swimming and I had a burst of inspiration.  Pool noodles!  Light enough to hang on a wall, and sturdy enough to last a while.  And enter in my favorite wall hanging supply, Command™ products to get the job done.  Here's how we made an Awesome Pool Noodle Engineering Wall for Kids."

"So, in order to model the importance of continually changing and adapting to our students' needs, we began with a dream of mine - building a Lego wall. Legos are a timeless classic for creativity, building, and fun. Kids of all ages enjoy this magnificent toy. For many, Legos come with a set of instructions and a product to build. Other times, kids have free reign on their creativity in order to build something new and different. In our school's Makerspace, Legos are a staple in our building station. Kids can create whatever they wish with Legos and even integrate those Legos with other materials for their project. With the inspiration of others online and on TV, we decided to put our Legos on the wall. Putting Legos on the wall not only is something new and different for our kids to experience, but it is also a space saver. Students can build on the wall, creating interesting artwork, simply creating anything new with Legos."

"To be honest, I had longed for the epic Lego wall that has graced so many makerspace blogs and websites.  But I didn't have the wall space for it, and I prefer furniture and resources that can serve dual purposes. Being a proponent of Theodore Roosevelt's motto of "Do what you can with what you have where you are" I became resourceful.  So with my Scholastic Book Fair points, I chose a metal cabinet from the rewards catalog to serve as both makerspace storage and a movable awesome Lego wall. With some heavy-duty magnets affixed to the back with a hot glue gun, our baseplates could be used both horizontally and vertically.  Bound by limitations, I was able to find a away to create something new that would fit the needs of our library and our students."

"Will Smith once told a story from his childhood in which his father broke down the brick wall at his business and told him and his brother to rebuild it. It took them a year, but they finished the job and learned a powerful lesson contained within a memorable metaphor. He explains, "You don't set out to build a wall. You don't say 'I'm going to build the biggest, baddest, greatest wall that's ever been built.' You don't start there. You say, 'I'm going to lay this brick as perfect as a brick can be laid. You do that every single day and soon you have a wall." This story from Will Smith captures the very essence of the Slight Edge philosophy that we will discuss in this article. Applying this idea within the classroom will help students develop a strong long term sense of accomplishment that is necessary to achieve their goals."

"When in Boston, I taught next to a Geometry teacher who would later go on to become Teacher of the Year. Lining the walls of his high school Geometry classroom, from floor to ceiling, were vocabulary words with drawings and examples. At the time I thought it was a bit extreme. I mean, aren't these kids in high school? Over the years since, I have come to realize just how important word walls are and that he was absolutely right in putting it all out there like that. If you think about it, there's a measly 5 year age difference between a 4th grader and a 9th grader. Yes, kids do grow up quick, but what is it about those 5 short years that suddenly allows students to remember and recall everything and no longer need visual reminders?"

"Yesterday I wrote about everything that led up to us creating our Epic Library LEGO Wall - check out the post here.  Today is going to be more of a how-to.  I've had many, many people ask me how to build a LEGO wall, and while there's tons of great information out there, I'm going to put my own spin on things, so here goes."

"I participate as a parent in our middle school Tech Club - the TechDetectives. The 8th graders in the club came up with this great end of year project idea - they wanted to take apart one of the lab computers and re-mount all the parts on the wall so that future students could easily see all the parts of this working computer. It was something they saw done on YouTube. I've been calling it the "CoW" (Computer On the Wall). I loved this idea - and quickly volunteered to help out after school - knowing we didn't have enough time in tech club before the end of their graduating year to finish it. As I described in a few posts previously, this project also turned into a great opportunity for some #3DPrinting solutions."

"This article has been making its rounds in social media. I tend to agree with the idea that heavily-decorated, cutesy classrooms are distracting. I've never been a fan of a barrage of brightly-colored signs, Garfield posters and motivational phrases. However, I also see a real danger in district-mandated use of wall space. Here, the issue is less about bright and cutesy and more about things like word walls and anchor charts designed to create visual cues for learning. I see the point to it, but often this creates a text dump that students have to navigate (rather than having a simple notebook or website with tutorials they can access). It starts to feel like an encyclopedia had vomited on the walls. "

"At the Kensington Library making a learning environment that is accessible, friendly, and interactive has been the most effective way of reaching the most "difficult" children. When school is over and children flock to the library, the last thing they want is to sit still and be told what to do. For some, art activities and creativity come naturally but for others beginning a project is just another task to do in a day full of instruction. I think it is important to provide these children with a space where learning is just part of the environment. On of our first additions to the Kensington's Maker space was an interactive velcro wall where children design, build, and re-build a marble slide made from cardboard paper towel rolls and plastic bottles. Children often enter the Maker Space and start tinkering with the wall with out even thinking about it.  A wall of tools has also helped to inspire projects. The visibility of the tools can be a great motivation for a child to learn to hammer, use an electric drill, or a needle and thread."

"In the Social Studies and English Language Arts classroom students can benefit from visuals and interactive text to help making meaning of the past.  The Berlin Wall HD is a free iPad app that presents informational text, primary source documents and interactive maps on the screen.  Students can tap, zoom and explore this period in history."

"Ellyssa Kroski - June 24, 2014 In February I organized a pecha kucha style panel discussing topics related to law librarianship in the digital age and I ran a live competition looking for who could tweet the most about the panel. The prize was a copy of the book Law Librarianship in the Digital Age which was appropriate as the panel of speakers was made up of many of the contributing authors. It turned out to be a great way to get people excited and engaged with the speakers and it worked really well, resulting in many people tweeting about our discussion. Therefore, I wanted a way to display the live tweets as they were coming in to keep everyone excited about the contest. But I had a very hard time finding a good, free application which would enable me to project the display I wanted. Since then I've found four tools that will easily allow you to display a live tweet wall as the tweets come in, whether it's for an event you're hosting, for your library's flat screen TV display, or simply for following a topic."

""Project based learning's time has come." Educators across the nation have been realizing the potential for powerful deeper learning when project-based learning (PBL) is employed. We have witnessed schools that are wall-to-wall with projects, blended classrooms engaging in PBL and organizations that are helping to create high leverage engagement opportunities for all students. Leaders at schools and organizations across the United States and around the world are helping to continue to build and sustain the PBL momentum. Their vision for what PBL can be in, and can bring to, their communities is astounding. At PBL World, a conference focused on innovations in project-based learning, we heard inspiring messages about what's possible in PBL."

"A Dynamic QR code allows you to place a short URL into the QR code and then EDIT/CHANGE it to something different at a later time! For instance, if I had a big QR code hanging on my classroom wall that would take my students to a specific website all about the Water Cycle, I could keep the SAME QR code taped to my wall throughout the year and just change the URL that is linked to that code. So the next day when my students scan the QR code, it could take them to a different website. Save the earth people! Save your ink! Dynamic QR codes can change your world :P"

"I participate as a parent in our middle school Tech Club - the TechDetectives. The 8th graders in the club came up with this great end of year project idea - they wanted to take apart one of the lab computers and re-mount all the parts on the wall so that future students could easily see all the parts of this working computer. It was something they saw done on YouTube. I've been calling it the "CoW" (Computer On the Wall). I loved this idea - and quickly volunteered to help out after school - knowing we didn't have enough time in tech club before the end of their graduating year to finish it. As I described in a few posts previously, this project also turned into a great opportunity for some #3DPrinting solutions."

"Learning Beyond Walls: 21 Skype Resources"

"To me, blogging is about flattening classroom walls and making connections with the world outside of the classroom. After attending a professional development session with Kathleen Morris (who taught me almost everything I know about blogging) and Kelly Jordan, I had made my decision that I would create a class blog and it would be open for the world to see. Blogging is about flattening classroom walls and making connections with the world. "

Seems much more responsive and sortable!!) than WallWisher... can't embed links or other media, though.

Another alternative to Wall wisher for the primary grades ... Primary Wall http://bit.ly/gTS9D7

"When you were growing up, what did you enjoy playing with? If you were like me, maybe it was Tinker Toys, an Easy Bake Oven, or Lite Brite. I liked designing and creating things. As a teenager, my imagination ran wild as my ideas turned into sketches which later covered the walls of my bedroom. (Thanks Mom, for never painting over the walls-even 25 years later!) My own children love building and messing around with things, too. It's amazing how long a few cardboard boxes or toilet paper rolls and some duct tape will keep them entertained. (We've built forts, spaceships, and garages for all their Match Box cars.) It's the nature of these learning experiences that allow young people to think creatively and use their imagination. With a focus on standards, accountability, and assessment over the last decade or so, it seemed that these opportunities disappeared from our schools. However, within the last few years, the tide is beginning to turn. I believe an exciting shift is happening in education as schools across the country are embracing the Maker Movement and returning creative, hands-on learning opportunities to their classrooms. Additionally, STEAM education has come to the forefront with an emphasis on preparing students for college, career, and beyond, focusing on the 4 C's: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. STEM has transformed into STEAM as the arts become an integral component to meaningful learning. In many schools, the STEAM and maker education are colliding. Hybrid models are being created that embrace the integration of STEAM components and the creative spirit of the Maker Movement. At the intersection between STEAM and making, powerful learning occurs. I would argue that a new movement is emerging-STEAM Makers."