My students need a large supply of Legos. They are simple, sturdy, non-consumable building tools that support unlimited creativity and imaginative engineering projects.
Not your grandma's librarian...
As workstations replace dust-covered shelves in our school libraries, the opportunity exists there to provide students with resources and tools to inspire creativity and ensure future success.
If the classroom is the heart of education, the Media Center is its soul.
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination." - Albert Einstein.
In this world of high stakes test scores, pressure to achieve academically, and Common Core Standards driving our instruction - students are afforded almost no time to be creative; let their imaginations run wild, and "think outside the box".
We have eliminated music and art classes in our school. Recess is limited and talking at lunch is discouraged. When are our students practicing the Critical C's: Collaboration, Cooperation and Communication?
The MakerSpace in the Media Center will offer all students the tools necessary to respond to a project-based, interdisciplinary, creative challenge each month. Through hands-on exploration, freedom of expression, and student-centered learning - our learners will learn the power of imagination.
This MakerSpace will be a stress-free zone dedicated to the aspiring artists, inventors, and engineers in our student community.
My Project
In the real world, content knowledge is interwoven, layered and sophisticated, not experienced in isolation such as in traditional education settings (separate math time, separate science time, etc.).
A MakerSpace will offer every student the opportunity to create solutions to monthly challenges. These project-based challenges will be the springboard to motivate our students to utilize disciplinary skills they have acquired, along with teamwork, communication, and creativity.
Using motivating and engaging tools (such as Legos to create a model of a science concept they have learned, Duck Tape to create a useful fashion accessory, or discarded appliances to disassemble and study) students will have the freedom to think critically, creatively, and innovatively, as well as opportunities to fail and try again in a safe environment.
“The field of creativity that exists within each individual is freed by moving out of ideas of wrong-doing or right doing.” – Angeles Arrien
“A child’s mind is not a container to be filled but rather a fire to be kindled.” – Dorothea Brande
The MakerSpace will provide fresh, motivating, thought-provoking challenges, along with the tools necessary to work through these challenges, to kindle the fires of imagination smoldering in every child.
We will invite curiosity, inspire wonder, encourage playfulness, and celebrate unique solutions. MakerSpace is less of a classroom and more of a motivational speech without words.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Curry and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
