Welcome to our school’s blog…Ogden Makers!   It is here that I’ll be talking up all the great things that make up making!  This is going to be fantastic year of making and tinkering with students here at Ogden Elementary.  The end goal is to always be preparing our students to be college and/or career ready and this is a space where we can get kids excited about project based learning and connecting that learning back to standards addressed in the classroom.

I just finished up an administrative internship at Marshall Elementary last spring.  I had a good experience and was wondering in the back of my mind whether to push forward and try to be an associate principal or head back to the classroom for a few years.  I received a call from the principal at Ogden and was asked if I would be interested in being the school’s makerspace teacher.   I just could not pass up this offer!

So…Late July I spent moving the room from its first location to its second location.

Ogden Elementary Makerspace room

Setting up the makerspace in its second location.

As you can see, I had a lot of work to do to get it ready in time for the start of school. We were about four days into the school year when I was told that we were given the green light to hire another fourth grade teacher.  So…because kids deserve a classroom, I packed up the “shop” and head to the new and improved home of Makerspace v. 3.0–the staff room.  I worked for about a week and a half to get it back in order and it looks great! I’m so ready to begin working with students and their teachers to support making and learning.    My goal this year is to use the Launch Cycle as our design thinking process all the while exposing the kids to the four Cs (Collaboration, Communication, Creativity and Critical Thinking). Stay tuned! I’m looking forward to showing and telling all the #vpsamazing things the students will create.

We have cardboard and wood for days!

We have many consumables ready for student to use.