I am a recovering control freak/perfectionist. So, when my students work on projects for #cardboardchallenge, it takes every ounce of restraint to not turn into a raving lunatic. Nothing goes as planned; in fact plans are pretty much a waste of time. My classroom looks like an episode of “Hoarders,” and I find duct tape … Read more
I am frequently asked for advice on what materials to purchase for school maker spaces. I am definitely not an expert on this topic, but I have gotten a couple of grants for B.O.S.S. HQ (Building of Super Stuff Headquarters) that have allowed me to try out different products. I thought I would devote this week to … Read more
Since many people are returning to school during the next couple of weeks, I thought I would re-visit and share some of last year’s more successful projects in case you want to try one. Yesterday’s post was on the surprise “You Matter” videos that I asked parents to make for their children last year. Since … Read more
This summer, some other GT teachers and I got together to host some free online classes through Edmodo for our 3rd-5th graders. My class is called, “Make a Theme Park.” Each week, the students are invited to make something for a theme park that they have imagined. For the 1st week, the challenge was to build … Read more
On this blog, I tend to post about a lot of ideas that I find, and some readers don’t always get a chance to know if I ever tried them – or if they were complete flops. This week, I want to feature a few past ideas that I did try and that were successful … Read more
One of my favorite books to read to my Kinder GT class when we talk about Inventor Thinking is Christina Katerina and the Box by Patricia Gauch. Christina is a very creative young lady who finds all sorts of uses for the box delivered to their house “on a refrigerator.” Her mother keeps trying to … Read more