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Makerspace for Little or Nothing

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Makerspace for Little or Nothing
You don't have to spend thousands of dollars to start a Makerspace area. You don't have to have a designated room or rip out bookcases. You can even have a Makerspace on a cart! When we have testing in our Library, I put all our Makerspace stuff on an AV cart and roll it into our server room.  This post evolved from a previous post called Makerspace Starter Kit Updatedwhere I had some of these idea, but I felt that it deserved it's own expanded post.

You can take baby steps into the Maker Movement.  I've been saying that for 7 years or so....long before I blogged about it, I tried it out. Yeah, sometimes I try things on the sly to see if they are blogworthy for you! Now....having said that.....

WARNING: Controversial Opinion Ahead.  I'm not 100% sold, even after 7 years of talking about the Maker Movement, that it's something that's here to stay and not just a fad. Even though I've (without knowing it!) been using asp…
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Go Ahead, Scam Me Kids!

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WARNING: Rant Below.

So, my last post was about an easy interactive reading promotion idea using Post-It Notes I got from my fabulous friend (and one time mentee) Tiffany Whitehead. Didn't read it yet? Just landed here? That's OK, maybe you should go back and read it before going much further... it's OK, I'll wait. 
(watches Ancient Aliens loves that memetastic Giorgio A. Tsoukalos but can't stand the annoying voice of that David Childress)

This post was inspired by an anonymous blog comment. I'll post it below. Oh wait! Eep...sorry

You also probably should skim this Reading Promotion post, too! It's cool, I'll go check Twitter while you do and Tweet back to my favorite band of all time XTC & Andy Partridge.

Reading is the Key!

'Cause that's where the anonymous or unknown comment was left. My below rant will make more sense if you get the context. OH! I know, I'll screenshot it. Wait here for a sec. BRB.



Here's my reply... I think …
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Readers Recommend

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This is reading promotion idea that's inexpensive, low-tech, includes student voice, and I totally nabbed it from the amazing Librarian Tiff five years ago and I still love it! It's kind of what you can call an oldie but a goodie.

I don't put this display out at the beginning of the school year. I've found that it's good to bring it out mid-year or connected to a reading promotion lesson activity like Speed Dating with Books to generate interest. Shockingly, it seems that my middle schoolers respond to "new" things, so I bring this out in the lull between Winter and Spring break. But this can work at any time in a school library or ELA classroom.

It's kinda like a low-tech YELP review for books!
I was inspired by Librarian tiff because she also does this in her school library and created this amazing graphic below, made it Creative Commons, and gave it out to the world! I love beautiful signage that I don't have to make myself! Because I'm k…
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Ninja Unicorn - Coloring Bookmarks

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Short Story: A wonderful 6th grade student & I teamed up and made this bookmark sheet and I want to share it with you.



I made copies and gave several to the creative young kid. Then, a few days later, one of my marvelous teachers Mrs. Granger, had her kids, including the boy who helped create the Ninja Unicorn, color it and we're going to laminate it. I took a picture and was just amazed. My not so adroit drawings and rather amateurish lettering were brought to life  and made to look better by the amazing coloring of the kiddos. 

Why not ask some of your kids to come up with their own coloring bookmarks?  If you do, please share them with me and I will share them with my kids. Maybe we could trade them!?

You are invited to download the PDF for FREE  from my Slideshare. 
Enjoy!

Here's also my Google Doc blank bookmark template - Please go to File> Make a copy -- or download the PDF on my Slideshare.
Longer Story: This coloring sheet came about by mistake. It came about b…
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Take a Shelfie Not a Selfie

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I've talked about the Art of the Shelfie before, but I had a recent rant I just wanted to share with you. I started with "Hey girl" as a nod to the "Hey girl" meme and my preoccupation with the hit book, "Girl, Wash Your Face" by . It was really just to get your attention, I know educator guys might benefit from this rant, too! I'm equal opportunity judgey.

You know what's great about having a professional Twitter & Instagram? You can just focus on the kids. (It should already be our focus, right?) But it's sometimes kinda comforting to hide behind the kids. Social Media shy? Take pics of your kids being awesome & post them. Not sure about photo consent? Take pics over their shoulders, they'll recognize their shoulders, hair, & hands!

To quote the wise Dalton in the cinematic Oeuvre that is the movie Roadhouse: Opinions vary. Of course it's OK to take a selfie now and then! But when the focus is off t…
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