Makerspace Classroom - Let's Get Organized

Makerspace Classroom - Let's Get Organized!

It is what I've been hoping for; students intently working with materials and creating.  It is a new academic year and I am teaching a full load of explore classes this year.  You can call me the Explore Makerspace teacher.  My classroom, has undergone some changes.  The individual seats are being replaced by collaborative tables.  Students are sitting in groups of 3 or 4 depending on the class.  Time to dig in to new ideas and bring out the maker experiences for my 150 students per trimester.
As a member of the MakerEd NCSD group, I have been hearing about excellent maker experiences  to bring to students.  I am diving in headfirst into the "makerspace" classroom. 

In the coming year, my students will work with a variety of electronics, circuitry, building, engineering/designing, coding, 3D printing and more.  I hope to share my experiences here.

Before the first day of school I brought in several book cases and clear shoe boxes to organize materials such as wiring, LED's, batteries, copper tape, craft sticks, hot glue guns, pipe cleaners, recycled bottles and cans, etcetera.  Clear boxes and labeling helps when looking for materials.  Peg board and hooks organize tools such hammers, saws, screw drivers, and more..  A designated staging area for each of the different classes, helps make transitions (4 minutes between classes) smooth.  Each class has their own designated location on the white board for their learning goals and project updates.  And at the end of each class, during cleanup, projects in process are placed in designated class locations for easy finding when students next work on the project.

Our First Projects:  I have three different types of classes.  Two sixth grade, two seventh and eighth grade classes and an advanced STEM class with video production.  Each class needs to cover different material so that the next years students do not duplicate.   Since this is really the first time I have ever had a makerspace classroom, everything is NEW!  As in any startup, gathering needed materials takes time and organized lists.  Be sure to plan ahead and have enough materials for all students..  In my next post, I will share how our first projects are going:
Sixth Grade - Hydraulic and Pneumatic machines
7/8 th Grade - Soft Circuits
STEM - Mechanics of timers and the Engineering Design Process.