Celebrate: Meeting New Friends and Making New Things

Today I am celebrating two experiences in my library, 
one with students and one without students.

The one with students

One of my 2nd grade classrooms participated in a Mystery Skype with another class of 2nd grade students. The goal of a Mystery Skype is to determine with yes or no questions where the other group of students are located.  This was my group of students first time participating in a Mystery Skype. I think they did really well considering. I have participated in Mystery Skype visits with older students, so did not know what to expect with this younger group. They quickly got the handle of looking at geographic features to nail down the location of the other classroom of students.  I LOVED seeing them pour over the atlases! My students did jump the gun on guessing their location, but they were eager.  We plan to connect with this classroom again soon. I am happy that these connections often lead to more shared learning experiences.

The one without students

I am moving closer toward my Makerspace/Innovation Space! I recently received a 3D Printer. I did not sit down and read the brochure cover to cover. I loaded the software, tinkered with the machine to understand it, registered for a free account with TynkerCad, played there briefly, and then printed my first object -- all this within an hour. I am already thinking about the programming that the students will be doing and ways we connect this to the classroom curriculum. This is a serious celebration!

(learned a bit about ears here...)