I got in my sleigh and headed South to Crawford County. We landed at East Crawford Elementary, in a Fourth Grade classroom. We got to talk about electricity and find out what ideas or words or people they already knew. They hit upon how we use electricity for almost everything, how it is made (corrected… Read more »

6th grade Language Arts students at Eastern Greene Middle School had a research project about Christmas customs & traditions from a country not the United States. When I came in, it was to help them create something digitally with imagery that would tell about the customs/traditions that they found for their country. Many used tinkercad,… Read more »

I got to get a class at Linton Stockton Elementary started in their coding journey with the Root robot. We use them on the floor, though I have been told they will stick to a vertical whiteboard. We started off exploring the browser interface. Their task was to start the robot in the bottom left… Read more »

I spent the morning (12/14) at the Orleans Public Library for the Orleans Christmas on the Square pre-event. They had a small craft for kids to do and I had paper circuits with a Christmas theme. I used templates from Makerspaces.com (https://www.makerspaces.com/make-christmas-light-up-cards ) (these are nice because they print on the backside where to put… Read more »

We spent an afternoon at Shakamak Elementary School with the afterschool program. We brought our cardboard tools so they could test out some tools. But you need to pay attention to what ages you give what tools to… (sharp things and littles doesnt always mix well). We also had a variety of materials to add… Read more »

40 or so students from  Avondale Meadows MS Grades 5-8 came to IU for a campus tour. We started them out with a little maker activity, the projectile launcher from TeacherGeek. Kids love making, and they had fun. Some groups were able to finish in our time, some did not.

Since 2018, IC3D Printing has sponsored & supported a 3D printed Toys for Tots program. They crowd source “elves” around the country to use their personal/work printers to create toys. The models have been created and donated by experts. 130,000 toys were donated in 2023. The goal for 2024 is 150,000. I did some toys… Read more »

I spent Halloween with a 2nd grade class at Linton-Stockton. They each had made a haunted house out of a cereal box. They were bringing them to us to use the iRobot Root bot for Trick or Treating. They worked in pairs, put 1 house on the mat, then coded root to go to the… Read more »

Monroe County Fairgrounds held their annual “Safe Trick or Treat” on October 26th. There are about a hundred groups & organizations that participate and at least 1000 kids. It goes on for three hours with some busy times and some lulls. I had laser cut some gnome & fairie charms that could be used on… Read more »

Bloomington Parks & Rec held their annual “Pumpkin Launch” (better known as punkin’ chunkin’) on October 26 at Monroe County Fairgrounds. They had 3 launchers this year, 2 long time participants and a newcomer (we tried to get some interest at SoE to build one, but were unsuccessful). There were several hundred people in attendance…. Read more »