Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

You are excited about getting started with your Makerspace projects, but how do you really begin? What types of systems, routines, behavior management, and meaningful lessons should you try? We are going to answer all of those questions about Makerspace in today’s episode. The first time I did a Makerspace lesson in my K-5 STEM classroom, I was so excited. I had all of the supplies set up. Everything was labeled with pictures and words.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:09]:

All of the markers and crayons were sorted by color. I felt extremely prepared and so excited about what we were going to work on together. With my schedule, I had 5th grade first in the day, which was great. Okay. Cool. I have the oldest kids, so I can always test those things out. And if it messes up, then the older kids can just go along with it with me. We did our projects, and at the end of the 45 minutes, I was out of supplies.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:42]:

It was an absolute free-for-all. My behavior management was fine, but when it came to the actual supplies, I didn’t think through that step. I thought that in a Makerspace, kids could do whatever they wanted. They get as much supplies as they want. They can make these ginormous projects, and it would be fine. Well, I didn’t even know where to put their projects. There was nowhere to put them. I was looking at what they were creating.

Naomi Meredith [00:02:09]:

They were never going to be done. It was way too open-ended. And so I really had to modify things for the rest of the week because, like I said, I was pretty much out of everything, especially tape. And so, through my really bad experience, I have figured it out and how it went for the next few years in my STEM classroom and also transitioning into the STEM programs that I teach out in my community. Even though you are having kids be creative, you still have to have rules in place, and it is not limiting their creativity whatsoever. In fact, when things are really open-ended, that can be really overwhelming for kids and adults. You know how it feels when you walk into a craft store and see all of the supplies everywhere, and you are getting 5,000,000,000 ideas on types of projects that you should start? It kinda feels like that. If you give free rein to all of your Makerspace supplies, your kids might be getting too many ideas and might not even finish the project you want them to do.

Naomi Meredith [00:03:27]:

So it’s okay to narrow it down, and I’m gonna share with you those tips and tricks in your Makerspace that are really going to streamline things and help you be successful. The 3 big things that we are going to be talking about in today’s episode and also in this little mini-series I have planned for you are the systems to do with these types of projects. So today, we’re talking about Makerspace, but there are other things we’re going to be talking about, so systems. Then we’re gonna be talking about behavior management, and this is also going to help with that motivation piece as well. And then, at the end, I’m gonna give you some lesson plan ideas. When it comes to the systems in your Makerspace, I have a whole method to the madness now. If you scroll back to episodes 5 and 6 of this podcast, I talk about exactly how I set up my Makerspace and the whole system that I use in terms of managing. I’m gonna mention that here, but I highly encourage you to go back and check those episodes.

Naomi Meredith [00:04:34]:

I also have a free podcast playlist where all of my episodes that relate to Makerspace are chunked together, so you don’t have to pick and choose. I know 56 are right next to each other, but that will be linked in the show notes. The whole podcast playlist, you can get that for free. And all of the other playlists where I have categorized all the episodes in my podcast where you can focus on specific topics. When it comes to the specific materials that you are setting up, I actually kept my Makerspace supplies set up year-round. And this was really helpful because if there were times I needed specific materials for certain projects, maybe they were Makerspace, maybe they weren’t. I knew where they were at all times. Now I was really lucky the furniture in my room had wheels. I can move them around if needed.

Naomi Meredith [00:05:29]:

I typically didn’t, but I kept all of my supplies out. Everything was labeled with pictures and words to help not only students who were pre-readers but all students. It’s really awesome having everything labeled with pictures and words because you can find exactly where everything goes, and it helps the students be really independent. I already created these labels for you, and there’s an editable slide you can create your own that matches. So, again, that will also be linked in the show notes. All these resources that I’m talking about will be linked for you to make it nice and easy. I also kept my staple supplies that are in high demand and are needed for all grade levels, my scissors, my crayons, my markers, and even a spot for pencils, all in one location in the classroom. Those were there all of the time, and students knew that they could grab those as needed.

Naomi Meredith [00:06:29]:

All of my markers were color-coded in the paper drawers. If you know what I’m talking about, they’re the 3 stacked drawers you pull out. I organized them by color because it looked really nice. It was easier to clean up, and we didn’t use markers all the time. I had the same markers for 5 years, and they were ready to go for another 5. Markers weren’t used very often in my classroom. With crayons, I tried a lot of different things. I tried individual supply boxes.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:04]:

I tried those supply caddies where you can have crayons and all sorts of things in one. I tried big buckets. So what I found that worked best was that I had small metal buckets that were for crayons. They had the little handle. Those are in Dollar Tree spots all the time. You might even get some for gifts. I know I get those for little gifts all the time. People give those to me with cool things in them.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:31]:

But I use those for crayons, and they were the perfect size because the crayons could stand up nicely, the kids could grab and go, put them at their table, and so it made the sharing a lot easier, and they looked really cute, too. Scissors and glue sticks were in their own bigger plastic buckets, just some plastic buckets that I had when I first started teaching, actually, and then I kept pencils in separate buckets as well. Now you might be thinking, why did you keep this all separate? Okay. So, I did put them all together before. I had the crayons, the pencils, the scissors. They kept getting mixed up. And when I used them with the younger kids, they were so excited that they had scissors and glue sticks all to themselves. And it became a distraction tool, and it really wasn’t organized.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:17]:

Kids were throwing trash in there. And so if I catch everything separated for certain projects, especially for the younger students again, if they only needed crayons, I could pull out just the crayons. If we only needed scissors, I could pick out just the scissors. It made cleanup a lot easier when everything was separated. So, think about those staple items that were really helpful, and students actually told me how they liked how organized it was. I asked them, and they said they really liked it. The kids would tell me all the time how organized I was, and that’s saying a lot in a STEM classroom where things are happening in projects all the time. Yes, we have projects everywhere, but I’m a very organized person. I’m not very clean, I’m very organized.

Naomi Meredith [00:09:10]:

There is a difference. If you have your Makerspace set up all year, it doesn’t mean you are doing Makerspace projects all year. However, I do recommend keeping stock of items year-round. Maybe you ask certain grade levels to help you collect items for a project that is coming up with their grade. You could send out an email to just that grade level. If you need more pipe cleaners, that grade level may help you with pipe cleaners. If you need more thin cardboard, I always use thin cardboard. I didn’t use big boxes of cardboard.

Naomi Meredith [00:09:46]:

I’m gonna tell you why in a little bit. But if you need thin cardboard, the teachers’ lounge is a treasure trove of thin cardboard. I put in a donation box in the teacher’s lounge. I wrote a note: Hey, if you have any thin cardboard from your meals, put them in this box, and it will be full by the end of the week. And so if I were good on the cardboard, I would take the box away. If I was running low, I put the box back, and it was a really great way to collect cardboard that was going to get thrown away anyway. So you have an idea of how to organize your Makerspace. What about the behavior management? Do you feel like your kids are getting a little too wild because they are creating? It might get loud.

Naomi Meredith [00:10:31]:

In all of these lessons, the kids are gonna get loud. I can’t tell you that they’re not gonna be loud because they are. That’s how it goes. I got so used to it. It is what it is. But being loud is different than not doing what you’re supposed to do. So make sure there you understand the difference between that and what’s happening in your class. When it comes to behavior management, it is about the way your lesson is formatted and the systems and routines of that structure.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:04]:

When students come in for my lessons, and this is true for all of my lessons, and even when I teach after-school clubs, I do not let kids get the supplies right away. That is not happening. I am going to help them with that transition time and teach them mini-lessons that are involved with the engineering design process. Keep it really short, have that background knowledge, tell them anything they need to know about supplies, and most of the time, it is work time. Also, make sure you are leaving time at the end to clean up. A Makerspace project might take longer to clean up than a robotics lesson. Keep that in mind. I would give kids about 10 minutes.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:44]:

I would try 10 minutes to start. And depending That is the overall structure of the lesson, but let’s break it down throughout the days. At the beginning of your Makerspace lesson, you probably want kids to imagine different ideas and planning. If your kids are having a hard time planning and coming up with ideas, especially if you have a newer program, you might need to give them more examples. Those examples can be things like things in real life, examples of pictures of things students have built in the past. You might even have to build a few examples to get the ground running. For Makerspace projects, I don’t typically teach students you have to do the it this way step by step. Now for an after school program, that might be the case.

Naomi Meredith [00:12:44]:

But in the classroom setting, I do have a challenge I want them to solve, but I’m not gonna show you step by step on how to do it. I might show them step by step in a mini-lesson on how to do a certain strategy. For example, with one of my stem lessons, STEM race cars and STEM amusement park, there is a part in that project where students have to add a wheel and axle on their car and allow it to move. This is pretty tricky, and I would always get a ton of questions on this strategy. So, one of the days during the mini lesson, I just showed the kids how to do that. It didn’t mean I was showing them how to build their car. I was just showing them that piece of their car that everybody was going to need, and then the rest was up to them. So those kinds of strategies, just like if you’re teaching math, like, we’re learning lots of strategies, I would teach them those kinds of things as they would come up.

Naomi Meredith [00:13:40]:

It depends on the lesson, and that was really helpful. When grouping students, this is up to you if you want students to choose their groups or if you assign them for them. I did both. It actually depends on the class. Some groups do a great job choosing their partners, and some don’t. If you have classes that get out of control really quick, you might need to keep them in groups of 2. This is really rare. Some might need to be in just in groups of 1.

Naomi Meredith [00:14:11]:

I only had to do that a couple of times, but it happens. And it is really sad, but at the same time, your job is also as the teacher to keep kids safe and help them be successful. And if that’s where they’re at, that’s where they’re at. I wanna do more than 4 kids. 3 is my favorite because I feel like everybody can get involved, but no more than 4. It just gets too crazy, and at that point, you should just have, partnerships in anyway. What’s also going to help them in that building process is really giving students that time to plan. This is gonna help them in that creation.

Naomi Meredith [00:14:46]:

They may or may not build everything exactly how they drew the picture, but this is going to help them get the ideas out of their brain and have a starting point. And if you do add in Makerspace money, which, again, go back to episodes 5 and 6, I explained that whole process. But if you use that system, that’s also going to help students critically think more about what supplies they are using and why they are using them. The more you give specific tasks in these creative projects, kids are gonna stay on task a lot better. If there is a problem they are trying to solve, that’s going to help a lot better. So if you are doing roller coasters and you want to time how fast the marble goes through the track and keep track of the time, they’re gonna be a lot more motivated to do that project instead of just build a roller coaster, have a good time. If you have those specific challenges they are trying to solve, that’s gonna help so much with behavior management, and that is going back to engagement. Are they being engaged in the project? Are they do they have a purpose? And so these things really blend together.

Naomi Meredith [00:15:58]:

You might need to rethink the lessons you’re teaching. That sometimes can be a problem when it comes to the behavior management. For some specific supplies, I also have rules set in place. A big one is with tape. And if you follow me on Instagram at Naomi Meredith, underscore, I talk about tape a lot because I think it’s actually really funny, and it is a weird thing that STEM teachers have in common. I’m very specific with tape. Tape is not a free-for-all. You get one foot of tape.

Naomi Meredith [00:16:31]:

I wrap it on a popsicle stick. I’ve also seen people put it on a ruler, and that is all the tape you get. And I do have part of the budget you could buy unlimited tape, but it’s, like, more than half of their budget. Most kids don’t actually buy that one. And so I’m very specific about the amount of tape. I am not very strict on glue sticks. They’re pretty cheap. I am actually trying to get more into glue sponges, and I’ve always seen it.

Naomi Meredith [00:16:59]:

I’ve never tried it, but I am actually going to test out glue sponges with some Makerspace clubs that I’m gonna be running in my community. And if you haven’t heard of glue sponges, I did ask my husband if he knew, but he teaches high school Spanish. He’s like, what are you talking about? So I don’t know. I just wanted to see if all teachers knew. But a glue sponge is you just have, like, a sandwich ziplock container, and you put a sponge in there, and you pour liquid glue on top. And when kids are wanting to glue pieces of paper and smaller things, you dab your paper on the sponge, and it gets it all sticky on the back, and then you paste it where you want it. This is an older technique. I’ve never done it, but I really wanna try it because the one thing that really bothers me about glue sticks is the kids won’t put the caps on.

Naomi Meredith [00:17:48]:

And so I’m gonna try it. I’m gonna let you know. Follow me on Instagram. I’ll let you know what I think about them in a STEM space, but, I actually don’t have any limit on glue. I just didn’t that wasn’t a battle I wanted to fight. With hot glue guns, depended on the year if I wanted to use hot glue guns. I like to use the lower temperature hot glue guns. One thing with that, sometimes they do get clogged over time, and it could be because you might have the wrong glue sticks.

Naomi Meredith [00:18:19]:

Some of the hot glue gun sticks are made for lower temperature. And so if you have a station for hot glue guns, I would use them 2nd through 5th grade. Make sure that the station is at waist height and they’re not on the ground because that can be a little bit of an issue. So I do have specific procedures in place for hot glue guns. I have some posters in my TBT shop you can grab. I think it’s Kelly Hogan. She actually has those in her classroom. She put them in frames, which I thought was such a cute idea to hang up posters.

Naomi Meredith [00:18:51]:

So, that is something I might do at a Makerspace, but, again, it depends on my budget, if I have enough money for the hot glue gun sticks, and, honestly, if I want to manage it or not, and it depends on the class. Usually, it’s just tape. If I’m feeling nice, we’ll do hot glue guns, but it’s not very often that we did. When it comes to the projects, I make sure that their projects are smaller, that they can fit in a grocery bag or a gallon size ziplock bag. A few exceptions to some projects like roller coasters, those are gonna be a little bit bigger. But I do make sure their projects are smaller because they’re gonna finish them a lot quicker. When you have limited time, you want the projects to be a little bit smaller, that’s definitely going to help. And then with that cleanup time, I have seen teachers have specific jobs where you need to do certain things.

Naomi Meredith [00:19:43]:

I don’t do that. Again, I didn’t like managing all of that, so I would say, okay. Here’s all the things you need to do to get cleaned up. When you’re cleaned up, you’re sitting at your clean table. When everybody was sitting down, I would walk around just to make sure everything’s good to go before they could line up. So it kinda maybe looked a little bit chaotic, but everybody is putting things away. Sometimes I would bribe them where whichever table’s clean up first, I’ll give you a prize, or you get some sort of incentive. So that can really help too just to make sure everybody’s doing what they’re supposed to do.

Naomi Meredith [00:20:16]:

With those projects, I would have them store them in those grocery bags or Ziploc bags, and I had those big fabric tubs and just binder clips their teacher’s name on it, and they would put all of their plans and their projects in that bucket. Then, I had a shelf in my classroom if anything needed to stand up. Those could be sitting on the shelf. At the very, very, very end of the unit, you can have students take a picture or take a video of their work. I loved using Seesaw for this purpose. So everybody gets to take it home, And then maybe one student can bring the project home, and if nobody wanted to bring the project home, I would actually have them destruct the project where any pieces that can be reused would actually go back in the Makerspace and have a new life. If you’re wondering about what kinds of lessons you should be teaching, then I have some ideas for you, and they are all standards aligned and things that my students have absolutely loved. I’m just gonna give you a snapshot of all of these, and most of them have a podcast episode where I go more into depth about every single lesson I teach for all the grades.

Naomi Meredith [00:21:22]:

So make sure to check that out, and, again, I have that playlist for you where those lessons are in there as well. One of the most fan favorites from my students and also a lot of you out there have actually written to me and say that yours you and your students really loved it is STEM survival camp. And so all of the challenges utilize things in nature and a little bit of Makerspace supplies to help solve different situations as if they were surviving in the wilderness and what inventions they could create to help solve their problems. So this one is super fun. This one’s really great for the beginning of the school year and also the end of the school year or any summer camps that you have coming up. I’m actually gonna be teaching some summer camps coming up here in my community, and STEM survival camp is one of the units that I’m actually gonna be teaching. And so that one is a really fun one. If you listen to episode 4, I tell you all about it.

Naomi Meredith [00:22:21]:

Another hidden treasure, which this one is really fun too, and I feel like it’s a little bit more unknown of my lessons. But once you do them, you’re gonna be obsessed. And this one is Earth’s engineers. So students are taking on different roles, different types of engineers, and different building challenges to help take care of the earth or understand earth’s processes. One of the most popular ones is the Rube Goldberg ecosystems where they have to show the chain reaction in that ecosystem. And that one was really, really fun, and it was cool that kids got to learn what a Rube Goldberg machine was. If you wanna hear more about that lesson, go check out episode 135. Another unit that was so funny, I actually stood this at the end of a school year and tested it out the last month of school, and most teachers wouldn’t do that, but I was crazy enough and I wanted to try it.

Naomi Meredith [00:23:16]:

And this is another theme called STEMMusement Park, and each grade level has a different challenge and a different part of the amusement park, and they are learning about different forces and motion that go along with their science standards. Now you could actually combine all their projects and have a science night, and they’re showcasing all of their lessons. We didn’t do that. I thought that would be really cool, but they are all different park designers and have to design that certain section. So that one’s a really fun one. And if you don’t have a lot of time for these types of challenges, but you still want to implement Makerspace, I do have some one day challenges that work really well. If you have one day with the kids, you need something a little bit more guided and you wanna make those connections, or maybe you’re doing STEM after school clubs, these are actually the units that I’m gonna be teaching coming up. And I have more add some changes.

Naomi Meredith [00:24:23]:

And, there are some things I know I want to put in these lessons, but these have all the one day challenges. I have all the supplies listed out and a little bit more guided, but still really fun. As a recap, we talked about those things to help you in your maker space where you can get all the things up and running. We talked about what to do for your systems, ways to handle behavior management, and a snapshot of different lessons that you can teach. As a reminder, I have free podcast playlist where my whole entire podcast is organized into categories. So if you wanna learn specifically about Makerspace and these lessons that I talked about, there is a whole playlist where everything is sorted for you. And it’s super cool because once you get the link, then it actually works just like a podcast. So it will pop into your podcast player.

Naomi Meredith [00:25:18]:

And anytime I update that playlist and, sort more episodes, it will pop up at automatically for you. So they’re not secret episodes. It’s everything in my show, but, again, it’s organized into categories, and I even created a spreadsheet where I put all of the timestamps of all the episodes. So if you need to keep track of professional development hours, all of this can count. And so I track that all for you, so you’re welcome to make a copy and figure out the time you need. Thank you for being here and hanging out with me, and I’m so excited for this series where we’re gonna talk about those systems, behavior, and lesson ideas for different topics in STEM. So make sure you join me in the next episode, where we’re going to be talking about 3D printing.