A new program is taking place at Minnewaska Area Elementary School this year to teach students necessary life skills including critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration on tasks and projects, communication, technology literacy, leadership and social skills. 

“Our school’s mission is to create learning opportunities that will engage every student, every day. Keeping that mission in mind, we wanted to grow more hands-on opportunities for Minnewaska Elementary students to be creative during the school day using our core curriculum and developing those soft skills,” said second grade teacher at MAES Jennifer Erickson. 

Using professional development time this past summer, MAES teachers Megan Greene, Jennifer Erickson and Mary Johnsrud, developed the idea of Wonder Wednesdays. “Principal Scott Lempka and the Building Leadership team gave the green light to move forward with our idea, so we kicked off Wonder Wednesdays the 2nd week of school this year,” she added. 

One day per week, on Wednesdays, the library now becomes a Makerspace: a place that offers new opportunities for students to collaborate, learn through play, problem solve, build, investigate and produce while using available technology and other resources. “Deidre Williams, Elementary Media Center assistant, graciously agreed to set up the materials each Wednesday so classroom teachers can simply bring their students to explore the space. All students in grades Kindergarten through 3rd grade are able to participate,” said Erickson. 

This month, students at Minnewaska Elementary had the opportunity to choose from 6 different hands-on stations that included building with different manipulatives such as LEGOS and Keva planks, creating books, exploring the OSMO technology tool and in months to come new technology tools will be added such as robots for students to practice coding. 

The OSMO technology tool allows students to create and problem solve with various fun activities on a tablet. The device attaches to your tablet and can see and react to actions in front of the screen, instantly. 

Students will also be given specific STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) challenges that provide opportunities to practice teamwork and develop grit. “We’re especially excited that we’ve been able to order several MakeDo cardboard construction kits that gives students the chance to transform cardboard boxes into new creations,” Johnsrud mentioned. 

“We’re looking forward to growing this program by adding additional technology tools and hands-on materials to our Wonder Wednesday offerings. For example, we’d love to add a button maker so students can design their own buttons,” added Greene. 

Greene has experienced Makerspaces in other countries such as Korea and the United Arab Emirates and has been excited to bring the same opportunities to our school for students to experience. “We’re going to continue to dream about the possibilities and have some really exciting ideas for how we can further expand the offerings in our Makerspace so that we can help each child grow their curiosities and love of learning,” she noted. 

“Feedback from students so far has been very positive and they have all been very motivated to participate in this amazing experience!” reported Erickson.