Wayne Trail Elementary Blog: First WT Maker Day

January 8, 2018

Maker Day at Wayne Trail Elementary

When students returned from Winter Break on January 4, they were engaged in their first ever "Maker Day!" It was actually scheduled for a Thursday and Friday two-day event, but due to weather conditions, school was canceled on Friday. Nonetheless, one-day was enough to get a taste of our S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) curriculum approach to provide students hands-on and creative learning opportunities. We received supplies from parent donations the whole month of December and still bought other items to add increased challenges. The title of "The Great Arctic Circle STEM Challenge" was fitting with the weather and provided students a very relevant approach to learning. We kicked off the day with an assembly explaining the "Why" we are setting aside a whole day for a Maker Day and to set a foundation for how we would be following the Engineering Design Process (pictured below) to complete the challenges. To create a buzz in the air, I passed out marshmallows as students entered the assembly because marshmallows is what one challenge called for as a resource. We also rewarded our winter break reading winners at the assembly to start with excitement and praise! Following the 15-minute assembly, students returned to class to choose a challenge, form into groups and start to establish jobs/group roles. The rest of this day will be depicted through the pictures below with captions. Overall, it was a fun and successful way to start the second semester with learning and getting students to think outside of the box.