It’s that time of the month again—time to reveal the recipient of our $500 EdTech grant! To close out the first calendar year of our grant program, which has been tremendously successful in our eyes, we’ve decided to give December’s award to Mary Ledford, a librarian from Harvest Elementary School in Saline, Michigan. Like so many of our applicants, Mary is planning a very unique project with her new technology and, like a true librarian, she is finding a way to combine hands-on learning with reading. Reading Month across the country is coming up in March, so she is planning a pretty cool project and her award from our grant program is going to help make it possible!
To celebrate Reading Month, which is coming up in March, Mary is in the process of planning a pretty unique initiative with her students. Like a true entrepreneur, she is drawing on the food truck phenomenon and using that model to introduce her students to diverse groups of books. During their month-long ‘Food Truck Festival,’ her students will be “serving” books from their school library that all fit within a common theme.
“Before Reading Month begins, I would like to spend February preparing for this event by holding some makerspace time for students to create their “Food Truck menus” out of their favorite books,” Mary said.
Before they start choosing which books to put inside their trucks, Mary is planning to give them some real MakerEd time to work together, build, paint, and decorate a truck to hold the books they want to showcase. She has also ordered a bunch of new books for her library that better reflect the population of the school, promoting the celebration of diversity as a focal point. They should arrive just after the new year begins and be in the library in plenty of time for the building phase of her project!
“So many times, when teachers think of makerspaces, they think of small projects or things that can easily fit on a table,” Mary said. “The thought of taking large pieces of cardboard boxes and redesigning them into cargo van-like trucks is much more exciting to me.”
We’d have to agree with her there!
Mary is focused on encouraging her students to collaborate, think critically, and creatively design their “food trucks” while keeping her makerspace connected to the school’s curriculum—something that she knows is important.
“Makerspace activities don’t always have to be isolated,” she said. “I think by sharing our project throughout our district and on social media, other educators will be able to start to see the wonderful connection that can be made between making and literature.”
Ultimately, Mary wants to use her grant award to highlight books and their diversity in a way that is fun for both her and her students. She wants her students to be able to see representations of themselves in literature and include parents in their learning to show them that they are understanding and respecting the cultural differences present in their school community. With the new books she’s ordered, Mary’s students should have no trouble finding some that tie in with their unique backgrounds and that’s something she believes will bring everybody closer together.
So, what is Mary going to be getting for new technology? She opted to go a little bit low-tech and more maker-focused, which is very ingenious and creative! With her monetary award from our grant program, Mary is going to be purchasing two MakeDo ToolSet 360 kits from our store. Her students are going to use these sets of plastic tools, including screws, nails, and more to help build their trucks and hold the cardboard together—another incredibly creative idea!
“I was drawn to the MakeDo set because they are very safe and sturdy,” Mary said. “Plus, they are a perfect alternative to tape, box cutters, and using scissors in the makerspace.”
To keep up to date with the progress of Mary’s project, be sure to follow us on Twitter! She can also be followed on Instagram for more updates. If you would like to apply for our EdTech grant award for the month of January, the new application is now available and will be open until Jan. 20. Good luck!