Makerspace on the Move

To say our Makerspace is beautiful would be an understatement.  Jill LaGrange, our art teacher, did an amazing job designing the space to make it both aesthetically pleasing and functional.  Our Building and Grounds department executed our plans and then some!  It really was a group effort and the result is amazing.

BUT…while it's called a MakerSPACE, you don't need a designated space to have a Makerspace. The only real criteria is a MAKER.  And if you're a teacher or parent, you have many makers right in front of your eyes.  The maker movement has no walls. “Making” is happening in our classrooms, in our hallways, and on our playgrounds.  While Summit’s Makerspace has created a safe place for students and teachers to explore their passions while also making strong curricular connections, the need to expand beyond the space and into the classroom is ever apparent. A maker space is not a space, it is an idea, a mindset, a revolution.  

The next grant we have written is designed around the creation of four mobile maker carts. The demand on the Makerspace by teachers and students has quickly exceeded the limits of scheduling and maker resources deployed in the space. Each cart will contain the building blocks for teachers to enrich their units and for students to expand on their learning.  To decide what was on each cart, a survey of classroom teachers and specialists was completed. We envision the four carts being a creativity cart, a technology cart, a math and science cart, and an engineering cart.

Some Makerspace cart inspiration...

Whether or not we are awarded our grant, we firmly believe that a Makerspace is not a space but a mindset. So if you are wanting to build a Makerspace but don't have the actual space, don't be discouraged. You can do it!