Donaldson_Christine_BlogShare_Post#8
Blog Share of the Blog The Lego Librarian
For this blog post, I would like to share the blog, The Lego Librarian. My students always want to play with Legos, so I am always on the lookout for new ideas to incorporate Legos into my lessons. This blog jumped out to me as there were new ideas I discovered and some general library programming ideas as well.
The first post I want to talk about caught my attention is a blog about using Legos to reinforce story elements. I have been reinforcing story elements during my library lessons and the creative way the Lego Librarian approached this was fun. The lesson begins with the librarian asking the students what is wrong with this story. Once upon a time, the end. The students will make suggestions, and the story is adapted until they add the required story elements. The students are asked questions throughout the process and enjoy helping create a story. The Lego Librarian experience has been that students say the story created is not a good story, but they are reminded that a good story is not required, they were only asked what was wrong and to add all the necessary story elements. This is a very different way to show students the importance of story elements and that a missing element changes that story.
The Lego Librarian also posted a blog about creating a Lego comic. These are just three or four panel comics, but the idea is that the students must create a quite simple story line of setting, problem, and solution. This reinforces story elements but also allows for the students to create something a little different. The Lego Librarian likes to give fewer directions to see where the kids take the task. The photos on the blog really show how creative students can be. I could see having enough minifigures the only possible problem, but I know the students would really enjoy this especially if they can share the stories with the class or we could create a short movie of all the stories to share with many.
I really enjoyed the post that was created on symmetry. This is an interesting concept, and the older grades would not need to have the concept explained but they could take the task and create some really interesting things. The Lego Librarian also calls it a mirror challenge where the mirrored side contrasts with the other side but also has symmetry. The blog examples were interesting, and I think you could do this challenge a few times with a variety of results. There was also a suggestion in the blog of having students work in pairs with the students working at the same time to create the two sides of the challenge. This is a wonderful way for students to work on compromise and communication as they work together to create a mirrored construction.
The Carnival Games blog post was also fun. Students love to play games and there could be a creation day, and a playing day. I have done marble maze creations before, and I like the variety that carnival games offer. In one of the pictures, a Nerf gun was required to shoot some of the paddles off the game. Kids would have an exciting time problem solving the best way to create a game that is easy to set up after it is played. There are several skills used when students solve problems. Another great aspect of this post is the addition of the You Tube video that is also linked to help explain some of the challenges.
The Lego Librarian also referenced another blog titled Jbrary. I explored this blog briefly and have bookmarked it to explore more in the future. My brief exploration showed me many song suggestions for story times. It is great to have these suggestions organized by a theme that can be easily searched later. There are a ton of story time suggestions as well as lists of the authors favorite picture books by publication year. There are many You Tube Playlists that offer musical suggestions for story time and many videos of the Jbrary authors, Dana and Lindsey doing many of the suggested songs.
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Hi Christine!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the Lego Librarian blog with us! It sounded so interesting that I visited the blog myself so that I could learn even more about it. I have to admit that I am not a huge Lego builder, but I know that my other family members are. I think the idea of using Legos to create lessons is an amazing idea, especially for those tactile/kinesthetic learners. I found it interesting that you mentioned how this librarian does not give detailed instructions to his patrons to see where they will take the project themselves. As a teacher, I gave meticulous instructions to my students in the hopes of eliminating confusion. I did find, however, that many of them did not take the time to read or follow those instructions. In the future, I would like to try this librarian's way of letting the kiddos figure it out on their own. When I was perusing his blogs, I really enjoyed the ones that focused on using memes for library etiquette and rules. I think that this is an entertaining and informative way to reinforce the expected behavior in the library. Thanks again for sharing this blog with us! I really enjoyed it and learned a lot! Hope you have a great week!
Cameron Bongiorno
Christine,
ReplyDeleteMy students love to free play with Legos during our library centers. I love that this blog incorporated the use of Legos into the curriculum and gave them a goal for creation. Our second graders already do a carnival to incorporate the economics standards so I could see where the carnival Lego blog might could be incorporated into the unit they are already doing. I could see where having enough Legos might be a challenge, but it would be an awesome addition to the library. I like the fact that the teacher doesn't give them a lot of directions as to how to interpret the assignment but sees where the students take it. I also really enjoyed including Legos into the creation of story elements. What a great authentic assessment that could be. Thanks for sharing this blog! I will definitely be using it in the future!
~Erin
Hi Christine!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this blog. I am actually a big fan of LEGO building and it was neat to see the ways these could be used in library programming. There are a zillion different types of LEGO bricks and elements out there which means there are endless creative possibilities. I like the idea of asking kids to tell a story using LEGO bricks as it sparks their creativity in multiple ways. I've poked around this blog a bit and see so many cool ways to integrate these into libraries and classrooms. I especially liked how this librarian doesn't give a lot of directions and allows them to create without too many constraints. Sometimes this can go downhill quickly, but oftentimes it makes learning more fun, free, and longer lasting. Thanks for sharing!