The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind - Extending Our Thinking


Building Windmills

Our library class time has been dedicated to thinking about how we can make our community better. (See my previous posts).  However, I was not done with The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind yet.  I was inspired by my colleague Alice Johnson to carry these ideas into our Makerspaces.

I planned to have students participate in the "Windmill Challenge" and build their own windmills with everyday materials. I knew that I needed some dedicated time (and recess would not do it).  I also knew that extra hands would be needed.  I invited students to join me after school for an hour and enlisted in Alice's help to recruit High School students to help us.  11 elementary school students and 3 high school student "coaches" together created windmills.  We had a great afternoon of building and cooperative learning.

Starting supplies


Students started with supplies and a video about how to create a pinwheel

Some groups stuck with the pinwheel idea


While others branched out



Groups that finished early used Roominate parts to create electric windmills


Our teams display their creations
What did we learn?

  • Sometimes our original ideas don't work - we need to tweak them and be flexible.
  • The answer is there, we just need to keep at it to find it.


Mancala


In William's village (The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind) the townspeople play Mancala.



We purchased sets with a grant we received from the Dedham Library Innovation Team (DLIT).  This unique organization supports town and school libraries and sponsors the One Book, One Town initiative.  Here, students play during "Open Library" (their recess).  Now students come and borrow these to use during their recess time, as "Open Library" is only offered once a week and they are completely hooked!

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