Skip to main content

Legos in the Library


Last year I began to hear discussions about the adoption of the NGSS and saw a lot of chatter about using Legos to help teach young students about Engineering principles.  I saw the anxiety on the faces of some of my teachers as they tried to digest these new standards and new concepts, and thought, in addition to locating appropriate texts to support their lessons, it might be a good idea to be able to provide some Legos for checkout.  I knew it would crush my budget to buy Legos, so I put a request out on Facebook to see if anyone had any Legos they wanted to offload, and within about 10 minutes I had a MAJOR Lego donation.

I spent most of the remaining year trying to steal minutes and recruit kids to help me sort the Legos, but by the middle of the October this year, I realized it was just not going to happen, and that I needed to create some awareness that we had them available to use.  After a lot of thought and some Internet searching, I could see where something like a Lego table would be a great way to generate collaboration amongst students and create some excitement and awareness around this donated resource.  Of course, a "real" Lego table would be another budget crusher, so I knew it was time to get creative, and checkout Pinterest.  

Originally I had intended to go to a Goodwill and buy a coffee table to use in my conversion, but I had so much luck with the Lego donation, that I put another request out on Facebook to see if anyone had a coffee table they wanted to unload.  And just my luck, I had an offer of a chest style coffee table from one of my library volunteers - all I had to do was get a truck to move it!

I picked the coffee table up around Thanksgiving and used Thanksgiving break to convert it to our library Lego table.  The table is AWESOME, and after looking at it, I knew I was going to be able to use it ways that I had previously not imagined.  I love providing students with space to write and plan, and with a little chalkboard paint, I knew this table had just the space I needed to give students building and planning space.

Materials:
  • Chest style coffee table
  • Sandpaper
  • Primer
  • Valspar Chalkboard paint
  • Drop cloth
  • Sponge style paint brushes
  • Paint sticks
  • Paint trays
  • Strong, multi-surface adhesive like Gorilla Glue
  • Lego base plates - I used a generic brand I found through Amazon -just be sure you read the reviews to make sure they are actually compatible with the Lego brand.
Process:
  • Cover your floor with a drop cloth and get all your materials ready.
  • I first sanded out the rough spots on the table and wiped everything clean to make sure I got good coverage
  • I primed the entire surface of the table using a basic white primer.  Some people suggest using a tinted primer, and this may have helped with coverage of the chalkboard paint.

  • I then applied three layers of chalkboard paint to all but the area where the Legos would go. I was afraid the adhesive wouldn't stick to the chalkboard paint.

 
  • I wait at least 24 hours for the paint to set.
  • I then glued the base plates on using a strong adhesive.  I stacked encyclopedias on top of the base plates to help them adhere better during the drying phase.

  •  I waited three days before using the table - just to be super conservative:)
 I love the final product and the kids think it's awesome!
Our first collaborative project was to use it to build the setting of Because of Winn Dixie, which we just finished as our first 1 book, 1 school project.  The kids were able to leave notes for each other on the sides of the table and label things they were working on.

 For the most part it worked out really well. I reminded students that their job was to "Create Only" they weren't allowed to destroy anything another student had made although they were allowed to build onto something someone else did. I also explained that whatever we built was "Ours".  It didn't belong to one person, but we all had a responsibility to respect it.  They really understood that and showed a lot of cooperation and respect.  The overall impact was awesome.

I'm hoping to use this more for things like: 
  • Habitat creation/research
  • Stop action movies
  • Engineering challenges
  • Genius hour research projects
  • Teacher generated projects for NGSS
I think the more we use it, the more uses we'll find for it!

Do you have a Lego table in your library or classroom?  What do you use it for?  I would love to hear about it:)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Library Centers for Kindergarten & First Grade

Center Inspiration After much debate at the end of last school year, I was able to get 10 extra minutes added on to each of my classes for this year boosting class library time from 35 minutes a week to 45 minutes a week for my fixed schedule.  For me, 35 minutes a week, just wasn't enough to pack in all the awesomeness I wanted to achieve.  It seemed like we would just be getting started into something great when it was time to go. I was thrilled to know that this year I was going to have the extra time to work with my classes on research skills and technology projects while working in more time to allow them to browse the shelves and look at books.  That being said, truth be told, I was completely freaked out about what to do with my kindergartners for 45 minutes. Did I mention in my former life, I was a high school English teacher?  Four years ago, my first two weeks in an elementary library were a complete culture shock to me. I was used to walking into a room and just say
12 comments
Read more

Project Genre-fy the Fiction Section!

After a lot of thinking, I finally decided to take the leap this summer and move the fiction section of my elementary library from the traditional first-three-letters-of-the-last- name organization to a genre based organization. Now that the project is almost complete, I cannot wait to get the kids back in the library so I can show them! Deciding Factors There are many reasons individual teacher librarians might choose to genrefy their library.  For me, I was driven to start with the fiction section because I've noticed an alarming drop off in students checking out books by the time they get to fifth grade.  This drop off could be for any number of reasons: increased activities after school, loss of interest in the materials they see on the shelf, lack of time, or they could be overwhelmed by book after book organized by letter. I realized, too, that although my 3-5 graders don't ask for "funny" books or "animal" stories, they seem to get stuck on c
20 comments
Read more

Digital Interactive Notebooks: Getting Started

Post appeared also on FtEdTech It's no real secret that I love Digital Interactive Notebooks.  I create them every chance I get and encourage teachers to use them for everything from long term Project Based Learning (PBL) projects to weekly unit work with vocabulary .   The Interactive Notebook (INB) has long been a staple of the classroom to engage students more directly with their notes.  The traditional interactive notebook often includes traditional student notes, questions, and interactives that students cut, fold, color and paste into their notebooks. You might find graphic organizers, pockets with measuring tools, data charts, and foldables that act as study aides.  In the NSTA article " Science Interactive Notebooks in the Classroom " Jocelyn Young explains the benefits of INB when she shares that " By using notebooks, students model one of the most vital and enduring functions of scientists in all disciplines—recording information, figures, and data.
8 comments
Read more