At Home Maker Challenges

 

Article featured in the Winter 2020 edition of The Viking, written by David Wollstadt.

"The VCS Library has been offering a series of At Home Maker Challenges during the three trimesters of 2019-20 to encourage students and families to have fun together working with free or recycled materials that they have at home. In October, families were invited to participate in the Storybook Pumpkin Challenge by decorating a pumpkin based on their favorite book character. Library Media Specialist, Martha Shannon, said about 20 families decorated pumpkins, which were put on display in the Library. Families were allowed to use anything they could find at home to decorate their pumpkin—paint, fur, fabric, string, pom poms, wiggly eyes, feathers, buttons—anything. And they did. 

On October 31, the pumpkins were displayed at the Student Council’s Hullabaloo, a Trunk or Treat activity for Halloween. People who came in for Trunk or Treat voted for the pumpkins they liked best from the primary, intermediate, and middle school grades, and the winners received prizes from the VCS Scholastic Book Fair. The winners were: Primary: Aislynn M grade 1, My Little Pony. Intermediate: Reed S grade 5, Harry Potter. • Middle School: tie between Hunter S grade 6, Chewbacca, and Adam C grade 6, Harry Potter and owl. 

During the holiday break, the Library sponsored the Snowman Disguise Challenge, in which a template of a snowman was sent home, and families were asked to help the snowman make it through the winter by disguising him or her as a character. By the end of January, a total of 25 families had sent in their snowmen. There were a variety of disguises, including a Veazie Viking, Thing 1 and Thing 2, Dr. Seuss’s Cat in the Hat, a Christmas Tree, and others. The snowmen were posted in the Library’s hallway window. 

Mrs. Shannon said she’s still working out the details of the Maker Challenge for the third trimester, which will probably be scheduled for April vacation. 'We want to get students and families thinking about what types of recycled materials they have at home that they can work with and connect to literacy,' she said. 'Most importantly, we want to encourage them to work as a family to do something fun—and then share it with others.'"