Murphy - About 30 makers showed their treats, crafts and other projects at The Learning Center’s School Maker Faire on Thursday. It was the fifth year the charter has hosted a School Maker Faire, which are mini versions of citywide Maker Faires.
The Learning Center’s event combines the works of both student tinkerers and community makers. The event fits perfectly with the school’s hands-on learning approach, and this year more than two-thirds of the projects were by students.
“Our students always get engaged and excited about this,” Head of School Ryan Bender said.
Some students worked individually or in small teams, while others worked together on classroom-wide projects, like the third grade’s maze of solar system art that even took visitors into the sun.
In his first year planning the event, Bender decided to utilize more of the classroom space. He said that ended up being a good idea with rainy weather.
In one classroom, second-grader Colton Senger was showing the traditional volcano experiment with a twist. Instead of placing baking soda in first, then pouring in vinegar, he was filling the volcano with vinegar, then dunking a perforated PVC pipe filled with baking soda into the volcano.
He said he first did the project the traditional way last year, but noticed the baking soda would settle in the bottom, with much of it getting wasted.
Other classrooms showed projects students did on the solar system, geometric cities and biography bottles.
Makers in the gym included sixth-graders Elisha Dockery and Kaiden Millsaps selling bug spray they made. Millsaps had the
idea the boys work on a project for the School Maker Faire, while Dockery came up with the idea of what to make.
“My granny is an herbalist,” Dockery said.
“It’s getting close to summer, and they can use it over the summer. And I don’t like bugs.”
He said it was fun participating in the maker faire for the first time, but it was sometimes confusing and stressful making change for those who paid with large bills.
It was also the Nantahala Regional Library’s first time at the event. Youth services librarian Bridget Wilson was encouraged by library Director Franklin Shook – who previously worked at the charter school – to bring Lego bricks to the event. She demonstrated one of the activities she leads children in at library Lego events.
“I’m enjoying it,” Wilson said.
Library seeks
auction items
Andrews – The Andrews Public Library needs items for its silent auction, which was scheduled for Saturday, March 28, and has now been postponed.
The auction raises funds each year for the Friends of the Library scholarship. Library co-manager Kelly Bryant said they would like to raise at least $1,000 to be able to give out a scholarship in that amount.
So far, the library has received about 20 donations of gift cards, gift baskets and artwork. Last year was the auction’s biggest year with 50 items.
The library plans to reschedule the auction to a later date. For details, call 321-5956.
Samantha Sinclair is the Scouting Around columnist for the Cherokee Scout. You can reach her by phone, 837-5122, Ext. 24; or email, scoutingaround@cherokee-scout.com.