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‘The funnest room’ at HRS

Students at Holy Redeemer School have a special room to create art and learn about science

Photo by Karin Elton Alayna Gruhot and Sydney Bauer make flowers out of construction paper in the Makers Space room Friday.

MARSHALL — Making a flower, making origami or making a robot follow orders. It’s all possible at Makers Space.

As of this fall, Holy Redeemer School has a dedicated room called a Makers Space, a place for kids to be creative and learn while having fun.

“You can make stuff, they’re playing with robots, origami, there are things you can build stuff with, use the marker board…,” said Alayna Gruhot. Gruhot is one of the fifth-graders who was using the room Friday morning.

Fifth-grade teacher Emily Welu said art teacher Ashley Honetschlager applied for and received a grant to buy the various art and science supplies.

“Some things were donated by parents,” said Welu.

Any grade can use the room.

“Any teacher can sign up and bring students K through eighth whenever they want,” she said.

Welu can’t wait for the next pieces of equipment that the school will add to the room — a 3-D printer, 10 new iPads to use for more robots and a desktop computer.

Students move from station to station as soon as they are finished with a project. The two most popular things to do in the room are the remote-controlled robot and the fuse beads, Welu said.

“They like that they can bring (an artwork) home,” she said.

Welu brings her students to the Makers Space every other week during STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) class.

“It helps kids be creative, to think outside the box,” she said. “Kids learn how to work as a team, use their communication skills…”

Jamison Louwagie and Casey Williams were making shapes with plastic-coated magnets and are big fans of the Makers Space.

“It’s the funnest room in the school,” said Williams.

At another table, Gruhot had already made a flower out of construction paper, but fashioned another one while explaining how to do it to Sydney Bauer.

“So what you do is you fold (the paper) in half and cut little strips,” said Gruhot. “It takes awhile.”

At another table, Welu helped a couple of students figure out how to make origami shapes. She read directions on how to fold paper into a particular shape. They started trying to create a giraffe, but gave up on that and made a fish instead.

At a nearby table Skyler Wyatt created a fishing pole out of a drinking straw, ribbon and a paper clip.

“I cut open a plastic straw and put a paper straw inside it and attached a ribbon and a paper clip,” she said. “It worked, too. I picked up her fish.”

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