Flooded out, or learning how to adapt

Coming back to school from break to find a flooded woodshop was not the best way to start 2015. With some heavy rains the night before, the shop had about 2 inches of water. I was left without my tools and materials but what I still had was a full day of classes scheduled. Time to be flexible.

Kindergarten Walkie Talkies

Ah yes, the iconic Far Brook School Walkie Talkie Project™. Every Kindergartener at FBS works on this project as an introduction (or reintroduction) to the woodshop. The project is designed to expose the students to all of the tools they will be using in Kindergarten. They make great toys for dramatic play on the playground.

Exploring Calder

We are about two months into school and many projects are beginning to take form. The first grade class has been exploring the forces of gravity and how it affects their projects. Using Alexander Calder’s mobiles as inspiration, our students have been creating and balancing mobiles of their own.

Calder

The first grade chose their shapes and cut them out of wood. Once they finished cutting, rasping, sanding and painting, it was time to try and balance them using branches found around the campus. We used pipe cleaners to hang our parts together. I find that pipe cleaners work well for the young students because it is easily bent into shape and can be used to bind things together. It also works those pincher muscles that are so important for writing!

Mobile

The students had a great time creating their mobiles. There was a great deal of trial and error in getting them to balance. Many students went through several iterations and much experimentation before settling on their final placements. We are all looking forward to bringing them home and sharing our work with our families!

Back to school, back to school…

With school around the corner (open house tomorrow!), I find myself extremely excited about the new year. Each year is a new beginning for the Shop program and allows for expansion on the previous years. There are some interesting projects in store for the students this year and I am looking forward to sharing them with the Far Brook community!