A Pirate's Life - Day 1 - Week 3 - Mark Day School
We're imagining ourselves (or arrrselves) as pirates this week! We sailed into the day by sharing our goals for the week: collaborate and make friends, try harder than usual, build something bigger than ourselves, and make mistakes and learn from them. We also brainstormed a list of Group Agreements (you may have heard of the Golden Rule but were you also aware of the Platinum Rule? It says to "treat others the way they want to be treated.").
Then we got down to the business of learning to use tools properly during our Tool Training. Each student had an opportunity to practice using a chop saw, drill, and clamp. With these tools and our materials (primarily 2x3s and plywood but also hinges, pulleys, and wheels), I can't wait to see what we build by Friday!
It's great to see friendships already forming on the first day. Sometimes a "partner push" is needed to drive a screw; one person operates the drill while the other person helps to push down on the top of the drill. And one of our agreements is to ask "How can I help?" which immediately allows someone to tell us a specific action we can take such as "Could you hold this wood" or "Would you mind clamping these together?" We can build even bigger and grander when we work together.
A good part of this afternoon was spent designing the two builds for the week: a pirate ship and a pirate island hideaway. Students take the lead by sketching ideas, sharing their visions with the group, and then planning their "cut lists" for materials.
Building a bridge using clamps.
Testing the strength of the bridge.
Chop saw training after our "is everybody ready?" safety check.
Some students also learned to use the jig saw for cutting through plywood.
Drill training leads to student independence when connecting pieces of 2x3.
A partner hold (hand or foot) can be a help.
A student's design for a turtle-shaped pirate hideaway.
So many details (and labels) for a pirate ship... on wheels.