Invent an Insect - Day 3 - Week 4 (Mark Day School)

It’s the middle of the week and a good day for some fun, educational skits and a discussion about What is Tinkering and Why Do We Tinker. Our students had many insights to share from “It’s fun” to a list of relevent words like Design, Testing, Being Creative, Patience, Possibility, Self Awareness. And possibly my favorite answer: “It helps you discover new things you didn’t know.”

Also, this drawing by Oliver is not wrong:

We collaborators talk A LOT on the first day of camp. Fortunately for our tinkerers, the rest of the days are filled with building things bigger than ourselves.

And there’s a reason we adults (and junior collaborators) call ourselves “collaborators.” We’re right there in the mix with everyone:

Aydin, Mark Day School alum

Lilah, Mark Day School alum

Andrew, Mark Day School alum

David decided to count the number of chop saw cuts that tinkerers made today and they totaled over 300! That included angle cuts, too. And that wasn’t even the only saw we used today: band saw, scroll saw, circular saw, and sawzall. For each tool, we teach students to follow a series of steps to use it correctly and safely. Our tinkerers are always proud to raise their hand during circle time and share which new tool they used.

But circle time is for much more than that. Today, we spend the end of the day mentioning appreciations for others in our camp. It feels good to be appreciated and it feels good to explain how someone helped us.

For more photos from our week together, visit our Google Photos album.