Today in the woodshop at Clear Spring School, the 3rd and 4th grade students made models of the Solar System as part of their study of space.

The first and second grade students made toy cats. The cats weren't planned as part of an integrated curriculum. They were just a project that the students decided they wanted to do, and it is hard to say no to such enthusiasm. The cats were designed to be cut from a single block of 4 1/2 inch long 2 x 4. A tablesaw cut along one edge and a scroll saw cut forming the shape of the cat's head were made before class so that the legs and head could be liberated from the cat's body with two simple straight cuts.

Both of these projects have direct relevance to our children's needs for the development of spatial visualization, an important building block that will come into play when the students learn geometry and algebra.