today in the woodshop

Today, the 3rd and 4th grade students continued making rockets, lunar landers, rovers and a space station. It was fun and exciting. I doubt that many would understand the ways that making things enhances verbal skills. If a person had doubts, a few minutes in my Clear Spring School work shop, listening to kids explain what they need next would convince.

The 1st and 2nd grade students made boomerangs as part of their study of the continent of Australia. To make the boomerangs, the kids cut their designs from folded paper, so that when open it made the complete symmetrical shape. They traced the design on wood, so I could cut it out with the scroll saw. Next, they sanded the edges and we went out for test flights. Finally, the boomerangs became an art project through the use of colored markers.

Both of these projects involve development of spatial sense. In making rockets, the children plan how things will look and then have the challenge of making things do what they have imagined. Not always as easy as one might think. In making the boomerangs, the use of folded paper to form a symmetrical shape is also a tool that is specifically useful in the development of spatial sense. Just as in algebra, one side equals the other.

In the meantime, the spalted maple table top which I am finishing with Danish oil at left is one of the prettiest yet.