Yesterday in wood shop...

My students in first, second and third grades were to make habitat boards for tiny rock animals they have made. In wood shop they were to build home settings for them. I supplied plywood boards and offered a lot of materials for them to consume. They wanted a more concrete starting place, and it was not until I got involved making houses from cut off 2 x 4's that all got into full gear.  In cutting roof shapes, small triangles were formed. "Who wants bushes?" I asked. The small triangle blocks were in great demand, as were the small houses. I made lots of both.

To make trees we used a Veritas dowel former to shape the ends of sticks to fit 3/8 in. holes we drilled in their plywood boards. We will work on these habitats on Wednesday as well.

"Man is a Tool-using Animal. Weak in himself, and of small stature, he stands on a basis, at most for the flattest-soled, of some half square foot, insecurely enough; has to straddle out his legs, lest the very wind supplant him. Feeblest of bipeds! Three quintals are a crushing load for him; the steer of the meadow tosses him aloft, like a waste rag. Nevertheless he can use Tools, can devise Tools: with these the granite mountain melts into light dust before him; sea are his smooth highway, winds and fire his unwarying steeds. Nowhere do you find him without Tools; without Tools he is nothing, with Tools he is all." –– Thomas Carlyle

Even in a thing so simple as in holding a hammer, one can feel a change in self. Tools and their skilled use actually shift perception and identity. Guns are like that but on steroids. If people have no capacity to create, they may be drawn to the darkest side.

An interesting point in relation to the shooting in Las Vegas is how the tools we hold shape who we are. They say it is too soon after the shooting to talk about gun control. They say that would show dis-respect to those who mourn. How about right now talking about Columbine, Sandy Hook, Chicago,  Austin, and all those other places that have suffered so. If we indeed wait for all the mourning to cease, there will be no end of it. Capiche?

Make, fix, create, and assist others in learning lifewise.