Wood Projects in the Classroom 3: Student Designs*

 Kids love to build.  I have Keva, Kinex, Lego, and Tinkertoy in my classroom, but the most popular building material in my class was this big bag of off cuts I had that were leftovers from my garage wood shop.  These off cuts were so, so popular.  

And they had to go.

Like any great (and failed) relationship, it started off slowly.  No one noticed the lumpy bag in the corner filled with dusty misshapen wood.  During Choice Time, students gravitated toward other centres and other building materials.  Then one day, this quiet kid noticed the lonely bag in the corner and took a chance on it.  He built a little ramp for cars, and shared it with the class during check in time.  The next day, a few kids joined him and all was right with the world.  

By the next week, all the building kids and a few other converts were right into the big blue bag.  I brought in another bag of off cuts that were cluttering up my garage, but it took no time for those to get grabbed up too.  And then the fighting began.

Some students hoarded and hid their favourite pieces.  They argued with each other and with me over the off cuts, especially when it was time to clean up.  It was loud, it was sloppy, but most of all, it was unpleasant.  My sharing, caring, cooperative community turned into greedy, suspicious hoarders.  I'd had enough, so I decided that the off cuts had to go.  

At a class meeting, I told my students the problem, and asked them why they didn't have the same problem with other building materials.  The students admitted that the off cuts were bigger so they could make really tall structures or long ramps, and because the off cuts were not all the same shape or same size (a la Keva or Lego) they could do some really unusual things with them.  We'd tried many group and individual problem solving strategies over the off cuts situation, but I decided it was time to end our relationship with the off cuts.  

The 3 Pieces of Wood Project

Instead of just taking the two big bags of off cuts home (I was trying to reduce the clutter in my garage, remember?), I tasked the students with a design project:  

• What could you make from 3 pieces of wood? 
• Design something that would not end up as garbage, but would HELP the world.

In turns, each student chose 3 pieces of wood (2 short and one long).  They designed their creation on paper, then they glued their pieces together.  I gave them demonstrations of what glued well (face to face works better than end to end, etc.).  Each student presented their creation and the rest of the class gave them feedback.

Student Designs

Student V

I designed a bookshelf.  I chose this design because my dad bought this other shelf, but he didn’t have the nails for it. This will help the world better by making more room for books!

Student T

I made a chicken decoration for my grandma and my grandpa.  

I used 3 pieces of wood. One looks like a chicken because I like chicken. The chicken is SO cute.

This makes me very happy. D thinks it’s cool too. A thinks it is really good.

Student I

I designed a small resting place for birds.

The way it works is you attach a string to it, hang it on a string to it, hang it on a branch, and then a bird comes along and sits on it. 

The way it will improve the world is by helping birds rest.

This makes me feel good. 

Student E

I designed a stuffy holder.

The way it works is I put my stuffies on the flat part.

It helps so my room is not filled with stuffies.

I enjoyed making this.

Student D

I designed two things in one:  you can put your pictures at the top and hang your coat on the bottom. 

This will make the world a better place because I always leave my jacket on the floor. Now I can hang it up. This will make my mom happy.

 I took it home and painted with acrylic paint because other materials did not have the exact colours. 

End Thoughts

It was awesome.  Students were very thoughtful about their designs, they gave feedback, the way they supported each other was amazing, they treated each other better, they learned a whole bunch of things, and I got rid of a bunch of garage clutter.

*The events described in this post happened last year before COVID.

T gives D some positive feedback on his Shark design.