Author Archives: Shannon Langford

The purpose of this project is to: Design, construct and finish a personalized scroll saw box.

• Sketch preliminary design

• Technical drawing with dimensions, bill of materials

• Rough cut stock

• Prepare surface thickness

• Join and construct

• Scroll saw application

• Sand and finish

With some new additions to our shop lab, beginning wood students were given the chance to experiment on these keepsake boxes. Though small, the 8^th grade went through all the problem solving processes that one would on any level of production.

Surface planing, lamination, shaping, and detail scrollwork were just some of the processes they encountered. Sanding and finishing remained the least popular chore, but its significance was made evident as some of the projects that came to me for final inspection were returned to start the finish process back to the beginning! All in all the kids did a great job and the satisfaction of seeing the boxes take shape from paper to reality showed in the pride on their faces. Here are just a few examples.

The first grade students conducted the 2nd Annual Great Pumpkin Investigation on Halloween! We had a great time making predictions about the height, weight, and buoyancy of our pumpkins along with how many lines and seeds we thought our pumpkins had. We were surprised to find that our pumpkins had anywhere from 400 to 750 seeds in them; way more than our estimates!

We are studying the Earth System and its Spheres.  We started the unit off with a Peachy Model.  We cut a peach in half.  The skin was the crust of Earth.  The flesh was the mantle.  The pit was the core.    Our lesson review was making a model using ice cream, red hots, & Heath Shell Chocolate.  The red hot was the core, ice cream was the mantle, & the crust was the Heath Shell.  We learned that science can be fun and delicious.