Welcome to Shop

Pre-K: I have the good fortune of visiting the Pre-K rooms to introduce the students to working with wood.  The main objectives of our class are to develop fine motor skills, present a logical sequence of steps required for a project, and to experience the gratification of successfully completing a project. The basic "mantra" for our class is to "make it better".  Our first class meeting involved getting acquainted with textures and a number system for identifying the coarseness of an abrasive material commonly none as sandpaper.  The students were given a piece of wood with their names printed in "bubble letters" that needed a good sanding.  We used some 100 Grit sandpaper affixed to a sanding block and with a little effort improved the way the wood felt when we rubbed our hands on it. When the name tags were smooth enough, the students decorated them with colored pencils.  With holes drilled in our name tags, the students measured and cut pieces of yarn 12" long and "threaded" the yarn through the hole.  The children used a 1/8" dowel to "poke" the yarn through the hole.  

     The Pre-K students are working on some wooden cut outs of a hand sign inspired by Chester the racoon in the story "The Kissing Hand".  The students are asked to examine their wooden pieces paying close attention to the edges.  We all agreed that the edges needed to be improved so we set about the task of "making them better." Remembering that sand paper has a number for a name, the children began sanding with 100 grit and then moved up to some 150 grit.  With a little effort, the rough edges felt much better so we were ready for the next step: Getting set up to apply a neat coat of paint.   

     Our last class meeting with Pre-K began with using a manual powered hand drill to drill 1/8" holes in a "stand" (block of wood) to place our projects on so we could paint them and let them dry.  As we know, "Nothing is simple" so we set about our task one step at a time.  The students each took turns turning the drill handle clockwise (while the instructor held the top of the drill steady)  to drill the desired hole and counterclockwise to remove the bit from the hole.  The children then used a small wooden mallet to drive a dowel into the hole and placed the "Kissing Hands" on the dowel.  Atlast, we were ready to apply a smooth, thin coat of water-based tempra paint on our projects. 

    The students began our last class meeting with an examination of the condition of the hands we painted in our previous class.  We discovered that when our first coat of paint had dried, the texture of our wooden pieces had a "scruffy" feel.  We resanded the rough areas with a fine grit of sandpaper and restored the desired smooth texture.  Some of our first coat of paint was removed by our sanding so we applied a second coat of paint and put our pieces away to dry.  

     The Pre-K students finished their "Kissing Hands" and were eagar to begin our process of improving a product on a new project. With the Teddy Bear picnic having occured in the not too distant past, some wooden cut outs of Teddy Bears were received by the students with great enthusiasm.  We went right to work sanding the rough edges, drilling holes in a stand to set the bears on while painting, and inspecting  our efforts in our quest to improve our pieces of wood.

Kindergarten: The kindergarteners are arriving to the woodshop with great enthusiasm and eager to go to work on a project.. Ofcourse we have to establish some basic safety rules and then endeavor to channel their energy toward a successful project.  Our basic mission is to improve the raw material we begin with by performing a series of steps in a logical sequence.  The kindergarteners first project is a name plate to reserve their cubby holes.  Our first step on the name plate is to examine the pieces of wood and take notice of the grain of the wood and the way the wood feels before we begin to work.  The students first used 100 Grit sandpaper and sanded the material rembering to rub the wood "with the grain".  With a little effort, the students found their name tags smoother and ready to decorate with colored pencils.

Our second class with the kindergardeners picked up where we left off with preparing a second piece of wood that our name tags will be attached to.  The students drilled a 1/8" hole in the center of a rectangle using a manual ("crank type") hand drill.  (The teacher holds the top of the drill while the students turn the handle clockwise to drill in and counterclockwise to easily remove the bit.)

    Our second project will be a wooden cut-out of each student's hand. First, each student's hand was traced on a piece of 1/4" plywood. Now, with a pattern of our hands, the teacher cut the images out using a band saw.  The children were quick to undertake the task of sanding the rough edges to a smooth texture and then began to decorate their hands with colored pencils.  

     The students spent part of our last class sanding and painting a stand for the wooden cut outs of their hands.    Preparing our projects for painting requires a little forethought and planning so we have a way to return  the projects to our cubby holes to dry. 

     The Kindergardeners have been to the Pumpkin Patch on a recent field trip so a wooden cut out of a pumpkin (soon to become a Jack-O-Lantern).  The students knew "just what to do" when the wooden pumpkins were passed out.  A good thorough sanding of the edges with some 100 grit sandpapers improve the texture of the edges greatly so we drilled some 1/8" holes in blocks of wood to fashion a stand to place our pumpkins on for painting.

     The Kindergardeners start each class eager to examine their projects from the previous class meeting.  Finding that the first coat of paint "raised the grain", the children go about the task of resanding and repainting.   Our most recent project are Tepees.  With the bulk of the time spent on preparation to paint our various objects, the students are hopefully learning the Five P's: Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance!   

1st Grade: The first graders arrived to the shop room for the fall semester with a great deal of energy and eagerness to get their hands on a project and go to work. We began our first class with a reminding the students of saftey rules, the importance of courteous behavior in a work place, and restoring our desk to a clean condition for the next class.
      Each 1st graders has their own cubby to keep our on going projects stored from week to week so we are beginning our project list with a wooden name plate.  The students first examine the wood and take note of the direction of the grain of the wood and of the texture of the wood.  After agreeing that we can improve the texture of the material by sanding ("scrubbing" in Kids' Speak), the students began the process with 100 Grit sandpaper. With a good effort, the students discovered the "before and after" examination revealed a marked improvement in the texture of the wood.  With an additional sanding with 180Grit, the students found the wooden pieces even smoother and that their effort had "made it better".

     The first graders have applied a neat, thin coat of waterbased polyurethane to their nameplates and put them away in their cubby holes to dry.  With time remaining in our class we began work on a pencil holder.  With a major unit in the first grade devoted to Africa, we all agreed that decorating our pencil holders with African animals would be an interesting and fun project. 

     The first graders began our last classmeeting with an examination of our previous weeks' efforts.  We discovered that our name plates had become a little rough again when our first coat of polyurethane dried.  The students found that a light sanding with a fine grade of sandpaper restored our wood to a smooth texture that we desired.  Another smooth, thin coat of polyurethane was applied and the pieces were returned to thier cubby holes to dry.  With a good portion of our class time remaining, the students found the first two components of their pencils holders in need of improvement in texture and appearance.  A good thourgh sanding  with a 100 Grit sanding block greatly improved the wooden pieces and the students were pleased with their efforts.  The next step in preparing to paint our wood was to set the pieces on a stand.  This step required drilling a hole with a 1/8" drill bit and setting the pieces on a matching size dowel. 

    The first graders have been putting forth a great effort in preparing the components of their African pencil holders.  The students have been sanding, placing their pieces on dowels for painting, resanding, and repainting various parts of their pencil holders in an effort to obtain a neat smooth appearance for each component before we attempt to assemble the pencil holder.

    The first grade pencil holders are taking shape and in various stages of completion.  We have interjected an exercise to practice driving nails.  The students have been nailing 5/8" brads into a block of wood with their initials outlined in dots.  Hopefully this will help when we begin to assemble our pencil holders with dowels, nails, and wood glue.  

     2nd Grade:  The second graders came to the shop room eager to claim a work bench for the fall semester and find their new 2nd grade cubby hole.  We found a desk for each student and reviewed our safety rules and the importance working together and treating our classmates with respect and good manners.
     The students found pieces of wood in their new cubby holes with their names on them that will be the makings of their name plates.  The students first felt the pieces of wood to examine the texture of the wood and observed the direction of the grain of the wood.  The children are reminded of the importance of sanding in the same direction of the grain of the wood.  We began our sanding with 100Grit and soon found our wood was beginning to feel better with a good effort. Our next sanding with 180Grit made our wood even nicer and ready for the next step: neatly decorating the names with colored pencils.

     With a  neat coat of water based polyurethane applied to our name plates, the students were eager to begin a new project with the time remaining in our class period.  The students began work on a ruler.  The tools we are using include sandpaper, a straight edge, a ruler (standard and metric). and a carpenter's square.  One side of the ruler represents inches and half-inches.  The other side of the ruler represents centimeters. 

     The second grade play inspired a wooded cut outs of sharks and dolphins that the students placed on a 1/8" dowel  and stand in order to apply a neat coat of paint.  Ofcourse, painting is the easy part, so the students eagerly undertook the necessary steps of sanding the edges with the proper sequence of sanding grits, preparing  a stand by drilling the 1/8" holes to recieve the matching dowel, and returning the dolphins and sharks to their cubby holes to dry.   

3rd Grade: The third graders came to the shop room for the fall semester eager build on the skills they have learned in previous grade levels.  The students that are new to Bright School will have no trouble fitting in and will soon feel comfortable in the shop room. Our first class meeting started with reviewing and explaining safety rules and expectations for our class.  The students selected a work desk, found each student's cubby hole, and began working on a name tag to reserve a the cubby spot for the fall semester.  The 3rd grades eagerly sanded the first components for their name tags with 100 Grit and then polished it up a bit with 180Grit.  We will pick up where we left off on our second classmeeting.

     The third graders found the pieces that had been polyurethaned the previous class were a little rough in texture after drying.  Woodworkers call this phenomenon "raising the grain".  The students found that a light sanding with a higher grit (220) quickly restored the smooth texture that is desired.  The third graders began to attach the components of their "name boxes" together with 1/8" wooden dowels that the students cut to length using a little jig to safely hold the dowels while the children use a "back saw" to cut the dowels. We drilled holes with a 1/8" drill bit in a drill press to make our assembly successful. 

     With our name plate boxes requiring less time each week, the third graders have begun another box that reviews  some of the same steps as our name plate boxes but incorporates a Bright School motif.  The students are exercising assembly techniques such as using dowels and nails as fasteners and carpenter's glue for the proper adhesive. 

     Our Bright School boxes that the third graders are working on consist of five parts.  The two ends with our logo painted by the students, the two sides with student made rulers, and the bottom piece that the students may decorate with a wide variety of ideas.   The assembly of the boxes requires 1/8" dowels, (cut to length by the students), 5/8"long nails, and carpenters' wood glue.  The rulers recieve three or more coats of polyurethane.  

4th Grade:   The fourth graders came to the shop room for the fall semester with plenty of energy and a willing attitude.  Our first classmeeting involved reviewing and explaining safety rules and class expectations. Soon the students selected a work desk and found their new fourth grade cubby holes.  The fourth graders were soon at the task of sanding the components for a name tag/box.  Some of the students applied a coat of water-based polyurethane to some of the pieces and put their stuff away for our next class meeting. 

     Our second classmeeting picked up where our first class ended.  The students were asked to examine their pieces of wood that recieved a coat of polyurethane the previous class.  We discovered that a phenomenon known as "raising the grain" had occurred.  With a light sanding with 220 grit, the wooden pieces were soon restored to the desired texture.  We began our assembly process by cutting 1/8" wooden dowels to length using a back saw to cut and a dowel "jig" to safely hold the dowels.  We drilled 1/8" holes using a drill press and assembled our components by driving the dowels into matching holes with a small mallet or hammer.  An addition coat of polyurethane was applied to the boxes and put away to dry.  

     The fourth graders have been making good progress on a "desk set box" with a Tennessee motif.  The construction of the box requires cutting framing strips to length using a miter box and a backsaw.  Attaching the frame work to the front side of the box requires careful assembly using dowels , wood glue, and nails.  The front of the box has a regional map of the state of Tennessee with the eight states that border Tennessee.  

     The fourth graders are beginning to prepare the components of the Bright School Santas.  This project requires two coats( and in some cases three coats)  of paint on each of the six parts required.  A light sanding between coats of paint is required to obtain a satisfactory finish.  The students discover that each coat improves the appearance of the pieces if a good effort is put forth.

5th Grade:The fifth graders are beginning the fall semester with great enthusiasm and eager to go to work.  Our cubby hole markers for the 5th graders is a replica of a "desk set" name plate that the students decorated in a style the of the students choosing.  The main objective of this project is the process of inspecting the quality and texture of the previous weeks' coat of polyurethane and the refining the finish in preperation for the next coat of "poly",  Our goal is to obtain a smooth, gloss finish with a minimum of 3 coats of water based polyurethane.
     When the students put away their name tags, they went right to work cutting pieces of 3/4"X3/4" pieces of wood that will be the beginning of a coin bank.  The students use miter boxes to hold the stock and carefully measure the proper linear length and cut the wood using a backsaw. 

     The 5th graders are making very good progress on their coin banks.  After cutting the 3/4"X3/4" stock to the required length, the students attach the pieces around the perimeter of a 5 1/2"X 8 1/2" X 3/4" piece of spruce.  To fasten the pieces even with the edge we first drill 1/8" holes and drive dowels (the students cut to the required length) into the underlying layer.  We also apply a thin coat of wood glue and drive in a couple  of #3 nails to hold the pieces in place.  We are creating a cavity that will be 4" X 7" X 1 1/2".  

    With another classmeeting in our 6 day schedule having occurred, the fifth graders have made steady progress with the construction of their coinbanks.  The students have cut to length a total of 50 linear inches of the 3/4" stock (discribed in the previous paragraph) and constructed a cavity (also mentioned above) and applied the formula to determine Volume (Length X Width X Depth) and our answer in Cubic Units.  The students also recieved 1" X 1" X 1" oak cube and a 1cm. X 1cm. X 1 cm. cube of  oak or red cedar. 

     The fifth graders are at various stages of construction on their coin banks with most of the students progressing to the point of decorating the exterior.  The students secured the top layer of the banks using dowels, finish nails, and wood glue.  The finish nails are set using a nail set and filling the holes with some "home made " wood putty consisting of wood glue and fine sawdust from the band saw.  

     With our coin banks in various stages of construction, the fifth graders that wish to make a Bright School Santa are dividing their class time with work on both projects.  The Santas consist of six parts that need two (and in some cases three) coats of paint before we begin the assembly process.  Each part requires a light sanding between coats of paint with a fine grade of sandpaper.  The students discover that each coat of paint improves the appearance of project if the proper effort is applied.