Stafford, Davidson, and Harrison decided to take on a very large project, a house structure, during a recent Friday ICO.
The Lower Elementary students at FOA participate in Innovative Creative Opportunities (ICO) on Friday mornings. This special time is set aside to allow students to go through the creative process and the only requirements are that the project has to be meaningful and there has to be a final product. Students have access to many types of materials such as cardboard boxes, feathers, googly eyes, glue, paint, glitter, tape, you name it! At the end of every ICO period, the students share with the group about their project.
Stafford, Davidson, and Harrison, pictured on the right, took on the task of building a housing structure one Friday. When interviewed about their project by Ms. Jill, they explained where they found inspiration for the project and what they enjoyed about the project.
Stafford, Harrison, and Davidson: “Stafford got the idea from the TV show ‘Barnwood Builders’ where they tear down a barn and rebuild it with the same wood. They were building a tiny house. We used little and big sticks from the woods at Five Oaks. We stacked them like log cabins are stacked. We found a tree stump where a tree had fallen in the woods. We had to roll it down the bridge but it started rolling too fast so I had to put my foot out to stop it.”
Stafford: “The part I liked the best was taking some little sticks to build a shelf to put stuff on.”
Harrison: “I liked getting the log and making a really big chair in it.”
Davidson: “I liked the lounge chair that we made out of a log.”
ICO on Fridays is an exciting time to be in the Lower Elementary classrooms. Problem-solving, collaboration, conflict resolution, and going through the creative process are all skills practiced during Friday’s ICO time. Students take full advantage of this time to get truly creative and think outside the “literal” box.
