Ladybug Boat (photo in shop class), from left to right: Mamie Treadwell, Mary Elizabeth Hicks, Emma Murchison, Whit Higney and Hayes Naggar
Painting, left to right: Whit Higney, Hayes Naggar and Mary Elizabeth Hicks
Pictured, left to right: Hayes Naggar and Whit Higney
A group of fifth graders at The Bright School built a wooden rowboat they named “Ladybug” and tested it on a short trip along the Tennessee River.
Woodworking, or shop class, has been a part of the Bright curriculum for more than 100 years, and students in grades PK-5 alternate in shop or art during the year. Each grade works on certain individual projects to hone their skills. This project is the first wooden boat built by fifth graders. Last year, fourth graders built a boat after school.
The students, under the direction of shop teacher Richard Parks, spent 15 weeks from September 2022 to April 2023, measuring, cutting and sawing, sanding, hammering nails, gluing and painting as part of an after-school class.
Next year, a larger group of fifth graders will build a wooden boat during their math and shop classes. In several years, Bright will have a whole fleet of boats built by students.
“Of all the years I’ve been here, this is the most proud I’ve seen our students after completing a project they created,” said Mr. Parks, who has taught at Bright since 2014 and is a wood furniture maker in his spare time. Before Bright, he taught seventh grade math and eighth grade science.
The boat building project required students to use math and teamwork in a real setting.
“When you’re building boats, nothing is square. It is all ratios and angles. The students did all the measurements based on plan drawings for the boat,” Mr. Parks said. “And the project takes team building with two or more people to do an operation like measuring and cutting and holding and hammering.”
The students – Mamie Treadwell, Mary Elizabeth Hicks, Emma Murchison, Whit Higney and Hayes Naggar – were very enthusiastic from start to finish. They said the work was fun and not hard like they thought it might be. “I was expecting it to be serious, but we had so much fun,” said Mary Elizabeth. Emmie described watching the boat come together each week and looking at it each time in the workshop as “magical.”
They were somewhat surprised when the boat actually floated when put in the water. “We had a lot of faith in Mr. Parks, but we technically built the boat,” Mamie said. “We were not sure if the boat would be water tight,” added Hayes.
The students, Mr. Parks, art teacher Thankful Davis, and PK teacher Emily Hon took Ladybug along the river for a few miles, traveling around Williams Island. Ladybug is fairly small – she fits just two people comfortably.
“We were in the boat first,” said Whit and Hayes, who added rowing “is a lot harder than it looks!”