A great deal of planning took place. Once Ms. O'Neill had developed
the plan for the child-size installation, we needed to figure out where
to put it and how it would stand. The Architects helped us to develop the
idea to the point where Ms. Serota and Ms. O'Neill were able to designate
classes to certain tasks based upon the skills they had already acquired
in the art room. Mr. Amarnick's 4th grade class became the elders of our
community and their job was to plan with the architects that each class
after them would use to understand their part in the creation. They were
our leaders. The architects presented a lesson about elevations, plans,
structure, foundation and many other architectural concepts. From that
point forward the plans were implemented and the hut was built.
201, Mr. Ross' class, printed with sponges on brown craft paper to create
a texture that would represent bark. 203, Ms. Ross' class, worked in unison,
gluing the paper onto the tubes. A1, Ms. Petteway's class, and A2, Ms.
Weiss' class, created African Rain forest Animals. B5 Ms Williams' class
twined the tubes into panels of five. 206, Ms Schiff's class tied the panels
into a chain that was to be bent into a wall.
At this point, the architects came back in, and with the help of Mr.
Amarnick's class, brainstormed how to better create a tension that would
enable the tubes to stand and hold the roof up. The revisions were developed
through the brainstorming of new ideas based on the architectural concepts
they had learned in class. The production continued. 304, Ms. Temons' class
had experience sewing, so they stitched the burlap to heavy twine. They
succeeded in sharing a piece of twine and talking to each other about the
quality of the stitching.
The following day the architects came to the classroom to help us establish
a firm foundation. The revision resulted in the use of two steel circular
bands. Denise and here intern, Rachel, inserted in them in the top and
bottom of the tubes so that our "logs" would create tension.
Soon enough the roof was on and we were tying the strands of stitched
burlap together. Now that the hut was standing, we needed to create the
environment. B5 Ms. Williams class, A1 Ms. Petteway's class, and a few
students from Ms. Temons' class helped to create the various aspects of
the African surroundings. Ms. Petteway's kindergartners cut out some of
the leaves for the rain forest, based upon the reference sheets that they
had viewed. B5 put these leaves, and some of their own, together in a collage
which became the foliage of the trees. Two groups worked on this in a manner
in which they were responsible for discussing how their development of
a tree-scape. Another group of students formed the trunks to the trees.
They too needed to communicate about the bark was to look. Another group
worked on the designing of the sky, by partaking in an imagery exercise
before they began sponge printing their sky. They talked about foreshortening
and patterns among the clouds. Each group of students was taught about
how to help one another through observation and kind criticism.
Community was the key word. These students knew that they were depending upon each other to work their hardest, otherwise the hut would not stand. We discussed how when one class does not give their best effort, they let down the community and put the project in jeopardy.
Reflection on the development of our hut occurred each class the following week. The students were asked if they thought that they would actually have a hut that stood when they returned to the classroom. Those that said they believed that there would be one, felt that they could achieve such a feat if they used "teamwork". Those that did not believe realized that it was because "the community worked together and each did their part".
