
July 6, 2017 · 0 Comments
By Jasen Obermeyer
Grade one students at Montgomery Village Public School have gained some architectural skills by creating a model of Orangeville, while also helping them gain a sense a community engagement and valuable life skills.
The year-end class project began after March break, and saw the 19 students working a little bit on it every day for over two months. The model is made up of 22 different cardboard sections of the town, or “squares.” Each student had their own square to create, while the whole class collaborated on the remaining three. The model is made up of material commonly found in a grade one classroom; from popsicle sticks, to paint, superglue, to cardboard and plasticine.
“As a class, we decided that all of our houses were going to be orange, all of our grocery stores were going to be green, all of our schools were going to be yellow,” explained Dan Booker, the grade one teacher. “We used Google Earth to give us an idea of what their square would look like,” while they used a Portable Document Format (PDF) of the town to design the grid.
Many of the town’s landmarks were created, including Island Lake, Headwaters Health Care Centre, the Fire Department, town hall, and the Tony Rose Memorial Sports Centre, while the finer details, such as individual houses, trees, roads, and rivers were added.
Mr. Booker said the project ties in with social studies and the school’s grandpals project, and gives students a sense of community consideration, to help make the town more age-friendly. “They’re not only thinking of themselves and the community, but ‘How can we make a community safe and fun for everyone?’ Not just themselves.”
He said some students got their parents to drive them to the location they worked on, to see what it looks like. “That was pretty great for them to have a awareness for what’s in their community.”
Mr. Booker said that although the project wasn’t geared for all students, they were excited when it was completed and got to see it in full. He said the students gained things that “will help them throughout their school career,” such as perseverance, thinking outside the box, being creative, along with independence, responsibility, and organization.
He added that they brought the model to Chartwell Montgomery Village retirement residence, where the students did their grandpals project, and the seniors were “kind of blown away that it was grade ones that had created it.”