After creating a plan to build a ramp and a bridge, Henry, Theo, and Bowe gathered the necessary lumber for construction. Many of the larger wood pieces chosen required collaboration as the boys maneuvered them through the front yard.
The first ramp and bridge went together quickly and without any major engineering challenges. The second bridge, however, was reaching out a greater distance than the first bridge had and after multiple attempts and multiple structure collapses, Henry and Theo recognized that the long bridge’s span would require additional support in the middle. Finding the right support provided an additional challenge.
Henry: (trying to fit a long thin board under the bridge first): Eh… it’s too… we need a smaller piece. I think it needs something to make it stabler.
Theo G.: (sliding a board): It doesn’t look stable.
Theo looks around at the different pieces of wood again and pulls out another board. He then uses this board to form a ramp at the end of the bridge. When the ramp is added, the bridge collapses again.
Theo G.: It wasn’t stable. It needs some wood on and some wood off.
Teacher Jess: Can we stack the boards?
Theo G.: No. If we roll things on them, they will get stuck if the wood is stacked (emphasizing the importance of having the wood pieces flush.)
Theo then carefully balanced both the bridge and the ramp on the same middle support.
Once the bridges and ramps were complete, Theo and Henry found small, round logs in the living garden to roll along the roadways they had worked so carefully to create. Because the wood pieces were flush where they were joined together, the logs rolled over smoothly. Bowe introduced beetles and caterpillar figurines that he found in the living garden. Bowe’s addition transformed the logs that Theo and Henry were using into pill bugs which the boys called “rollie-pollies.” -Teacher Jess