Eco-Cubby Project Coordinator Kelly Boucher visited students at Alphington Primary School to see how much they remembered from their 2009 Eco-Cubby journey. Now in year six, they were given a brief to design a cubby that would incorporate the ArtPlay tree. In an afternoon of fast and furious designing and making, the students came up with some fantastic concepts.
Here's an update written by Rosie from Alphington.
Our progress so far:
1. Survey Group
They have created the survey, which includes a section for other grades to put in their own ideas for the cubby and for suggested materials. They are starting to finish it up and then will take it around to every class so each grade can contribute their own ideas to the cubby.
2. Model Group
Everyone is making their own structured model of the Eco-Cubby. Their guidelines were to make it well structured, with good designs and to make sure it was strong. Almost everyone has followed those guidelines completely!
3. Master Design Group
They have got the measurements of the Eco-Cubby, the door will be 1.8 metres high and 1 metre wide. They also have to design the whole cubby so that it looks good and is safe to play in. Once their done they’ll show their final design to both grades and see what we think of it.
4. Publicity Group
They/We have been putting updates in the newsletter about the Eco-Cubby and have been writing updates for the Eco-Cubby site. We’re also taking photos of the site and the classroom during the time we do Eco-Cubby.
There are also other groups finding materials and checking out designs for the cubby.
some great models in the making
a bit of structural experimentation going on here
some of the Cubby gang!
Alphington Primary's Year 5 students are making good progress on their designs. I visited their class on the 6th May and found a large group of very enthusiastic students with their Eco-Cubby designing in full swing. (My visit just happened to coincide with crazy hair day and everyone looked superbly ridiculous!). In consultation with their Architect Andrew, the class has chosen a site and each student has come up with an individual design based on what they would like in their cubby. Working in groups there was fast and furious activity with each group allocating: Researchers (using the internet to find local materials suppliers), Master Planners (collating each group-members design into one master design), Reporters (documenting the morning’s activities using a digital camera as well as writing an article for the school newsletter). Students also went outside to make detailed measurements of the site and a final group experimented with making structures out of rolled newspaper.
The year 5’s are working on their Eco-Cubby every Wednesday for the rest of the term.
