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Fifth-grade students at F.E. Bellows Elementary School – who have been meticulously researching and studying bridge construction – collaborated with their peers to build their own original bridges out of newspapers and masking tape.

“Working together, working hard and learning are all part of a lifelong process that started when they were toddlers building with blocks,” said William McKeon, the library media specialist at the school, who spearheaded the project. “The main objective of the Bridge Building Project was to allow students to collaborate with each other within an academic framework.” 

The students were challenged to use no more than eight pounds of newspaper and between one and two rolls of masking tape to build their bridges, which were required to span an open area of 30 or more inches between two chairs and hold at least 100 pounds of weight. In addition, the students used their math skills to budget for materials and understand how geometry and structure-building are connected. 

“Planning for job choices, budgeting for materials and collaborating with partners makes bridge building a real-world exercise,” McKeon said.

McKeon said that many of the successful bridges incorporated tubular columns that supported the load. Fifth-graders Alejandro Cadarso, Ella Sperling and Ruby Williams, whose design successfully supported the required 100-pound weight, said they enjoyed working together. 

“It’s difficult to get the bridge to sustain a lot of weight on it, so you have to put all the pillars underneath in the right position,” said Sperling, who got to stand on top of the bridge for a few seconds. “We tried to design it so it’s even and nothing slides out. We made all of the columns the same size.”  

Kindergarten- through fifth-grade students at Daniel Warren and F.E. Bellows are spreading kindness and peace throughout their schools. They’ve been building a “tree of peace” and “tree of kindness” to encourage their peers and teachers to continue to be kind to each other. 

“Each day the tree becomes larger and increasingly colorful with individual messages of kindness, kind words and inspirational quotes to remind all who enter the building that kindness matters,” said art teacher Dara Goodman, who spearheaded the project. 

The “tree of peace” at Daniel Warren is located in the entranceway of the building, while the “tree of kindness” at F.E. Bellows is located near the main office. 

F.E. Bellows Elementary School fourth-graders, who have been studying about Native Americans and their culture, created mixed media artworks in Dara Goodman’s art classes to further deepen their understanding and knowledge of the topic.

“I always look for interdisciplinary lessons and found that connecting what they are learning in their classroom into what they are doing in the art room fosters a full-rounded and deep understanding of the culture and subject matter being discussed,” Goodman said. 

Throughout the lessons, the students learned more about the Native American way of life, stylistic choices and use of symbolism in their artwork before creating their own versions of Native American fish prints. Using templates for various fish shapes, each fourth-grader created two fish designs that incorporated stylistic lines, patterns and symbols found within Native American artwork. Then, they used scissors to cut out each design and strategically place it on a piece of paper to create the illusion of four fish swimming in and out of the paper. In addition, the students used paint and painting techniques to create a rippled watery background and a sense of movement in their artworks.  

“At the end of the lessons, each student has a mixed media artwork showcasing Native American fish swimming,” Goodman said. “By tying in a visual art project to this co-curricular learning, the memory and understanding of the people and their culture becomes that much more important and interesting to our young learners.”