Farmer City high school, elementary students team up, build bird houses

FARMER CITY, Ill. (WCIA) — Thanks to a PNC foundation grant, Blue Ridge Elementary Students got hands-on with their bird studies with help from industrial technology students from the Blue Ridge High School.

“It makes me think of  how we got to make projects when I was in elementary school,” said high school student Carmen Ellis.

Building with wooden blocks and power tools isn’t something you’d expect out of a second grade class.

“Hands-on learning is the best way to get kids engaged and this is an engaging project for all of our kids,” said second-grade teacher Charity Nadrozny.

Teachers hope to continue the collaboration for years to come.

“It reminds them to look at projects from the very beginning, all the way through the years, because they are prone to want to rush through it and get stuff done,” said Scott Tongate, industrial teacher.

Tongate added that it also brings out a softer side.

“Because you get them around little kids and they turn into a completely different person and that’s what’s fun to see,” Tongate said.

The grant covered the goggles, books and wood need for the bird houses.

“The next day we go back and we talk about the steps that it took to build the birdhouse, and then we integrate that into our writing.  It integrates well into math,” Nadrozny said.

Instruction from students in wood shop covered the rest.

“I like being able to show them how the different machinery works so that they can take home with them the experience that they gain from it,” Ellis said.

Painting and decorating the bird houses are the next steps for the second graders.

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