LEARNING THROUGH CONSTRUCTION

“Under normal circumstances, having a construction site in the middle of a JK-12 campus might present more challenges than opportunities; but our teachers have enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to turn this into a learning experience for our students,” shared Middle School Principal Brooke Morgan. Teachers and students in all three divisions and in multiple content areas have been able to extend their classroom walls by stepping outside and into the building construction.

reflecting on the kindergarten construction day, teacher Ms. Courtney Broocks shared, “I hope the students remember this day throughout all their years at Charlotte Christian. When they are middle schoolers sitting in their classrooms, they can think back to the day in kindergarten where they saw how the structure was built from the ground up and celebrated by becoming little engineers themselves.”

All middle school science students visited the construction site

and were challenged to think like a scientist using their five senses to observe, infer and make predictions. Throughout their observations, students were encouraged to reflect on the fact that all human beings are made in God’s image; made to love, to have intelligence and to be creative. Students were able to see how every person involved in the design and construction process is using their gifts and attributes to contribute to the building project. The project and safety supervisors shared about the many possible occupations in the construction trade.

Middle school engineering students learned from the site supervisors about basic structural engineering concepts such as the use of triangles to provide strength and reinforcement in design and construction. As part of their study on the concept of design, upper school digital media students asked questions about architectural drawings and the process of turning those drawings into an actual structure. Architects and designers showed students different steps in the design process, reinforcing why design concepts are so important in engineering from beginning to end.

Creative media classes in middle school took photos of the construction site from different angles, focusing on photography skills and composition. Photographers learned and practiced how to edit photos to enhance and improve the original shots

In lower school, kindergartners put on their hard hats and visited the construction site where they could ask the craft workers questions about what they saw. Afterwards they spent the day pretending to be engineers and builders: following plans and building from imagination usings LEGOS and blocks and trying to create a structure that could stand up with “beams,” (toothpicks) and “putty,” marshmallows. When

they took. Students selected a favorite photo and using Apple’s Procreate on their iPad, used different brushes, layering and effects to turn that photo into a piece of digital art.

In middle school Art 3, artists created drawings that focused on the people and the details of the construction site. Katie Joe, grade 8, chose to draw a portrait from memory of one of the craft workers she had seen on campus. Several weeks later she saw him again and was able to share with him what she drew. Katie said of her experience, “It was fun to meet the person I drew! I appreciate his hard work to build our new Middle School Building.”

The upper school Digital Photography classes applied the techniques of choosing composition and adjusting shutter speed and depth of field to capture images of the new Middle School Building. Students were inspired by focusing on the grid of the beams, the sky over the open construction and the workers who were busy in many different places around the structure. Ms. Karen Liebner, digital photography and middle school Art 3 teacher, shared about the opportunity of learning through construction, “As we have observed the construction over the past few months, we have been reminded of the many believers as members in the body of Christ - equipped and working in unity with different gift sets and building together.” Construction began on the new Charlotte Christian Middle School Building in June of 2021 and the building is on schedule to be completed and open for the 2022-23 school year. “God has been so good to our school community and we are anxious to step into the new building next year. But in the meantime, our talented teachers will continue to maximize the gift that we have been given this school year, a front-row seat to an exciting new learning experience. What a blessing it is to serve your students in creative ways as we look forward to the opportunities the new building will provide,” Mrs. Morgan shared.

Drawing by Eighth Grader Claire Lucado

Drawing by Eighth Grader Elle Truax