This is one of only two rocket assembly pictures I was able to take. We were so busy during these 2 weeks that the camera was the last thing on our minds! Here we have a mix of "Thing-a-ma-Jiggers" and "Tri-Gliders" working hard on their kits!
Cutting and marking, folding and gluing! If you look in the lower right you can see one of the Thing-a-ma-Jig fin units assembled in the rocketeers hand.
And all that hard work pays off as he launches his first ever rocket!
A memory for a lifetime. Perfect boost, perfect deployment, perfect catch and not a mark on the model! And I would be willing to bet that 3 weeks ago, if you asked him, he would have said there was NO WAY he could build a rocket and make it fly!
Here's the whole group of Thing-a-ma-Jiggers and Tri-Gliders, as I called them in class.
I was very pleased with how well all of the Tri-Glide kits came out, as I am sure the kids were too! We lost many of the gliders, but I have assured them all that I will replace each and every one of them. THIS time! :)
This young man did an incredible job finishing his Thing-a-ma-Jig rocket, and is rightfully proud of it too!
A close-up shows some of the effort put into this paint job, all hand done. She flew as good as she looks too!
Tri-Glide away! Small field, small motor, goooooood glider...
Here goes another Tri-Glider, screaming into the air. We got great flights and glider deployment on each and every one!
Eye skyward as we all watch the results of the latest launch.
A Thing-a-ma-Jig and two Tri-Glide kits on the pad ready for launch. I love the black and red finishing of the Tri-Glide nearest the camera.
I had NO idea what to expect with this effort. These kids had never done anything like this before and I had never taught anything like this before. Oh sure, I've taught classes where I give the basics of cardboard boat building, but have never actually had people build their boats under my guidance. New experiences for all. We only had 2 weeks to build and paint, so there was no time for design. Rather I gave them 2 different designs to study last week with the expectation that they would pick one design to build. And then we began...
Basically I set up each table with a yard stick, pencil, box cutter, tube of adhesive, duct tape and good wishes... We split everybody up into teams of 3 and they were instructed to go to the pile of available cardboard and select ONE piece to begin their boat with.
I had shown them how to cut, score and fold cardboard and some neat tricks on making corners. I also explained how to size their boats for the team. Beyond that I was available for questions and I watched....
It really took VERY little time for the team members to discuss and then begin measuring and cutting.
Quicker than I would have imagined, the boats actually began to take shape.
Here, this team has figured out a neat trick that I forgot to mention to them, using duct tape as a brace to hold the boat shape until the glue has set. Very clever!
Working together, this team begins to form the corners of the back of their boat.
This team had a problem in that the cardboard the selected wasn't long enough. They cleverly designed a point for their boat with a nice long glue tab for extra strength!
Sometimes, only one person could perform the job needed due to cramped quarters.
But, all in all, everyone had a job to do and they did it well.
I also had some student helpers (sitting to the left) who were a God-send in helping keep the kids focused.
Looking good as they seal up some seams.
Six hands are better than two, my grandpa always said...
Let's test this puppy out!
Three jobs to do, three team members to do them!
Applying the finishing touches, this team needs to cap the front of their boat.
I was very pleased and more than a little surprised to discover that by the time the two hours were up, ALL 5 teams had completed the basic assembly of their boats!
Incredible!
Now to store them on the stage and let them sit until next week when we begin to paint!
We didn't have as much time for painting as I had wanted as we spent the first hour doing touch up on the construction and adding strength where needed (like double layering the floor). But everyone got at least one coat of paint on their boats!
We had to be extra careful today! Due to rain, we had to paint these boats in the gymnasium...
We had limited paint colors. Basically, yellow and orange followed by...
...off-white, egg-shell, light-tan and sand (basically all shades of "off white"...)
So the kids had to get creative and share paints!
With limited brushes, one or two team mates would paint while one relaxed and then they would switch off.
I am not positive, but I believe this team gets points for the biggest boat of the session!
This gives you a good look at our assembly line, as it were. 4 of the 5 boats can be seen here, in various stages of completeness.
As we finished up, I went around and took pictures of each team with their boat.
This team had the orange. I was a bit concerned about our limited color choice until I heard one team with the egg-shell comment "man, I'm glad we didn't get stuck with that orange" only to hear the team with the orange say "man, I'm glad we got the orange"... So everything worked out fine.
I think these kids were just thrilled to be doing such new and different things and I was proud to be the one bringing it to them!
It was decided that rather than have boring old "Team Numbers", we would have "exciting and creative names!" Here, I give you the Titanic!
I don't know what they called this one, but my vote is "Battle Ship"
We finished painting these but had to leave them in the gym until later that night so that they could dry before being put back into storage.
Now, in the process of this, the kids challenged me to build my own boat, BUT... ...I was restricted to the same building materials as they AND the same time limit of 2 hours to build and 2 hours to finish. I took that challenge and, as it turns out, we had student missing from the earlier session who showed up without a team to belong to, so he joined Team Flis! He will be my paddle partner next week when we set sail!
I didn't get any construction pictures, but got it to this point in about 75 minutes. The white you see is primer paint covering the duct tape. In our cardboard boat rules (same as the Library uses), you are allowed to use duct tape for SEAMS only. Paint has trouble sticking to duct tape so I am testing some primer (with the kids permission :)
Here I have begun to apply paint. I got two coats on the outside and one on the inside in about an hour.
Here she is with her base coat.
Here she is complete. I masked and applied orange paint up to the waterline, with an added trim of orange. In the back you can see the Boys & Girls club logo.
In the white space I added a decal reading "Boys & Girls Club of Greater Nashua"
She came out very well and I am looking forward to getting her wet later this week!