Special proejcts engage Trout Creek students

The K-8 school of Trout Creek had a busy spring with students attending the national Archery competition, as well as in-school activities. The sixth through eighth grade students have been busy working on a special woodworking project that began months ago. Rochelle Dickson's class has had the privilege of learning the art of woodworking from local toy maker Gayle Seekins. Seekins said he has worked with kids for over 30 years. He is retired and spends his time making toys to sell at events such as the Huckleberry Festival. The school asked him to help with this project with the students. Dickson, who came out of retirement to fill in for the rest of the school year, said she is very happy to have Seekins in her classroom.

The students spent months preparing and drawing up plans for a three-shelf bookcase. "First they learned drawing to scale and making mechanical drawings on graph paper," Seekins said. He said they learned how to draw the shelves from all angles. "The project teaches them math skills and learning about construction." They also had to derive a cut list for the cost of the materials and the amount and type of lumber used. Tom Wagler from Cabinet Mountain Cabinets bought the lumber from Studs Building and Home. Seekins' Toys donated screws and wood stains. "We had to scale back on the power tools used for safety reasons. But there are no nails used and the screw holes are capped for aesthetic purposes and quality," Seekins explained.

Students who were finishing their projects were pleased with their work. "Do it right or don't do it at all," eighth grader Wyatt Matthew said.

Students in grades 3-5 have been busy with their own spring project of bird watching. Principal Carolyn Nesbitt explained that she bought a camera for the bird feeder that is hanging outside of the classroom. The camera takes pictures of all the birds that land to feed. Two students wrote their explanations of the unit and what they have seen.

Louis Hannum, 4th Grade wrote: "My third, fourth and fifth grade class is studying the birds of Montana. Our class goes out to look at birds every day. We now have a bird house outside our window and we have a camera inside so we can watch the birds. Our class is doing a report on raptors, songbirds, and waterbirds. The birds I picked for my report are peregrine falcon, goldfinch and a blue heron. We also go every day outside and bird watch. That is what the third, fourth and fifth grade class is doing."

Silas Krick, 4th Grade wrote: "In school we are learning about birds. We are doing three bird reports. One is about raptors. Another is about songbirds, and the third one is about waterbirds. For my birds I am doing a Golden Eagle for my raptor, a Western Meadowlark for my songbird, and an American White Pelican for my waterbird. I love learning about birds. In school we have assignments about birds. Sometimes we go outside to look for birds. We look in forests and fields for birds. After we have been outside for fifteen minutes, we go inside and write on the whiteboard how many birds we have found. Learning about birds is fun."