Birch Grove Elementary Students Learn To Design Longboards
An Osseo Area Schools elementary school class is giving some students a hands-on look at the trades. Urban Boatbuilders, in a partnership with Birch Grove School for the Arts, is finalizing its 30-hour project teaching fifth graders how to build their own longboards.
Urban Boatbuilders, despite its name, teaches kids other crafts besides boat building. For some schools, like Birch Grove, longboards are the perfect lesson. Program coordinator Brianna Oseland said this partnership gives kids a chance to try the woodworking trade early on.
Birch Grove is a school for the arts, so these kids are well-practiced in thinking creatively.
“Get that experience of working together in a team, in a hands-on project that is artistic and located within the trades,” Oseland said.
Breck School junior and senior volunteers are partnered with a handful of fifth graders to build the boards of their own. The project gave students plenty of time to get a hang of the power tools. After supervising a number of classes, Oseland knows the drill.
Students have worked in partnerships since January to build longboards.
“At first, I see the hesitancy in their eyes when they see a tool for the first time — especially students who’ve never picked up a power tool,” Oseland said.
The students’ confidence was on full display in their final session. Sue Ready, a clerical education support professional, said their progress is impressive.
“They’ve shaped it on their own,” she said. “They designed this by themselves. That, to me, was amazing to see.”
Likewise — in essential art school fashion — each board is decorated with a unique design. The ideas for each design came from the students who crafted it.
“It’s a volcano exploding candy,” said Breck School student Annalise. She designed the board with Thomas, a 5th grader.
Getting Outside
The 5th graders get to take the boards home when they’re complete. They finished up production on Wednesday by screwing on the wheels.
Mackenzie, another Breck student, finalized the board alongside her 5th grade partner.
“I like to do a lot of woodworking with my dad in the summer,” she said. “This is right up my alley.”
A student tests their longboard.
The final session in April allowed kids to wrap up and then test out their handiwork. Once the wheels were secure, kids practiced riding the longboards on the playground.
Ready said the purpose goes outside the classroom.
“They get to expand it into having a longboard and being able to keep it forever, and get to actually utilize it — that’s amazing to me,” Ready said.
Urban Boatbuilders partners with a number of groups to teach kids woodworking skills.
