The Garden City Telegram
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Real life lesson for Lakin students
Published 5/13/2009 in Local News : Education
By MONICA SPRINGER
Sixth-graders Junior Arreola, Jace Bemis and Ian Shelden sat on the floor of Home Depot Tuesday morning with a packet of papers, a pencil and a calculator in their hands.
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Laurie Sisk/Telegram — Brandon Heinitz, 12, parent volunteer Sherri Armstrong, Timothy Kiesel, 11 and Brandon Miller, 12, calculate their down payment on appliances on Tuesday morning at the Home Depot.
The three students were figuring out which latches and locks to buy for a fence. Some locks and latches could be opened only on one side of the fence. Those wouldn't do -- they wanted one that could be opened from both sides.
More than 50 students from Lakin went to Home Depot on Tuesday to take part in a project that sixth-grade teacher Wendy Hill calls Extreme Home Makeover. Earlier this month, students went to Hill's home in Lakin and took measurements to figure out how many materials she would need if she were to makeover her home. Then Tuesday, the students trekked to Home Depot to select materials for that home makeover.
Hill isn't renovating her house. Instead, she said the project is twofold: She wants her students to have employable skills, and she wants to answer the question, "When am I ever going to use this in the real world?"
"I want them to be responsible homeowners," Hill said. "They're also learning that it's cheaper to repair than replace."
The goal of the field trip was to figure out which material was the best buy for a home, Hill said. And the best buy doesn't necessarily mean the cheapest. Students had to figure in how long a product would last and if it was appropriate for weather in western Kansas.
For example, some pesticides are good for 90 days and others are only good for 30 days. Students also had to read the labels on flowers and bushes because spots of Hill's yard are full shade while others receive full sun.
Some students found that the materials they needed could cost less if they bought another material.
For example, Arreola, Bemis and Shelden, along with Tom Bachman, who teaches wood shop at Lakin High School and was a parent volunteer on the field trip, discovered they could save more than $100 by buying eight-foot posts for a fence instead of 16-foot posts and cutting them in half.
They saved $2.50 per post for 40 posts, Bachman said.
"I try to teach my high school kids this," Bachman said. "I try to tell them that math is all around them. Sometimes the best way to learn is practical application."
The students took turns on Tuesday rotating to 15 different stations. Each station centered around a home project: painting, yard care, kitchen counter tops, roofing, tiles, cement, appliances, sheds and others.
Sixth-graders Olivia Rosales, Briana Saenz and Aubrey Horton, along with parent volunteer Darla White, spent some time comparing tile prices. Self installation would cost less than having a floor installed, the students said.
"You have to pay for the people, too," Rosales said.
The students said they liked getting out of the classroom to learn skills they could use in their own lives. Bachman said they would learn more and learn more quickly because of the field trip.
"They can see, feel, and touch," Bachman said. "Hopefully it will stick with them. I see this as a great project."
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