Building to Teach

The Building to Teach program, designed by the Alexandria Seaport Foundation under a grant from the Office of Naval Research, creates a hands-on learning environment in which 4th through 8th graders learn and reinforce math skills.

Using the Common Core Standards, the program offers students a range of activities supporting basic math skills, fractions, decimals, measurement, ratios, percents, problem solving, basic geometry, and algebra. The activities include exercises with paper and pencil, wooden blocks, framing squares, compasses, chalk lines, and straight edges. Some involve determining features of the students' environment.

The larger projects that tie the skills to a concrete result include building a Bevins Skiff, a cardstock model, a pinewood derby sailing model, or a radio controlled sailing model. The Bevins Skiff is a simple plywood row or sailboat and can be built either one time, or using a "renewable" kit, many times.

Wind & Oar instructors will meet with classroom teachers to design a lesson plan directed at specific goals. The program is designed to fit within existing curricula with construction of a boat taking as little as a week.

For more information, contact Peter Crim at: peter@windandoar.org