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Show Miniature houses at J. A. Taylor si " J iiiii:? :? :s l i tail. fAii ' :; r-imwwwmwiiitr . . . . . ;: ;i;: liisis! 'i :;; 1 By GARY R. BLODGETT CENTER VILLE One fifth-grade fifth-grade satellite class at J. A. Taylor Elementary School in Centerville will have one up on their classmates class-mates when it comes time to get married and settle down. Especially when it comes to building a new home. These fifth-graders fifth-graders have already finished their dream homes five of them of miniature size but complete to every ev-ery detail. They are students of Rhonda Seamons and they recently completed com-pleted construction of five miniature minia-ture houses each about four feet tall, three feet wide and 18 inches deep. They are finished to the minute mi-nute detail in more ways than one with each room built to a specific size and all the furniture carved and constructed proportionately. propor-tionately. "It's been a real good hands-on experience for these students," said Miss Seamons. "They worked as a team, about five or six to a team, and had to learn to compromise, com-promise, cooperate, be creative, ". be responsible, be exact and work together." Actually, the definitions of what the project has meant to them came from all the students. Arms went up in response to the question: "What has the housebuilding project pro-ject meant to you?" Rick Lewis said, "It teaches you to work hard;" Bryson Bennett said, "It taught me to be more patient"; pa-tient"; Becky Isom realized that it takes creativity to complete the project; and Jeff Bigelow added, "It taught all of us to be more creative." The winning team of housebuilders at J.A. Taylor Elementary School are Jacob Astill, Emily Christopulos, Jill Heslington, John Cutler, Rob Mitchell, and Lisa Baker. Rhonda Seamons' fifth grade class teamed up to build five miniature furnished houses, each to specifications. Aaron Christensen noted an added sense of responsibility ; Holly Hol-ly Lloyd said. "It teaches how to read blueprints"; Matt McConkie said, "Everything must be exact or it won't fit"; and Scott Mitchell and Susan Lawrence summed up everything with their comments that "It's a feeling of accomplishment accomplish-ment and it was a lot of fun." Miss Seamons emphasized that each house, although similar in many ways, is different. Each team created their own design, included special aspects in the house, and "drew up their own floor plans. "-One house has octagon win- . dows, another has an elevator from the first to the second floor, two houses have rooftop patios, another house has a side patio attached to the house, and still another is equipped with electricity. elec-tricity. After preliminary blueprints were completed, the prints were enlarged to full size patterns on butcher paper. The plans were then traced to wood and the actual construction con-struction was about to begin. Fathers of the students were asked to cut out the wood pieces but the students did all of the drilling drill-ing and screwing of the pieces together. Painting, carpeting and making of the doll-sized furniture were all done by the students. The girls even added a special touch of sewing and crocheting ' curtains, bedspreads, tablecloths, etc. "We began the project last October Octo-ber and spent about two hours per week so it took each team about 10 hours to complete their project," said Miss Seamons. "In addition to the fathers cutting out the wood pieces, mothers of the students also, helped in many ways." She said one house will be given to charity and the other four will be sold, probably to a family with which students were involved, and the proceeds will be used to help a needy family at Christmas. "However, some of the proceeds pro-ceeds from the sales will be used to finance an educational field trip for the students who participated in the project," said Miss Seamons. |