Greens Farms Academy is a PreK-12, coed school in Westport, CT

The Lower School Big Build

The Lower School Big Build

Last week the Lower School students took part in their first Big Build STEAM project of the year. The GFA Dragon has been feeling lonely since homecoming, especially on the weekends when no one else is around. The goal? Create a friend for the GFA dragon! 

The idea was to create a STEAM project that would be accessible and engaging for all students, Pre-K through grade 4. Prior to the Big Build, students were shown a video of the Dragon walking around the school, clearly lonely and looking for friends to play with. The only guidelines were for students to work in groups to build new friends for the Dragon. It was an otherwise freeform project. 

The Lower School students made their way to the Coyle Gym to work on this project as an entire division. The countdown clock was set to 30 minutes, music played in the background, and students got to work, bringing their imagined creatures to life. 

In the weeks leading up to the project, teachers collected recycled materials that the students would use to build their creatures. Each group began with a select amount of materials, and were given the opportunity to visit the large pile in the center of the Coyle Gym to collect more materials.

The creation of friends for the GFA Dragon was the first in a series of Big Build STEAM projects in the Lower School. The students enjoyed getting to see that they are all capable of creating something out of nothing and look forward to the next Big Build!

Check out photos from the Big Build on our Flickr!