Demolition Begins!

The day has finally come. Demolition is about to begin. The kids didn't quite know what to expect, but they knew they were ready for it. All grades had been learning a song in Mr. Brickey's music class to sing at the big event. At 11:30, the kids start to line up.


It takes a while for 200 kids to walk through Old Colony to get to the rotary at Preble Circle. Then a little while longer to stop traffic so they can cross to the rotary's inner island to be a safe distance from the demo.

Make way for ducklings!




All kids assembled--kindergarteners in front, bigger kids in back--it's time to begin. Some of the 5th graders grab their tambourines and drums. The kindergartners stand so they can do the gestures they learned to go along with the song. The lyrics are perfect, from "Old house, tear it down!" to "New house, build it up!" although the rebuilding of this "house" won't start for months.



The song says one thing needed for tearing a house down is a "wrecking machine." There is a big one right across the street. After the kids finish singing, the excavator revs up. Its bucket slowly moves toward the building, hooks into a window where the glass had been removed, and takes a big bite.
It is an amazing sight!



"It looks like a Transformer is eating the house," says one first grader.

"Maybe the story is that it is trying to get some people out," says her friend.

Most kids hoot and cheer when the excavator keeps tearing chunks from the building. But some have a different reaction.




One fourth grader is upset because her apartment will come down in the next phase of renovation. When asked why he is crying, a second grader says, "It's the only memories my mother has of her birthplace."

"It looks like the building was getting old so they are knocking it down," says a boy nearby.

"That IS why they are doing it," answers another.

Old house, tear it down. New house, build it up.

It's Energy Week, Day 5

Our fourth and fifth graders will be studying different concepts of energy in their science curriculum throughout the year. Luckily their science teacher, Ms. Ripley Daniels, recently spent time in Japan on a Fulbright Fellowship to learn about "education for sustainable development", which includes notions of green living. Just as luckily, our students have a living laboratory right outside their classroom windows, where they can watch and talk to the people who are designing and building homes that will reduce Old Colony's energy footprint.

Ms. Ripley Daniels started the unit by asking her students to describe what they think energy is and where they think energy comes from. We'll be watching them learn much more about these questions all year long.

Remember, you can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Here are Jaymil's thoughts:



And Dario's ideas:



This is Christian's take on the matter:

It's Energy Week, Day 4

Our fourth and fifth graders will be studying different concepts of energy in their science curriculum throughout the year. Luckily their science teacher, Ms. Ripley Daniels, recently spent time in Japan on a Fulbright Fellowship to learn about "education for sustainable development", which includes notions of green living. Just as luckily, our students have a living laboratory right outside their classroom windows, where they can watch and talk to the people who are designing and building homes that will reduce Old Colony's energy footprint.

Ms. Ripley Daniels started the unit by asking her students to describe what they think energy is and where they think energy comes from. We'll be watching them learn much more about these questions all year long.

Remember, you can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Here are Sumeya's ideas:



These are Autumn's thoughts:

It's Energy Week, Day 3

Our fourth and fifth graders will be studying different concepts of energy in their science curriculum throughout the year. Luckily their science teacher, Ms. Ripley Daniels, recently spent time in Japan on a Fulbright Fellowship to learn about "education for sustainable development", which includes notions of green living. Just as luckily, our students have a living laboratory right outside their classroom windows, where they can watch and talk to the people who are designing and building homes that will reduce Old Colony's energy footprint.

Ms. Ripley Daniels started the unit by asking her students to describe what they think energy is and where they think energy comes from. We'll be watching them learn much more about these questions all year long.

Remember, you can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

This is what Matthew thinks:



Here are Najwah's ideas:

It's Energy Week, Day 2

Our fourth and fifth graders will be studying different concepts of energy in their science curriculum throughout the year. Luckily their science teacher, Ms. Ripley Daniels, recently spent time in Japan on a Fulbright Fellowship to learn about "education for sustainable development", which includes notions of green living. Just as luckily, our students have a living laboratory right outside their classroom windows, where they can watch and talk to the people who are designing and building homes that will reduce Old Colony's energy footprint.

Ms. Ripley Daniels started the unit by asking her students to describe what they think energy is and where they think energy comes from. We'll be watching them learn much more about these questions all year long.

Remember, you can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

This is Brianna's page:




Here are Al's ideas:

It's Energy Week, Day 1

Our fourth and fifth graders will be studying different concepts of energy in their science curriculum throughout the year. Luckily their science teacher, Ms. Ripley Daniels, recently spent time in Japan on a Fulbright Fellowship to learn about "education for sustainable development", which includes notions of green living. Just as luckily, our students have a living laboratory right outside their classroom windows, where they can watch and talk to the people who are designing and building homes that will reduce Old Colony's energy footprint.

Ms. Ripley Daniels started the unit by asking her students to describe what they think energy is and where they think energy comes from. We'll be watching them learn much more about these questions all year long.

Here's what Beatrice wrote:



This is Lyonceh's take on the matter:

It All Depends on Your Perspective

In art class, the fourth graders will be learning about perspective, how to make something look like it has three dimensions on a two-dimensional surface. The kids could draw boxes...but, what about buildings!?!

So even before Ms. Yazbeck, our art teacher, started to teach them about creating the illusion of depth and space, she took them outside to draw some of the buildings that will be demolished during Phase 1. Here are some of the results below (which you can click on to make bigger).

Later in the semester, we'll post some more of their drawings and see how the kids are doing with perspective. They will have to sketch some other buildings, though. The ones shown here will be gone.

Cameron's Move

A note from Susan Goodman:
I first met Cameron a few days before school began and learned that he lived in a building that would be torn down during Phase 1 of the renovation project. He told me that his family was the last one in the building. Everyone else had already moved out. There was no one to play with.

It's now a month later and we asked Cameron, a third grader, to write anything he wanted about the experience. He decided to write a little bit about what had happened, what is happening now, and what he wishes will happen soon.

Remember, you can click on Cameron's words to make them larger.

Tommy's Big Adventure

First-grader Tommy H. was out for a walk with teacher Nancy O'Malley. They were watching the fence being built around Phase 1 of Old Colony's renovation. Then they came upon the huge truck that had delivered sections of security fence. The driver was glad to meet Tommy.







He even let Tommy try out the driver's seat! Tommy said he would like to be a truck driver himself some day because the experience "was very, very, very, very, very, very good!"

(Tommy used six verys--no exaggeration!