Forest Hills — “What would you like delivered?” 5-year-old Sadie Allor asked a visitor to her class.
After learning that the item to be transported was a purse, Sadie turned to consider the five available carts to determine which one was best suited for the delivery.
Sadie and her junior kindergarten classmates have created their own business, JK Deliveries, offering their services to staff at Knapp Forest Elementary School.
“It’s to help people,” explained student Scarlett Stanton.
For about the past four weeks, the young entrepreneurs have been learning about wheels and axles, said Beth Ewing, who along with Lana Nauta teaches the junior kindergarten program at Knapp Forest Elementary.
The unit is part of the Great First Eight curriculum, which the district adopted this year for all of its new junior kindergarten programs.
“The goal of junior kindergarten is to introduce students to school,” said Ewing. “This curriculum emphasizes hands-on, project-based learning where children also learn about community.”
The lesson on wheels and axles integrates science, technology, engineering and math. The students were given a problem, such as how to deliver items. From there, they came up with one solution: delivery carts.
Working in small groups and using materials donated by parents, they designed and built delivery carts out of boxes and even a plastic file holder. Their wheels and axles were crafted from foam tubes, Tinker Toys, and old lawn mower wheels.
“What amazes me is that they even learned how to attach an axle to an object,” said Nauta, pointing out the black tape that secured one axle to a box.
To complete their vehicles, the students made pull ropes from string and chenille wire. Once their carts were ready, the class then turned their project into a business.
How It Works
With help from librarian Lisa Doctor, junior kindergartners produced a commercial to promote JK Deliveries. Delivery requests are placed in blue mailboxes located outside each classroom, and Ewing said they’ve been receiving two to three requests per day.
“Once there was a ring that was found, and we had to deliver it to the lost and found,” said student Remi Miller.
Other deliveries have included papers, a spatula for the kitchen and even a cake for the teachers’ lounge. Each delivery team includes one cart puller and one or two pit crew members.
“We have to have a pit crew in case the wheel falls off,” explained Silas Gibbons.
The students also discovered how ramps affect their carts: Going down made the cart want to get in front of them, and going up, it stayed behind.
The students noted they got plenty of thank-yous, thumbs-ups and even a few hugs for their work.
Ewing said the unit also gave them an opportunity to learn about their school as they delivered the items.
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