Welcome to Cardboard City, says the sign to model Cloverdale – a community created from cardboard boxes and construction paper that nearly overtook Staci Hutchinson’s Grade 3 classroom at Don Christian Elementary.
“This is our city,” Hutchinson says, pointing out the various landmarks, arranged along streets and avenues outlined in masking tape on the floor.
There’s no rodeo fairgrounds or horse track. But there is a stadium and bus depot, movie theatre, skateboard park, hair salon and two high rise towers. Plenty of waterfront property and a full complement of emergency services – fire, ambulance and police departments – were also deemed essentials to the class of 20 students, who devoted a couple of weeks to their project.
The class was divided into four committees – one for architectural considerations, another in charge of engineering, a third to make decisions on housing and a fourth to consider the commercial side of things, with Hutchinson taking the role of government, overseeing and approving plans.
“They had to figure out the measurements of everything, where they were going to need roads, and where they were going to need bridges,” she says.
Desks were relocated to the hallway to make room for model Cloverdale. “We’ve had no desks for three weeks.”
Every step of the way, each student filled out the pages of a workbook with measurements, drawings and calculations and even journal entries, detailing their role in the project from start to finish.
“They learned how a community works, and in doing so, they also learned about teamwork, citizenship, how structures are made,” she says.