Today, I got to meet three architects of Ms. Robin’s third-grade class at Taft Elementary: Aubree Schaff, Colette Caurthers, and Conlan Moore. They walked me through the two-week process of the planning and measuring of their houses using centimeters and diagrams to calculate how many graham crackers to use for the base, sides, and roofs. Next, they went through the construction phase where they learned if their calculations were solid or if they needed reinforcements and retrofitting to control candy slides, roof collapses or to increase the scale and move into second or third-floor additions.

Each architect was asked about their favorite aspect of their building. Aubree, calls her house, the “Gummy House” and her favorite part is “the gummy bears who keep watch on the roof and the snowman garden.”

Colette Caurthers did an incredible job of creating not just a house for her project but a castle! Her favorite part is “the birds that line the rooftops and have a nest to peek into.”

And last but not least, charismatic Conlan Moore showed me around his party palace with a guy who “is too tall so his head sticks out of the roof and the guy that is so big he broke the hammock.” His favorite part is his “very large snowman laying on the lawn.” He popped one of the snowmen’s fingers into his mouth. “It’s also really yummy! I guess I had to eat a bench, too!”

The artwork surrounding the classroom is also of their houses but done in Van Gogh’s Starry Night style.

Thanks for the treat of sharing your talents, Ms. Robin’s class!

Kristin Bigler, Communications Specialist