A Shelter for Mr. Whiskers and Lorraine



Mr. Whiskers and Lorraine



The message

As we began our NAP lesson on debris shelters, we constructed some "first graders" to sleep in the shelters in Hubbard Park for two weeks. The teams creating these "first graders" decide to name them "Mr. Whiskers" and "Lorraine". The class is hoping to build shelters that are protective enough to keep our first graders dry for a two week period in November. This presents quite a challenge.

 

All that is left is a stump.

On our way in to the park, we spotted the park caretaker and his crew in the middle of a tree removal project. They invited us to watch as the top of a dead tree is removed. The class is offered some "debris"( branches) to use for shelter building.On our way back from the park we got to see the stump that remains.

The class worked together to build cooperatively. At one point teams formed spontaneously to help load leaves onto partners arms. Aftert the shelter was complete, we did a water test to see if it would be waterproof. We learned that more layers were needed. We also learned that a debris shelter could protect a person who was lost and needed to overnight in the woods.Here are some images and videos of our debris shelter building.


Building the frame



Mr. Whiskers and Lorraine go in to the shelter. We'll check on them in 2 weeks.

Rowan,Mya and Molly made some videos of shelter building!