A bustling construction site served as a classroom the morning of Sept. 16 when groups of fourth- and fifth-grade students at Lakewood Elementary School donned safety gear to observe the pouring of concrete as a real-life math problem.
The event was made possible through a partnership between American Modular Systems (AMS), Sausal Corporation and Lakewood school during the school’s renovation. Thanks to the passage of Measure G last November, Lakewood is currently seeing a $15 million renovation project that is overhauling the entire campus.
Using real blueprints from the project, AMS and Sausal worked with Lakewood staff and students to create the project. On Sept. 16, students estimated the amount and cost of the concrete to be poured that day, and presented their best guesses.
Their child-sized white construction helmets bobbled with excitement as they watched from a safe distance and recorded the event with classroom iPads. Afterward, students returned to their classrooms to compare their estimates to the real amount and cost, as project engineers would do.
“The whole idea was to take advantage of a rare opportunity where the kids could see real-life work taking place,” Sunnyvale School District chief operation officer Rob Smiley. “It’s kind of a rare side of my job because I’m more on the operational side, but it’s nice to get to bring what we do into the classroom as well.”
Top project engineering teams from the fourth- and fifth-grade classes had the opportunity to meet the real construction management team from Lakewood’s renovation and will be recognized for their applied mathematics in the real life context of building the new classrooms. On Oct. 1, the students will present their work.
“We’ve done everything from measuring perimeter and area and how much concrete is needed to be poured. We’ve made it quite the focus of school since school started,” fourth-grade teacher Heather Mumy said. “It’s been quite the wonderful experience for the kids to see the process and know that in a couple of weeks, we’re going to be living inside one of these buildings.”
Principal Pamela Cheng said launching the school year is pretty crazy on its own, particularly with the upper-grade teachers also learning a brand new math curriculum this year. But the fact that the staff was open to seizing this teaching opportunity speaks volumes about Lakewood teachers.
“I think that says a lot about the culture of the school and the dedication of the teachers we have here,” Cheng said. “It’s pretty amazing they’ll do a lot to try to get every opportunity for their kids to make learning really exciting.”
With the concrete foundation now in place, new state-of-the-art classrooms manufactured by Gen7 will be installed at Lakewood on Sept. 24.
“We’re just glad we were able to be a part of the community and be able to give these kids this great experience,” said Ericka Shoemaker, Gen7 Northern California business development manager. “I’m in construction. I love it, but most kids don’t get to see that. Making it accessible, making it real, just being able to bring hard hats and seeing their excitement, that’s what school should be about.
“We’re so privileged to be able to work with schools and be able to participate in stuff like this. We embrace it.”
