Distance learning due to COVID-19 couldn\u2019t get in the way of this year\u2019s fifth grade class contribution to the annual \u201cPeace Path\u201d project for the EMES playground, a sizable structure perfect for climbing outside and imaginative play inside. The \u201cPeace Path\u201d includes structures for outdoor play made by fifth grade groups over the past several years as a culminating year-end activity.<\/p>\n
Cooperative design of the \u201cfort\u201d \u2014 its current name, but up for discussion \u2014 took place in the final six weeks of school under the leadership of peacebuilding teacher, Gini Trotter<\/a>. \u201cStudents are still deliberating on whether \u2018fort\u2019 is the right word,\u201d she said, noting that \u201cyurt\u201d and \u201cgazebo\u201d have been discussed as well.<\/p>\n Tyler Kauffman, EMS dad and facilities maintenance coordinator, and Dexter Beyer, groundskeeper and transportation coordinator, designed and constructed the project with help from Kendal Bauman<\/a>, EMS dad and EMES PE teacher, pictured above. Volunteers contributed 108 hours of time on the project. See a time lapse video<\/a> of the construction.<\/p>\n Cedar lumber for the project\u2019s roof was donated by Willow Run Custom Lumber, Inc<\/a>., a nearby mill. Planks came from salvaged lumber that had been donated for the bridge<\/a>, which was built to connect the upper and lower campus buildings.<\/p>\n The fifth grade students \u2014 now rising sixth graders \u2014 sign up two at a time to help work on the project with parent helpers and physical distancing in practice.<\/p>\n A cooperative group project which results in something the whole school can enjoy is part of 5th grade peacebuilding curriculum each year.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Distance learning due to COVID-19 couldn\u2019t get in the way of this year\u2019s fifth grade class contribution to the annual \u201cPeace Path\u201d project for the EMES playground, a sizable structure perfect for climbing outside and imaginative play inside. The \u201cPeace Path\u201d includes structures for outdoor play made by fifth grade groups over the past several\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":29374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[353,40,135,83,66,144],"class_list":["post-29360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-covid-19","tag-elementary","tag-emes","tag-experiential-learning","tag-pe","tag-peacebuilding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29360"}],"curies":[{"name":"gracias","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}