Other Projects

Make a Checker Board

The boys in the class might not want to make paper dolls, they can instead, make a checkers game, the instructions are below:

To make the board game, the children will need a large pizza box. Ask the children to bring in a box that the upper lid closes down over the bottom, if possible. A little research will be needed for the different pizza parlors in your area and the boxes they use. This particulat box is needed to make the handle hold the box shut. Also needed for the project, plastic 2 litter soda drink lids for game pieces, brown crafting paper, permanent black and red markers or crayons, glue, and a 10 inch by 1/2 inch strip of plastic milk jug for the handle and 2 or more 1& 1/2 inch brass plated fasteners that the two ends split and fold down.

Cover the top and bottom of the pizza box in brown crafting paper by placing the box on the paper and drawing around all four edges and then cutting to fit. If the box has been used for food, scrape as much as possible out and then line with the brown paper as well. The instructions to the game can then be down-loaded and glued to the inside of the box over the brown paper. With a pencil have the children draw a square all around the box, 1/2 inch in. Then have them draw lines about 1& 3/4 inches apart starting down from one of the outside lines. They will need 7 lines. Turn the box sideways and draw 7 seven more lines until 64 squares have been marked on the box. Each square should equal about 1 & 3/4 inches. This of course depends on the size box the children bring in. We used a 14 inch pizza box. Every other square starting with the first square on the first row, is colored black. The remaining squares in the row are colored red. The second row of squares are colored every other one, red, beginning with red and so on. The extra area around the box should be colored black. Plastic 2 litter soda drink lids make excellent game pieces. Have the children draw a simple crown on the under side with a black permanent marker for kings. Each child will need a total of 24 pieces. With permanent BLACK marker, have the children color the top of only 12 lids. The remaining pieces should remain RED. (Remember when a game piece has reached the opposite end of the board, it is then a "King" and can jump in all directions, the piece is then turned over to show the crown, so the children remember its importance.) The game pieces can be stored in the box.

A simple handle made of the plastic milk jug strip will hold the lid shut. Cut two 1/2 inch slits in the box about 3& 1/2 inches apart in the inside lower box edge, front section. The slits should be cut parallel to the end of the box and centered. (The teacher or parent helper should cut the slits using an exacto knife and make the holes for the fasteners). Fold in the two ends of the strips about 3 inches to crease them back out in the opposite direction. Slide the milk jug strips into the slits so the two folded ends can be placed flat to the inside of the box, folded out from the center. To hold them in place, make a tiny hole in the plastic strip and box and insert the brass plated fastener, separate the ends and fold the ends down. The top of the box can be cut out so the handle from the inner box bottom sticks through the upper lid to keep the box shut and makes a carrying handle. The children can put their names on the edges of the box and decorate the edges and other side as they like. A logging camp drawing would be nice for the side of the box not used for the game board or maybe the children could make up their own game there. If class time permits, let the children play a game of checkers just like the Peaviners did in their free time.

Make a Lumber Camp

Make a lumber camp mounted to the class room wall using shoes boxes for the houses, school, church, stables, commissary, office and other buildings all covered with appropriate colored construction paper, marked and titled for difference.

The train is made of two different sized boxes, starting with a large tubular shaped instant oatmeal box, save the lid, it will be glued on later. Use a smaller sized squared box glued to the oatmeal box for the engineers driving area. Cut out the bottom of the smaller box. Next shape the box so it fits over the oatmeal box. Curve the front and back by measuring the end of the oatmeal box and marking the smaller box where it will be cut out to curve over the oatmeal box. Glue to the oatmeal box even with the end of the oatmeal box, leaving enough room under the top box so it will lift up for the lid to be glued on later. Glue another piece of card board onto the top of the engineers box the same size only about 1& 1/2 inch to 2 inches longer so that it sticks out over the back of the engineers box. This will make the train look more like the Shay engine.

A plastic lid from a 100 ounce liquid detergent jug of Purex laundry cleaner makes a good boiler. We suggest using a bed of glue from a glue gun to hold the boiler in place, making sure that the open end is glued up. (WE DO NOT SUGGEST THAT CHILDREN USE GLUE GUNS.) For the train wheels, make them out of large, plastic peanut butter lids, two per side will be sufficiant. Find the center of the lid, make a small hole and attach them to the engine with brass fasteners. If smaller lids are used, the belly of the train may have to be cut out so it will set on the wheels. Make the bell mount next. Cut a strip of 1/2 inch plastic milk jug large enough to go over the bell and leave room for hanging. We suggest a length of about 8 inches. Find the center of the strip and cut two tiny notches on each side of the strip. These notches will hold the bell wire in place, later. The ends of the strip should be creased and connected to the train, close to the engineers box. Use brass fasteners to ensure that the bell mount is held in place. Using a black can of spray paint, spray the train, being sure to paint the oatmeal lid also, set aside.

For the bell, use a 22.5 ounce VO5 Shampoo bottle lid. Pop the lid off the shampoo container and remove the lift lid. The hole in the top is perfect for a wire with a fishing sinker attached for the clanger. Cut the wire a little longer then you think you will need. To keep the clanger from pulling up through the hole, use a piece of cardboard glued to the inside of the lid with a pin prick hole. The wire should be wrapped around a tiny piece of card board knotted under the pin prick where the hole is, so the wire is tight in the card board and can not pull out. After the glue has dried, the bell can be mounted to the dry train. Simply use the extra dinger wire to wrap around the mount's notches. (Little white paper nut cups covered with Aluminum foil can also be used as a bell. Glue at least two cups together for strength).

A close row of Brass fasteners running around the trains circumference also emulates rivets on the area between the engineers box and the nose of the train. After the fasteners have been added, stuff the box with waded up plastic shopping bags for extra strength and glue on the oatmeal box lid. Make a card board tab with a hole punched in the center to join the train together. It can be colored with either a black crayon or black marker, glue to the under-belly of the back of the train. The children can now make windows out of blue construction paper and glue them to the engineers box. The cow catcher on the front of the train, can be made out of card board folded and pointed. This will be a five sided object. The pointed side will be a 1/3 wider than the top. Both side will flare out slightly. The point will be 1/4 longer then the sides. Cut the board a little larger then you think you will need. Spray paint it, both front and back, with gold paint, let dry. Measure to the front of the train before gluing it on. Now is the time to trim it, if needed. Use a black marker to draw in the vent lines. The cow catcher will only be glued on the sides, only. Crease each side in about 1/2 inch by wrapping in up against a ruler. This crease will make a flat spot for the glue. Let the children use their imaginations for the trains extra decorations, the hoses, gears, pistons, train engineer etc...

The coal car is made of a shoe box, cut in half, with 2& 3/4 inch peanut butter lids for wheels. Mount it to the train with the open end next to the engine. Make coal out of small paper wads of black construction paper, glued together in the car. The flat cars can easily be made using the top of shoe boxes and 2 & 3/4 inch peanut butter lids as wheels, real sticks or tongue depressors can be glued to them to look like logs or lumber. The train and all the cars will need a cardboard tab glued to the back of each car with a paper punched hole in each small tab for joining the train together. Use black pipe cleaner stems to connect the cars. They will bend easily and allow the whole train to set evenly, on the floor.

For the water tower, use a round oatmeal box, with the open end cut down to size where the lid will go back on, set upon silts made of crafting sticks and paint gold or black or any color of your choice. We suggest putting the name of the logging company, that the children make-up, on the side of the water tower, with a black marker. For the Skidder use squared box with tooth paste box for the crane, Large peanut butter lids make the circular foundation for the skidder. Water flumes made of toothpaste boxes can be easily constructed by cutting one side of the box out, length wise, open slightly and mounting them to a toothpaste box frame, spray paint black. Decorate with tongue depressors attached for a lumber look. The paper dolls complete the village.

Using glue gun, mount the buildings to the wall on a large piece of paper. (Brown crafting paper or regular bulletin board paper can be used.) Cement the paper well, to the wall, if you can't use thumb nails. Most class rooms walls are made of cinder blocks, which are perfect for the glue gun. Creeks with trestles and train tracks can be drawn in between the buildings with marker or crayon. The class might want to mark where the building will be glued and draw the streams and tracks in before the paper is glued to the wall, as glue from a gun, makes for a bumpy marking pallet. The train can be set on a table in front of the wall, as in the base of the mountains, or if room permits, in the floor in front of the camp. If this project is completed the first half of the school year, the class could also sit the train under its Christmas tree, if they are permitted in your school district.

ANSWERS TO PEARL AND NELLIE RIDE THE PEAVINE

1. Pearl and Nellie lived in the Gethsemane Community of Greene County, Tennessee.

2. The little engine was called Shay.

3. The logging train traveled at a speed of eight miles per hour.

4. Nellie's hair was red.

5. Nellie was carrying her little blue speller and lunch pail.

6. The one room school house was named Sentelle's School.

7. Pearl was the older sister.

ANSWERS TO THE 3^RD AND 4^TH GRADE MATH PROBLEMS

1. 4 logs could be cut from one tree that was 64 feet long.

2. 20 men could cut down 10 trees with cross cut saws.

3. It took 1 hour and 30 minutes for the engine Shay's trip into Greeneville.

4. A Lumber Jack paid $12.60 per month to stay in the boarding house.

5. The train engineer made $31.40 more a month then the Lumber Jack.

6. The Lumber Jack worked 60 hours a week.

7. The Peavine logging company closed in 1918.

8. 4 mules could work a combined total of 48 years.

9. A Lumber Jack lost a total of 7 days a year to illness.

10. 18 puppy dogs lived happily in the Peavine lumber logging camp.

ANSWERS TO THE 6^TH GRADE MATH PROBLEMS

1. The land owner collected $78.00 dollars total, for his trees.

2. The tree was 80 feet tall.

3. There was 192 total feet of logs on one flat bed car.

4. It took 34 wheels to move the train.

5. The Engineer and Lumber Jack made a total of $2,224.00 dollars, for a year.

6. One man worked a total of 2,912 hours a year in the Peavine lumber camp.

7. The cook would have to make 2 pies to feed 6 men.

8. The teacher collected $3.38 from each child and $60.84 total from the children.

9. 82,400 trees were removed over an 8 year period.

10. It took 20 years for one tree to grow 30 feet tall.