Meredith Oppenheimer and Erin Bulson’s Grade 4 class at Lenape Elementary completed a collaborative STEAM project that highlighted the new BRIDGES in mathematics, a program recently implemented at the elementary school level. The class designed a 3-D model playground. The students prototyped playground equipment and created blueprint models. They then brought their 3-D models to life with recyclables they collected from the recycling “ReUSE” center in New Paltz. 

Students developed skills like understanding of simple machines, researching and evaluating key playground features and safety through research and observation, working with scale and dimension, finding perimeter and area, cost analysis to determine an appropriate budget proposal, and applying their understanding of measurement, money, and geometry to solve problems. The children also practiced their prosody by creating environment and ecosystem poetry that will be presented to families soon. 

Many thanks to the Town of New Paltz for the collaboration!