From Staff Reports
This year, Vanguard Preparatory School’s Exploratory Industrial Arts class made abacuses and phonetic phones for each of the site’s kindergarten students. The class is taught by Eric Koester and is composed of 33 seventh and eighth grade students.
The students crafted a total of 110 abacuses, 110 phonetic phones and a large abacus for each teacher to use as a demonstration tool. The handmade gifts were presented to the kindergarten students and their teachers on May 20.
Koester explained the importance of allowing students to learn, while giving them the guidance and resources to create a project. He said his students were instructed to create a complete plan before diving into the physical work. Once a plan had been set, students were given the opportunity to cut, sand, file and drill the materials, as well as organize and assemble the pieces.
Koester said that the abacuses were built for less than $1 each and are usually sold in stores for about $6. He estimates that his class saved the campus about $500.
Although the school year ended May 29, the kindergarten students will have the opportunity to use the same tools in first grade. Last year, the Exploratory Industrial Arts class made 125 abacuses for the first grade classes.