Mambrino fifth graders bring Granbury history to life | Students to construct cardboard replica of downtown square

Students at STEAM Academy at Mambrino are making history — literally.

Under the direction of Jennifer Bloodworth, STEAM coordinator and fifth grade teacher, approximately 120 fifth grade students will be building a replica of the Historic Downtown Square out of cardboard as part of Mambrino’s annual Global Cardboard Challenge.

“Right now, we're using the inquiry design process — that's our big way of learning,” Bloodworth said. “We still do all the same things that all the other schools do, like same TEKS, same standards, but we just weave it into more of an engineering standpoint. The Global Cardboard Challenge is about using your imagination and creating.”

Bloodworth said that many years ago, first grade students loved building a replica of the downtown square out of gingerbread, so she wanted to try to recreate that excitement in her fifth graders.

“I was like, ‘You know what, nobody has built the square in a really long time,' but our kids in fifth grade are working a lot on map skills and they're learning about where they are in relationship to everything else in the world, so I just thought that it would help them understand their own community a little bit better,” she said.

To prepare for the project, Bloodworth invited Lucas Daniels, geographic information systems analyst with the Fort Worth branch of the Army Corps of Engineers, to come speak with her students at Mambrino.

“He discussed the process of planning a building project such as this. Our students learned about his profession and important skills professionals use to work as a team,” she said.

On Oct. 7, Mambrino fifth graders took a field trip to the square so they could use the skills they learned about collaboration and planning to create a sketch of the section of the square that they would each be responsible for replicating.

During the field trip, Paula McDonald, local realtor and member of the Granbury ISD school board, talked with students about owning businesses on the square.

“When I was here in the 1970s, a lot of these buildings were boarded up, and they weren't in great shape, so to come back all these years later and start investing in the town that I love so much, it's so cool,” McDonald said. “We asked the kids, ‘How many of you have never been to the square before?’ It was about 20 of them who had never been here, and you don't think about that, so to be able to bring them here and help them understand the history, it's wonderful.”

McDonald also organized a meeting with Hood County Judge Ron Massingill, through which students were able to learn about citizenship and levels of authority in the community, which Bloodworth said is part of their social studies TEKS.

“It turned into being a really exciting experience for them, because they got so much more than just coming down here to sketch the building,” Bloodworth said. “When we get back to school, they will come together as a group and look at all their sketches, so we have multiple perspectives. They'll put it together, and then we'll put the whole square together for everybody to see. Everybody has a little part in it.”

Bloodworth said following the sketching that took place on Oct. 7, students will then use the inquiry design process to develop their portion of the replica of the square. Their work will then be showcased at Mambrino’s annual family night, STEAM Scream, on Tuesday, Oct. 25.

“Our students have learned so much more than just engineering,” Bloodworth added. “They are more aware of their local surroundings and the community networking opportunities in such a wonderful town.”