A detailed model built by Ridgefield fifth graders for a proposed Blue Heron Water Park.
Students at Sunset Ridge Intermediate School recently completed a project that asked them to address a difficult question: how do we maintain the things we love most about Ridgefield as we grow?
The fifth graders looked at three different areas: businesses, parks and recreation and preservation.
Each student selected an issue in one of those areas and did extensive research to learn more. After researching, the students created and presented their projects within the curriculum of Project Based Learning (PBL). Fifth-graders presented ideas such as a Ridgefield community pool, a water park and a permanent farmers’ market.
Sunset Ridge Principal Todd Graves said in a press release that PBL is an important part of the Sunset Ridge curriculum. Every year students answer a question that impacts the community. “We identify something local. That has an impact on the community, and give a few different topics for the kids to explore,” Graves said. “What they do is amazing.”
The Ridgefield Parks board has even invited some of the students to present their work to the board.
“That’s exactly the kind of interaction we want to see,” Graves said. “If you do things like that, the kids will realize their voice actually matters.”
