Carmen-Ainsworth Students in Michigan Use Skills to Help Landscape the School

Carmen-Ainsworth Middle School students in Mr. Lichtenburg's class will be putting their math, science and job skills to the test when they're doing landscaping in the school courtyard.

Last year, Lichtenburg had kids cleaning up the grounds by planting grass and shrubs. The project is an effort to help kids have hands on learning experiences and to clean up the middle school to be a more enjoyable site for students.

Britney Williams, 14, knows all too well what this job is like. Her father owns his own construction company and she often goes along with him to help on job sites. She's used to physical labor such as shoveling driveways for 8 hours straight.

"I've had blisters from working hard, too," the eighth-grader says.

The project led by her teacher wasn't a new task for her, except that she had to sharpen her math skills a bit. This year, they're laying down paver bricks while using algebra skills to place them.

With the help of special education teacher and his para-pro teacher, Lichtenburg got the support of an outside landscaping company to come and lend his hand and show the kids how to do the landscaping. It wouldn't have been a success if it weren't for the parent club at the school, who gave most of the financial support. Last month, the students created a presentation to the parent club about what they would like to accomplish over the course of the project. On Monday, the kids gave a thorough update on what has been completed so far.

The process has given Lichtenburg a chance to apply what he teaches in the classroom to real life situations. While using math to lay the bricks, finding creatures in the soil helped them use their ecology skills.

During the job, business skills were taught. A presentation of how salary is determined for crews working and how bids for jobs are determined was shown.

Lichtenburg hopes that by teaching the students concepts of business and math, while doing a hands on project landscaping that they can go out in the real world and get jobs in this profession.

"So many of these students are doing such a great job. They would do very well in the areas of landscaping and construction," the middle school teacher says.

Jason Gonzalez, 13, says the project has definitely sparked an interest for him. Over the summer he helped dig an area for his grandpa to build a patio.

"It's a lot of fun and I'm learning a lot about jobs," he says while laying out bricks.