LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. — Lee's Summit, Missouri, R7 school district launched its Diploma Plus initiative in 2021 as a way to incorporate career exploration into the district curriculum.
One of the programs under the initiative is the "Build Zone" program, which launched this year. The program aims to interest kids in a career path like engineering. One idea Jeff Buckner thought would get kids potentially interested in the path was to get them to learn how to build birdhouses.
Buckner, LSR7’s engineering and industrial tech department chair and curriculum specialist, says he came up with the idea for the birdhouse Build Zone during a conversation with district superintendent David Buck.
In the program, Buckner and a group of volunteers bring out a trailer full of wood and tools to all the elementary schools around the district. They would set up stations for each step of the build. Fifth grade students at move from one table to the next slowly building a birdhouse with the help of the volunteers.
In total, more than 1,700 birdhouses were built through the program.
Many students loved the experience when it stopped at Trailridge Elementary School.
“This is so cool,” said Levi, a 5th grade student at the school.
His classmate, Alani, said she’d never used a hammer before the event. She was the first to complete her birdhouse and walked away feeling encouraged.
“I have a lot of confidence,” she said proudly.
Buckner said those light bulb moments make all the work worthwhile.
“Being a teacher, it just fills your bucket ever day,” he said.
Buckner believes in applying lessons from the classroom to real world experiences like building a birdhouse. He said the hands-on work helps students better understand and remember the lesson.
Students get to take their birdhouses home with them.
“It feels like I’m holding a baby,” said Levi.
