After months of waiting and doing the research necessary to understand the process, know the porportions of materials and collecting the necessary materials like the milk cartons, the 5th graders finally had the opportunity to make the bricks. Excitement was in the air as we set up the tarps and carried in the heavy bags of clay, cement and sand. From that moment on, the students had a sense that this was not going to be that easy. As part of the process, they were asked to write reflections before the activity. They all commented on how they thought it would be fun and hard at first, but that it would get easier and that it would be messy. Afterwards, they again reflected on whether the experience surprised them and what were some of the thngs that they learned. One student commented that it was “way, way, way harder,” while another one wrote, “This experience left me thinking about how terrible ti would be to have to do that for 8-10 hours a day, six days a week for your whole life.” The students quickly became covered in clay but they did an amazing job of focusing on the task and then, making sure that they cleaned the area and themselves up completely before returning to the classroom. One of the things that we learned was that, even with our planning and measuring beforehand, we did not judge the porportions correctly and so, we ran out of the cement and sand much sooner than expected. Unfortunately, that meant that we were not able to make all the bricks that we had hoped to construct and only completed making 23 bricks. However, Mrs. Woods and Rabbi Gouze will talk about how we might be able to reschedule another day in order to finish the rest of them. It was clear that the students not only learned from this experience but it was definitely one from which they enjoyed and gained a lot.