A school bus loaded with second graders from Elmer Wood Elementary pulled into Atwater High School, just outside of Dan Flatt’s workshop on Thursday morning. As the second graders unloaded off the bus, they were greeted by Flatt and his advanced wood shop students. Flatt informed the children he had received a special message from someone at the North Pole. 

 

“A couple weeks ago, I got this weird e-mail from Santa Claus,” Flatt told the kids. “He told me to open up my shop and be a Santa’s Workshop today.” Flatt’s news was greeted with gasps, smiles and giggles from the second graders. He even informed the students that Santa sent two of his elves and that they were hiding in the shop.

Flatt’s workshop was transformed into Santa’s Workshop on Thursday and Friday as second graders from Elmer Wood made a short field trip across town to make wooden toy trucks with the help of Flatt’s advanced wood shop students, who all wore Santa hats. 

 

Each second grader was paired with a high school student and they moved station to station to build their truck. Armed with safety glasses, the second graders cut off some of the final pieces to make the shape of the truck at one station. They drilled holes for the headlights at another station. Then they attached the headlights with glue, nailed on the bed of the truck and attached the wheels. After the truck was assembled the second graders moved next door to the floral class and decorated their truck with markers, crayons on bows. 

“What a wonderful opportunity for them to see the high school, to see the wood shop and then to help the high school kids make a project,” said Elmer Wood Elementary principal Laurie Havel, who made the trip with her students. “It’s really neat. I didn’t know that Mr. Flatt was calling it Santa’s Workshop and that the elves were here. It makes it even more magical.”

 

It was tough to tell who was having more fun. The second graders or the high school students. 

“It makes me feel more gratitude,” said Atwater High student Angel Garcia Chavez. “It’s makes me feel like wow, these children, they love doing what we also enjoy doing. It makes me happy.”

Atwater senior Vinny Valladao took a break from his T.A. period to help out with the second graders. “I love teaching little kids,” said Valladao, as he was drawing and coloring in flames on his tricked-out toy truck that he built. “I started with a wood shop class my freshman year. It caught my eye and it’s been one of my favorite classes. My second grader, Micah, blew me away. He practically built his truck by himself. He sawed it all by himself, he put the wheels and headlights on by himself. He’s a very smart kid. This is not even my class. I’m a T.A. this period but I decided I have to help some kids build some trucks and I’m here with Micah.”

 

Fellow senior Ivan Solorio said he second grader was so excited she started talking with him right away. “It will make for good memories,” Solorio said. “I would have had fun if I did this in second grade, working with older kids.”

Flatt said all the wood used to make the toy trucks was processed by his students using equipment, including a saw mill, the school recently purchased by the school with grant money. “This is our first year, milling, drying and using our own lumber that we cut up here on campus,” Flatt said.

 

After assembling and decorating their trucks the second graders stopped to pose for a group photo with their high school partner. They all got to take their new toy trucks home. “To get the students involved with helping out the community is really awesome,” Flatt said. “Just seeing the grins on their faces, my guys – not just the little kids because they had grins on all day long – but my students, that was really fun to watch.”

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.