Group #1 works on piecing together their Peace Canoe
Today the group of 12 participants worked on attaching the sides of the canoe to the bottom piece, so it would take shape. First, task was to put the seats onto the sides of the canoe. This is where our group met with their first challenge: the side of the canoe do not pleasantly fit into each other due to the bending of the wood. Thus, the kids had to work as problem solvers. They learned through trial and error, that they needed to find a way to angle the screws to fit the sides.

The next task the group faced was shortening the legs of the saw horses so that they would be able to work on the boat and be able to look inside it, while atop the saw horse. After our volunteer Greg measured the bottom of the saw horses the kids used the Japanese saw to cut off the necessary length of the legs.

Comments from the day:
Jalyn and Alicia - We put the seats on, screwed them in, and put on the glue, so they would stay.
Jaquan - I also helped put the seats on, glued, and nailed them in.
David- I sawed the legs off the horse so we could see into the boat.
Mekhi and Tariq- We learned how to saw and then helped saw off the legs so that the horses where short and short people can see inside the boats.

The group ended the day by creating designs that will be voted on the next time. The winning design will be painted on the canoe, May 2nd during the Maryland Maritime Heritage Festival.