Gouge students design replica NC lighthouses
It would take several hours to drive from Mitchell County to the North Carolina coast, but thanks to Gouge Elementary students, the lighthouses that call the coast home can be appreciated locally.
Fourth-grade students in Tammy Houser’s history class recently made replicas of North Carolina’s famous lighthouses as part of their studies on the state.
Students utilized a variety of available materials ranging from cardboard tubes to paper mache. Each lighthouse is labeled with its real-world location. The lighthouses sit in the Gouge hallway for all to see.
Some lighthouses, like the one made by Bethany Thacker, even utilize real lights. Thacker’s replica of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse has a functional spinning light on top.
“It was actually pretty easy,” Thacker said about the construction.
Lanie Miller’s lighthouse is topped with a flickering candle. Jackson Jenkins adorned the bottom of his lighthouse with grass. Jenkins utilized a Pringles can to form the main structure of his lighthouse.
As students made their lighthouses, they researched what makes their real-world lighthouses unique and learned about the history of North Carolina in the process.
For most, construction was a careful process. When the creativity started to flow, the fun started.
“We had to figure out the angles,” Miller said. “My dad had to help me with the panels and the octagon on top. The fun part was painting it. I got to go wild with it and just put the brush up and down and use different colors.”