More than 100 third-graders at the Pentucket Lake Elementary School got a lesson on tools and how to use them to build a birdhouse.
Home Depot's Plaistow outlet provided materials and sent staffers to the school to teach the kids about the importance of knowing how to use tools.
"When they're home they see their dad's toolbox and have no idea what any of it does," said Home Depot's Caroline Lawless. "We try to teach them things like the difference between a Phillips and a flathead screwdriver."
Lawless and her crew travel to local schools as part of the Home Depot Kids Workshop. In addition to Pentucket Lake, they have also conducted workshops at Walnut Square School.
They also host free workshops at the store one Saturday a month for both parents and kids.
"We're really trying to give back to the community," said Lawless. "It's fun to go into school and be able to teach them skills."
The birdhouse workshop at Pentucket Lake tied in with the "Sing for the Songbirds" unit taught in science classes. Several of the birdhouses made by the kids will be placed outside the school and used for future classes about the birds that visit them.
"We've wanted to integrate the habitat outside our school into the classroom for a while," said third-grade teacher Kathy Flanagan. "Our school is just a perfect place to see nature."
