READING, Pa. – A group of 4th grade students from Lauer’s Park Elementary School in Reading headed out for a field trip Wednesday as part of a special course that teaches architecture and building concepts. 

“It’s helpful for me because we get to see how houses are made and how the stuff is being made and how they put it together,” said Lauers Park 4th grader, Lamiah Atkinson.

Lee Olsen, a seasoned architect, and 4th grade teacher Mark Steinmeyer are behind the unique learning experience.

“Everything you touch has shape and has size, and we put these all together into the creation of a habitat for us to live in, the school to go through,” said Olsen, chairman emeritus of Olsen Design Studio.

Over the last three years, the course has adapted and grown to incorporate a number of techniques, projects and outings over the course of a few months.

“Sometimes we even do cubes, just like we did last week,” said 4th grader Jesus Xavier Martinez Mora. “We tried to make cubes. It was not that easy. It was pretty hard.”

“We had to make shapes and if it could hold up like a book, like a singular book,” said Atkinson. “After that we made more shapes. It was kind of like a building, but it was with more shapes and it was getting longer and taller.”

This week, they toured a Habitat for Humanity construction site.

“I think when you can get students outside the classroom and you can look at the practical application of what they’re hearing in the classroom, I think that the learning experience gets a little bit deeper,” said Tim Daley, Habitat for Humanity Berks County’s executive director.

“The most important thing that I want to see happen is that when they think about me, they’ll think about the fun they had and they’ll never look at a house again the same way,” added Olsen.