After teaching about Eskimos and winter hibernation, first grade teacher Sean Moore at Elm Street School in Mechanic Falls decided to become a little more hands-on.

When he was teaching at Sherwood Heights Elementary in Auburn,  a fellow teacher had built an igloo out of milk jugs.

He decided to do the same thing for his class.

Asking kids and teachers at the school to bring in clean gallon milk jugs, the pile began to grow.

“I think I’ve used over 100 glue sticks,” said Moore after school recently as he was helped by a couple of kids from his classroom.

Usually working alone,  Moore has completed 6 rows of what he figures will be a 10 row high project. 

And he expects to use more than 200 milk jugs.

“I’d much rather have them doing things,” said Moore of his class. “I think it’s important because it gets them involved; because then they’re not just reading about it.”

When asked about the igloo, most of the children are hesitant with their answers.

That is until Moore asked them where Eskimos live in their igloos.

“Where Santa Clause is!” said Connor Turcotte excitedly.

“And where is that?” Moore asks patiently.

With lips pursed, the first-graders think hard about the answer.

Soon a little voice pipes in, “The North Pole!”

But the kids are looking forward to the finished product more so than the actual building of the igloo.

“They ask me almost every day when is it going to be done,” chuckled Moore.

“It’s going to be a reading center!” adds Trent Pettengill.

“Can we put bean bags in it?” Connor asked.

“I don’t think they’ll fit, but we’ll see,” responded Moore.

Soon after the igloo is complete, which is may be this week,  Moore said they will start building a dinosaur out of cereal boxes.

Sean Moore, first grade teacher at Elm Street School in Mechanic Falls, gets help from a few of his students, from left to right, Adrianna Signorelli, Trent Pettengill, Connor Turcotte, and Bryce Doucette, while building an igloo out of milk jugs in his classroom. When finished, the igloo will be used as a reading area for the kids.