School Desk

Riverdale comes to life in Legos

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Filling an entire closet in Nick Dembowski’s classroom at the Spuyten Duyvil School (P.S. 24) are thousands upon thousands of Legos, sorted into plastic storage bins by color. 

In October, his fourth grade class will use the blocks to construct a giant, 3-D map of Riverdale, Kingsbridge, Spuyten Duyvil and Inwood. The colorful blocks have given his classroom a reputation.  

“All the students are aware that I have Legos in the classroom,” Mr. Dembowski said with a laugh. 

The Legos also won Mr. Dembowski an “Unsung Hero” award from Voya Financial Inc. The $2,000 grant awarded to educators selected from 1,000 applicants nationwide honors innovative teaching methods. 

The Lego map is part of a teaching idea Mr. Dembowski submitted called “Hidden History in Plain Sight.” After last year’s students built their map, the class used it to explore subjects ranging from social studies to geology. 

Students construct their maps based on natural landscape formations in the area, from the hills of Riverdale to the bed along which the Hudson River runs. Mr. Dembowski often takes his classes on walking tours of the neighborhood, looking for evidence that the earth is changing. 

Across the street from P.S. 24, for example, there are 1.2 billion year old rocks, once part of the tallest mountain range in the world. 

“How does local geology influence the world that the kids see every day?” asked Mr. Dembowski, who has taught at P.S. 24 since 2003. “My theory is that it will resonate more than if we were studying, say, what was happening in Buffalo, New York.” 

The Legos themselves are the product of another award that Mr. Dembowski received when he taught first grade at the school. Using Legos from his childhood collection, the class created an animated, stop-motion film for a Lego competition, earning the school a stockpile of Legos from the company. 

Along with looking at the topography of neighborhoods where students live, the class learns about the history of people who settled in the area. They focus on Native American tribes, and then European colonists. 

Spuyten Duyvil High School, P.S. 24, Nick Dembowski, Lego, Unsung Hero, Kingsbridge Historical Society, Maya Rajamani
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