Washougal middle schoolers teach younger students about hands

Washougal — Jemtegaard Middle School’s medical detectives class helped out at Columbia River Gorge Elementary School, showing students how human hands work. Using paper hands, string, straws, tape and beads, the middle school students helped the younger students explore how the muscular and skeletal systems work together to make a hand move. “There is a lot of value in bringing these middle school students into our classrooms,” Allison McGranahan, a first-grade teacher at Columbia River Gorge Elementary School, said in a release. “This work supports team building and builds leadership skills for the older students. And it’s important for our elementary students to problem solve with someone other than their teacher and who is closer to a peer. I think they all had a lot of fun.”