The Saturday morning stillness was suddenly shattered by shrieks of discovery: “I found one that’s really moving!” “I got it!”

A clutch of students from PS 143 in Corona were hunting for microscopic creatures that inhabit the Hudson River, the river into which they will soon be launching their handmade, 10-foot rowboat.

In a quiet classroom, working in pairs, half of the 20 students were poking around in shallow basins of water among the soggy leaves and twigs dredged up from the bottom of the river, searching for living things to determine how healthy the water is.

While that group focused on water quality, other students were busy honing their carpentry skills and working to get their boat ready for its maiden voyage.

Midmorning, the two groups changed places.

“There are no passive learners here,” said teacher Margaret Benitez. “They are all more than eager.”

Peter Heinz, an ESL teacher, and Benitez, who teaches science, teamed up to run the Boatbuilders, a Saturday STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program for 3rd- to 5th-graders, many of whom are English language learners or have learning disabilities.

Heinz said he created the program “to provide needy students with an opportunity to experience the kind of success that the conventional teaching and learning environment doesn’t always provide for our neediest students.”

The big job this Saturday morning was to attach the transom, or stern, to the boat — the final piece to complete the basic structure before the finishing work begins. But first the carpenters had to replace scores of wire ties that were holding the boat together with zip ties for safety reasons.

Huge marine-grade plywood panels covered with life-size design plans were spread over the school cafeteria tables, evidence of earlier lessons about reading design plans, copying them to the plywood, and then cutting and fitting them together to form their boat.

It is a project dear to Heinz’s heart. He grew up on the North Shore of Long Island, where he worked at his father’s boatyard before becoming a teacher. Heinz brings his love of the water and working with his hands to his teaching methods.

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Miller Photography

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Miller Photography

He sees the Saturday class not only as a unique experience for high-needs students, but a means to make them aware that they live on an island and are only half a mile from Long Island Sound.

This year’s boat is a “stitch-and-glue construction” design that Heinz bought with a $5,000 Department of Education grant. Once the stern is attached, the students can turn to the exacting job of carefully applying layers of fiberglass tape and glue to make their boat seaworthy before the final step of painting it.

The students will be busy between now and May 17, when they present their finished product at the science fair at the New York Hall of Science. In March, they presented their work at a DOE event at the Museum of the City of New York.

Heinz and Benitez forged a partnership with Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, a nonprofit environmental organization founded in 1969 to protect and preserve the Hudson River and its tributaries, to build the students’ nautical knowledge and increase their environmental awareness. Teachers from Clearwater visit the program every few weeks for lessons on reading nautical charts, identifying species found in local waters, and natural resource conservation.

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Miller Photography

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Miller Photography

Working with super-sized magnifying glasses, petri dishes and slides, the young scientists fish out and identify what they find in the Hudson River water. Cautioned by Clearwater scientist Eli Schloss “to treat the little creatures gently,” students use eye-droppers to slip their wriggling discoveries into slide cases that are then magnified and projected onto a screen so everyone can join in the excitement of discovery and identification.

“Does it look like anything you might find on a dinner plate?” Schloss asked his wide-eyed audience, pointing to a tiny, shrimp-like arthropod on the screen.

Heinz is already thinking about the theme for next year’s Saturday program. Perhaps, he said, he’ll do a project on bicycle repair, another opportunity for kids to learn a new skill and perhaps a useful hobby.

Heinz and Benitez, who bring complementary skills to the program, agree on the importance of concrete learning.

“I am a true believer in hands-on learning in science,” Benitez said. “Kids need to be connected to the real world, and this program provides a great experience for them.”