The Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Kennedy Center, and more. Decas Elementary School students had a chance to tour all the iconic buildings in Washington D.C. without leaving school property last week.

For the past month, 45 students in Mike Houdlette's and Jessicia Roberge’s fourth grade classes have been working together to construct scale models of Washington D.C. monuments, which they showed off in the school’s gym on Thursday, May 26.

“The students worked hard,” Houdlette said. “Not only on the models. They made the display boards, wrote essays, and are acting as tour guides. ... They really have to know their project.”

To design their replicas students applied their knowledge of math and social studies.

“The students didn’t just learn about the monuments. They mastered them,” Roberge said. “It was fun, but it was also challenging.”

Students got creative with their designs, using duct tape, cardboard, and even Barbie dolls to replicate the structures.

"We had to try so many different ways to make it work," said Molly Schneider who worked on the U.S. Marine Memorial/Iwo Jima Memorial. "We used a lot of duct tape."

Molly said her group gave old barbie dolls a G.I. Joe makeover to replicate the statues of the soldiers in the memorial model.

Anthony Childs and Coleby Paling said working with their partners on their 7-foot-high replica of the Washington Monument presented its own unique challenges.

"The hardest part was its height," Anthony said. Coleby added: "We had to lay it on its side to work on it."

Overall, students agreed the project taught them a lot about working together to solve problems.

"You get closer to your friends," said Lexi Daher, who worked on the Lincoln Memorial model. "It's fun working with each other and figuring out the work we need to do together."