WAYNE -- The students in Lynette Stinneford's third-grade class at Wayne Elementary School spent much of Thursday and Friday gazing out their classroom window.

Before their eyes, they saw a tower, slides, "pod hops" and other equipment rise from a section of the schoolyard that's been without a working play structure for more than a year.

Stinneford didn't waste the moment.

"We're embracing the project," she said Friday. "They've written construction journals."

At the same time, the third-graders were learning a lesson about community.

Their ideas helped create the design in June.

A professional sketched the blueprint. And on Wednesday, a crew of community volunteers started work on the structure.

"You can talk about community, and you can teach community," said Jeff Ireland, chairman of the committee that raised funds for and planned the project. "Then you can watch community."

Among those fastening railings to the composite structure, planting slides in place and landscaping were Wayne residents who helped to build the elementary school's previous playground in 1988.

That structure went up the same way, through the work of Wayne volunteers. It was condemned for structural deficiencies last year and removed from school property earlier this year.

"It's the same excitement we had 20 years ago," said Michael Ladd. "It's really come full circle."

"I'm delighted to see something new go up for the kids at school," said Jan Cook, a neighbor to the school who took part in the 1988 construction. "I felt badly that they didn't have a playground for a while. This is a real part of our community and our street."

On Monday, the playground will likely be ready for Wayne Elementary School students. It will feature a lookout tower, climbing and rock walls, swings, monkey bars and a "shaky bridge." In the spring, volunteers will add a brick pathway with the names of every current Wayne Elementary School student and project sponsors.

The excitement for the structure was building among Stinneford's students on Friday.

"I'm like, 'What is going to get built? What's it going to look like when it's built?' " said Jacob Coulombe, 8.

"I want to get it finished because it's going to be really fun to play on," said Stefan Gawron, 8. "I want to go on the swings."

Wayne students have gone a full school year and then some without a playground.

"It was kind of weird seeing rocks over there instead of a playground," said Katie King, 8.

Now, students face a dilemma. Which part of the playground do they try first?

"I think it'll be really exciting playing a lot of places on the playground," said 8-year-old Lilly Voye. "It's really cool watching the playground out the window."

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, ext. 435

mstone@centralmaine.com