The students love building forts and creating shelters so as a lead up to our learning goal about community places and buildings, we thought we would read and learn about different types of structures to draw their attention to the different types of buildings that exist in our community.
To kick off our learning, we offered the students a variety of materials and resources and invited them to create a structure in the forest. The diversity and creativity was wonderful. One group read about teepees and built one. Another group read about houses made of mud and grass and built a model of that. Some other creations were: bridges, tunnels, gate, hammock, seesaw, fence, tent, house, and shade shelter. We spent all week adding to these, refining them, and playing in them before having to tear them down.
Then we made predications about the types of structures we might find in our community and we went on a structure hike to test our predictions. The students enjoyed searching for structures around our school yard and in our community. They noticed the basketball nets, the field posts, the swing sets, the playground, the school, houses, the lamp posts, the street lights, signs, the wind mill, the boardwalk, the benches, the railings, the skatepark features, the arena, the library, and more.
In our classroom, we offered the students a variety of materials and invited them to build a model of a structure on their own. Again, the diversity was wonderful - castles, hotel, skatepark, windmill, bench, chimney, house, skyscraper, drawbridge, road, train track, tunnels, and bridges. Afterward, we did a walk-about to admire everyone's creations and then someone asked if a tree was a structure.
We found a Bill Nye the Science Guy video about Structures and watched part of it. The students learned that plants are in fact structures and so are eggs :). This led us to an afternoon hike throughout he forest searching for "natural" structures. The students added flowers, grass, trees, spider webs, beaver lodge, and squirrel nest to their list of structures but were disappointed that they couldn't find a bird nest. Then, J suggested we could make some bird nests. What do we need to do that, we asked. They decided we needed mud, grass, pine needles, and twigs and so began the creation of bird nests.
Now, when we walk in the community, the students are pointing out structures everywhere and just as we had hoped, they are paying attention to the buildings and structures all around them!
To kick off our learning, we offered the students a variety of materials and resources and invited them to create a structure in the forest. The diversity and creativity was wonderful. One group read about teepees and built one. Another group read about houses made of mud and grass and built a model of that. Some other creations were: bridges, tunnels, gate, hammock, seesaw, fence, tent, house, and shade shelter. We spent all week adding to these, refining them, and playing in them before having to tear them down.
Then we made predications about the types of structures we might find in our community and we went on a structure hike to test our predictions. The students enjoyed searching for structures around our school yard and in our community. They noticed the basketball nets, the field posts, the swing sets, the playground, the school, houses, the lamp posts, the street lights, signs, the wind mill, the boardwalk, the benches, the railings, the skatepark features, the arena, the library, and more.
In our classroom, we offered the students a variety of materials and invited them to build a model of a structure on their own. Again, the diversity was wonderful - castles, hotel, skatepark, windmill, bench, chimney, house, skyscraper, drawbridge, road, train track, tunnels, and bridges. Afterward, we did a walk-about to admire everyone's creations and then someone asked if a tree was a structure.
We found a Bill Nye the Science Guy video about Structures and watched part of it. The students learned that plants are in fact structures and so are eggs :). This led us to an afternoon hike throughout he forest searching for "natural" structures. The students added flowers, grass, trees, spider webs, beaver lodge, and squirrel nest to their list of structures but were disappointed that they couldn't find a bird nest. Then, J suggested we could make some bird nests. What do we need to do that, we asked. They decided we needed mud, grass, pine needles, and twigs and so began the creation of bird nests.
Now, when we walk in the community, the students are pointing out structures everywhere and just as we had hoped, they are paying attention to the buildings and structures all around them!