Curated OER
Building Big and Strong
Middle and high schoolers explore the concepts of architectural rigidity. They analyze a variety of polygons, and explain why some shapes add more strength to structures than others. The PBS video, "Building Big," is utilized in this plan.
Berkshire Museum
Camouflage!: Collecting Data and Concealing Color
Help young scholars see the important role camouflage plays in the survival of animals with a fun science lesson. Starting with an outdoor activity, children take on the role of hungry birds as they search for worms represented by...
National Gallery of Canada
My Treehouse
If you could build your own treehouse, what would it look like? Using a piece of contemporary art as inspiration, learners draw their own treehouses and add geometric and organic shapes. The lesson plan touches on Visual Thinking...
Curated OER
Constructing a Building
Students work with big boxes to connect big ideas. In this early childhood problem solving lesson, students develop social, language, math, creative-thinking, and problem-solving skills as they work together to plan and design a...
Hot Docs
Docs for School: Viewing and Teaching Guide
Teaching documentary in your class? Inform your instruction with a guide meant to support teachers as they begin with documentary. The resource includes information on what a documentary is as well as documentary modes, elements, and...
Curated OER
Housing: Types of Shelters
Students experiment with the construction of shelters and the various types of architectural designs. In this shelters lesson, students draw the building they live in. Students compare and contrast buildings made today and...
Curated OER
Build a Better Pencil
Young scholars explore engineering by building a simple design in class. In this pencil creation lesson, students discuss their likes and dislikes with current writing utensils and design a new type of pencil. Young scholars utilize arts...
Curated OER
Build a Connection
Learners discuss their personal connections with stories they've read in the past and identify techniques to connect with more stories. They create illustrations, construct task cards, and complete sentence stems based on books they read...
Curated OER
Urban Rocks: Investigating Stone Used for Buildings and Monuments
Students observe the rocks and stones used to build and carve monuments during a field trip.
Curated OER
This Mine of Mine
Students explore natural resources by conducting a geology experiment in class. For this mineral mining lesson, students discuss the types of geological material that can be found when mining and the uses for these resources such as...
Curated OER
Forsyth County Architecture
What features mark a building as belonging to a particular culture, time, and place? Class members investigate the architectural movements represented in structures built in Forsyth County, North Carolina from 1880-1980 by examining...
Curated OER
Building a Better Home for the Three Little Pigs
Fourth graders draw a set of blueprints and record measurements on them. They add, subtract and multiply to work within their house-building budget.
Curated OER
For Creative Minds
Students study pictures of plants, animals, and minerals. Students classify the pictures into the three groups. In this rock identification instructional activity, students complete a rock finding lab experiment by finding, cleaning,...
Curated OER
Tornado!
Students create tornado proof buildings. In this weather lesson, students review tornadoes, discuss creation of tornado proof buildings, and learn about the Fujita Scale of Tornado Intensity. Students research tornado proof...
Curated OER
How is a House Built?
Students identify the equipment and people needed to build a house. In this professions lesson, students construct a KWL chart on the topic of "Who builds a house?" Students read the book How a House is Built. Students add facts to the...
Curated OER
Papier-Mache Retirement Buddies
Young scholars make papier-mache people. In this relationship building instructional activity, students develop a relationship with a local retirement center or nursing home and get to know at least one of the residents. ...
Curated OER
Teaching the Instruments of the Orchestra to Young Students using the San Francisco Symphony Kids’ Website
Using the San Francisco Children's Orchestra web site, first graders build listening and instrument identification skills. Each child wears head phones, listens to ID, and finds various instruments on the included worksheet.
Curated OER
Empire State-Building
Students explore how empires around the globe have impacted the world in which they have existed. They analyze whether or not the United States is an imperialist nation and create their own empires based on their understanding of empires...
Curated OER
Visual Arts: Art in Public Places
Students create 3 dimensional art. In this sculpture lesson, students collect objects that represent their community's values to include in a 3 dimensional sculpture. Students write a paragraph explaining the chosen theme of their...
Curated OER
Home Design
Students investigate house structures by examining photographs. In this architecture lesson, students read the book Houses and Homes, analyzing the different structures and materials. Students utilize mud to create model huts...
Shakespeare Globe Trust
Fact Sheet: Playhouses
Laborers used common materials to build London's first performance venues, including sticks, plaster, and ... hair? Using an informational handout, scholars learn about the construction of different types of playhouses where actors...
Curated OER
Homes of the World: Ceramic Lesson
Kids consider the various dwellings humans inhabit all over the world. They choose a home from anywhere in the world. Then they research the type of materials, designs, and structures need to build that type of home. The project ends...
Film English
World Builder
If you could build your own world from the ground up, what would you include? Ask your pupils this question, and have them write about their worlds and share with partners. Then, show the short film, which includes some impressive world...
Curated OER
Call to Arms: Robotic Analogues for Human Structures
Investigate deep sea discovery through the emerging technology being built. In this physical science lesson, students analyze the different types of motion available in the human arm. Students research educational websites...