Houses, Houses Everywhere

Grade 1 Unit2006

The weather and environment have an influence on the types of houses people live in.

Inquiry into:      different types of houses around the

world materials used to build houses how the weather influences the types

of houses people live in how the environment influences the

types of houses people live in

Where we are in time and place

An inquiry into orientation in place and time; homes and journeys; the discoveries, explorations and migrations of humankind; the relationships between and the interconnectedness of individuals and civilizations, from local and global perspectives.

Where we are in time and place

An inquiry into orientation in place and time; homes and journeys; the discoveries, explorations and migrations of humankind; the relationships between and the interconnectedness of individuals and civilizations, from local and global perspectives.

Teacher Questions

1. What are some of the different types of houses?

2. Why are houses built differently in different environments?

3. How does the environment influence which materials are used to build a house?

4. How does the weather influence how a house is built?

Tuning in - Provocations

Draw their own house Bring in pictures of houses they have

lived in Books, poster Materials: building materials from

houses, lego, sticks, straw, etc.

Tuning in

Classifying Houses:– Students were given a variety of

pictures of houses to sort

Introduction of Central Idea

The language that was generated from the classifying activity was used to link to the central idea and teacher’s questions.

Words were given to the kids on index cards. The ones they knew were illustrated and put on display.

Finding Out

Field trip to local area

Exploring Building Shapes

Looking at the environment

Looking at weather

Building a Village

One student had the idea to use junk to build a village of houses. After the houses were built, the students added materials to represent the environment: sand, water, trees, plants

As a group we discussed what we noticed about our village and recorded it together.

The Weather and Environment of Our Village

Another Field Trip

Other Activities

Language: looked at the story, “The Three Little Pigs” - students wrote their own version with a new environment

Reading - using important vocabulary to

match text to a picture

Going Further

It was time to develop their own questions

We brainstormed questions Then we classified them as ‘form’,

‘connection’ and other Everyone voted - 1 form and 1

connection question were chosen Students decided which of these

they wanted to research

Some of our questions How does a stick house stay up? Are there any houses that fly? How can it fly? Are there any houses under the water? How can weather go in a house? Are there submarine houses? Are there animal houses? Are there rock houses? How did they build UNIS? How big can a house be? How do people know how big the house will

be? Could people have houses in outer space?

Form

Form

Connection

Connection

Using kids pix

Students were given a picture of a house

They had to draw what they thought the environment from which it is was built was like

Put together into one slide show for our open house day

Summative Assessment

Assessment

Assessment

Open House

Parents were invited in to learn about our unit

Students acted as guides to share:– Our village– Their unique houses for the

environment– The powerpoints– Their stories– The display boards about their own

question

Reflections

Reflections