I changed quite a bit about this unit. I wanted to shift it a bit to have a greater emphasis on creativity and artistic freedom. I wanted students to think critically about habitats and homes, and the way they are modified from creature to creature and country to country.
Lesson #1: Nesting Habitat
My idea was that students could engage in a discussion of What makes a house? How do birds create their homes? Are bird houses a good replacement for their nests? Why or why not? They could use their understanding of a bird's nest/home to design what they think would provide the best home for the birds and why. This adds a bit more of a design element into the lesson.
Lesson #1: Nesting Habitat
My idea was that students could engage in a discussion of What makes a house? How do birds create their homes? Are bird houses a good replacement for their nests? Why or why not? They could use their understanding of a bird's nest/home to design what they think would provide the best home for the birds and why. This adds a bit more of a design element into the lesson.
![Picture](/uploads/5/4/2/2/54226629/8992544.png?1435035583)
This might be something they would come up with. But I would allow them to create whatever they wanted, as long as they could defend their design.
Lesson #2: Types of Houses
For this lesson, I would really shift the focus to be on global perspectives and how people live around the world. Students would have the opportunity to explore homes from around the world. The orginal lesson involves making playing cards with pictures of various types of houses. My variation was to have students create cards depicting houses from all around the world. It would provide an awesome opportunity for students to see what people around the world live in (even places like Nunavut, Canada). This ties perfectly with lesson 3 because students will use this as an intro to then pick a culture or region of particular interest to them to investigate further. Here are some images that might appear on the cards:
For this lesson, I would really shift the focus to be on global perspectives and how people live around the world. Students would have the opportunity to explore homes from around the world. The orginal lesson involves making playing cards with pictures of various types of houses. My variation was to have students create cards depicting houses from all around the world. It would provide an awesome opportunity for students to see what people around the world live in (even places like Nunavut, Canada). This ties perfectly with lesson 3 because students will use this as an intro to then pick a culture or region of particular interest to them to investigate further. Here are some images that might appear on the cards:
Lesson #3: House Replicas
For my sample, I chose to replicate traditional Guatemalan housing using all natural materials. If I taught this, I would have students choose a culture, and present their house models with some background knowledge and an explanation for why houses look like that in that culture/region.
For my sample, I chose to replicate traditional Guatemalan housing using all natural materials. If I taught this, I would have students choose a culture, and present their house models with some background knowledge and an explanation for why houses look like that in that culture/region.