Shelters and Building Unit--Grade 3

This is D's "Shelters" unit from Fall, 2010
(borrowing heavily, with permission, from Marsha Johnson of Shining Star School)

Week 1--Hebrew Feast of Tabernacles
--Tell story of Sinai and 40 years of wandering.
Sing “Follow the Prophet”—verse about Moses
--Watch YouTube videos of building a Sukkah
Why is it important to the Jews to celebrate this holiday?
--Build our own Sukkah! and have lunch inside.
Draw a picture for Main Lesson Book.

Week 2—How do we live in our region?
--Walk around the neighborhood and look at the homes.
--Draw a picture of our house (MLB).
Look at parts of house: foundation, walls, roof, doors, windows, porches, eaves, rain gutters, siding, trim, chimney, stairs.
What materials were used to build our house?
How does the house look from different sides?
Which window goes with which room?
--Copywork—poem “My House’s Night Song” by Betsy Rosenthal
--Tell Stories of Northwest Native Americans—how they live, what they did, how they found food and shelter.
Choose a story for MLB.
If possible, visit a museum with exhibits of NW tribes.

Week 3—How do people live in other parts of the world?
--Talk over places we have visited. What are the homes like there?
--Copywork—from Come On Over to My House by Theo LeSieg
--Focus on different regions (via library books) and examine:
• Hot dry climates (cool, thick adobe, African kraal, mud-n-daub homes)
• Hot wet climates (homes on stilts, reed walls, roll-up-the-sides house, boat)
• Cold icy climates (igloos, thick felted yurts)
• Snowy mountain climates (pointed roofs with 2nd story “doors”)
• etc.
Draw the homes from these climates—showing proper flora and fauna around.

Week 4—Building a home
--Look at a building in process.
Notice foundations, steel rebar, studs, headers, footings.
Draw construction structures in MLB.
Examine, use, then draw hand tools including hammer, saw, screwdriver, chisel, ruler, square, plane, and drill. Make a simple project with carpentry tools
--Make a foundation of stone or bricks. (We made a raised garden bed.)
--Build a miniature dwelling and report on it.