Hello awesome Parents and Happy Friday! We had such a great week here in room 103!
Our week began with some great thought provoking questions to set the stage for what was to come. How do different textures affect a structure? How can we explore balance with different materials? How does movement affect a structure’s stability? What is one fundamental rule of designing buildings an architect needs to first learn? Well the answer to that last question was a bit more direct to answer than the others. How to draw straight lines of course (regardless of if using Revit or not these days
)! Architects have a deliberate style that pins a line to a page to make it look strong and stand out. We practiced drawing these confident lines on some graph paper in the form of squares, rectangles, and triangles. It was quite a challenge to ensure each line drawn would be in a single, controlled stroke. Using graph paper helped with keeping our shapes symmetrical and preparing us for our next activity this week…blueprint designs!
We looked at an array of very cool pictures of blueprints from schools, houses, skyscrapers, and libraries all over the world. In a world of technology, we often forget that up until not too long ago, architects had to free hand all of their designs! Of course, they still need to develop this skill now while studying to become an architect, but modern technology has made it a bit easier and quicker to get those plans out. Your children got to be an old school architect earlier this week and free hand draw their own blueprint designs! The challenge was of course to implement those line drawing skills and keep that pencil down. I personally think these look fantastic, but of course I am biased:)
One of our favorite activities this week to explore stability and texture in structures was using blocks to build..but with shaving cream! The shaving cream acted as the binding agent just as something like concrete would for a real building. We got to investigate how the taller the building, the more shaving cream is needed towards the foundation. We then came up with a list of different materials to test out next week like clay, glue, playdough, kinetic sand, and paper. Stay tuned!
Thankfully, we got to see a little sun this week and take advantage! We made shadow blueprints using magnatiles, white paper, and markers/crayons. What was super cool about this was that every child’s blueprint looked different for the added reason of the sun’s constant movement throughout the day. So, for example, the blueprint from first thing in the morning may have cast a taller shadow than the one from the afternoon! Some were taller and skinner, while others made shorter and wider buildings. Take a look!
Your child will be bringing home TWO of their model homes today! The smaller one containing jenga pieces was from their project last week using the picture of their own house and the box house is their dream house! Ask them what their dream house contains and what they would include if they built it however they wanted.
Home connection:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeaABpc0etA
New vocab alert!
- binding
- engineering
- mechanical
- symmetry
- blueprints
- sketching
- stability
Books we read this week:
- Mr. Goat’s Valentine by Eve Bunting
- Valensteins by Ethan Long
- I Want To Be An Engineer by Laura Driscoll
- Make Way For Butterfly by Ross Burach
- Pete The Cat: Valentine’s Day Is Cool by James Dean and Kimberly Dean
Reminders:
- No school Monday in observance of President’s Day.
- Snow pants will be sent home today to be washed. Please send back Monday along with hats and gloves.
- Early dismissal next Wednesday, February 22.
Have a great weekend everyone and see you Tuesday!
-Ms. Anna T.
