Paper Buildings

This week during our skyscraper study - a student suggested we build a skyscraper out of paper.  I was amazed how he figured out to do it - paper tubes!  Here are a few photos of the children attempting the paper challenge!

 I taught my class how to "tab" and they figured out how to use tabbing to glue down the columns.

 The biggest issue the children had was creating columns of equal height.

The tallest building was three stories high.  Not bad!

Skyscapers and the Astonishing Philippe Petit

I read the book "The Man Who Walked Between Towers" by Mordicai Gerstein to my kindergarten class.  It is the story of Philippe Petit, a tight rope walker, who walked between the Twin Towers in 1974.  I read the story first.  (Warning, I tear-up at the end every time. . .)

Then I showed the children video of Philippe actually walking a tightrope.  They totally gasped with awe!  Today they asked if we could write a letter to Philippe and inquire about how he walked on a rope between two skyscrapers.   We talked about people who trained to do this kind of work -that it took Philippe years upon years of hard daily practice to do it. 

Skyscrapers, Buildings, and Structures!

This week my kinders are diving into a study of buildings - primarily skyscrapers.  Today I explained that skyscrapers have four main parts - the foundation, the beams (skeleton), stories, and facade.  I played a few youtube videos of New York's skyline as well.

Next, I gave each color family (four students in each group) cardstock and blocks to build skyscrapers.  They had to have floors to their buildings.

The tallest skyscraper built was 21 floors.  The students realized that the stronger buildings (ones that did not fall over) had more supports.  Balance was an important factor as well!

After we had built and experienced our own skyscrapers (and I knew they had the concept of "stories tall")  I showed them the tallest building in the world in Dubai.  They were amazed!! 

MATH
In math today, I had the children create skylines using 2-D and 3-D shapes.  Each group created a skyline and each child was required to draw at least one skyscraper.   Once all the drawings were done, I had the students measure their skyscrapers with cubes (nonstandard measurement).  They absolutely loved it!

 Student recording the height of each skyscraper in her group.

Tomorrow we will build standing skyscrapers out of boxes!