Unit 6: Building Structures

Sing the greeting song and signal to a child to stand up and say his or her name. Repeat until every child is included.

Tell children that they will be learning about different types of houses and buildings by using the “Houses and Buildings” display.

Read Houses and Homes by Ann Morris. Focus on the materials used to build houses and how the materials vary because of where people live in the world.

Review materials used in building houses in the book Houses and Homes. Go outside and look at different materials used in neighborhood buildings.

Encourage children to explore a variety of building materials. Have them record their observations and ideas in their “Building Materials” journals.

Read aloud The Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone. Prompt children to think about the materials the pigs used to build the houses.

Play the Between the Lions video “Huff and Puff.” Focus children’s attention on what each house looks like and what material it is made of.    

Sing the song to help children retell the story of The Three Little Pigs.

Play the game “Duck, Duck, Goose” using words pig and wolf.  

Use the Target Letter and Word Routine to introduce the letter “Bb” and the word build.   

Introduce build as an action word. Have children name the action in illustrations.

Make the letter “Bb” on the floor with chalk or tape. Have children follow the letter shape and bounce along the letter “Bb.”   

Send a Family Connection letter home with children.

Sing the greeting song and hold up a name card. Signal to each child to find the letter card that matches the first letter in his or her name.

Have children share what they learned about building materials.

Have children work in small groups to freely explore materials as they build different parts of a house.

Discuss tools for building. Have children use tools to make a key holder for a family member.

Read Building a House by Byron Barton with children. Have children talk about the sequence of steps builders follow to construct a house.

Play the Between the Lions video “Huff and Puff.” Set a viewing focus for children by having them notice which events happen first, next, and last.

Discuss the different tools used in building a house. Invite children to sing and act out “This is the Way We Build a House.”

Use the Target Letter and Word Routine to review the letter “Hh” and the word house.

Recite a poem and review the words that begin with the letter sound /h/.

Play the Between The Lions video “Play With Words: ‘butterfly.’” Use the video to introduce the concept of compound words.

Sing the greeting song to three children at a time and clap the parts in their names. Identify whose name was called first, next, and last.

Continue to discuss parts of a house and why it is important to build roofs and walls out of strong materials.

Build straw, stick, and brick houses and try to blow them over. Encourage children to document their observations by drawing, writing, or dictating to you.

Explore making walls and roofs with foam craft balls and toothpicks.

Read the folktale and discuss what makes it a make-believe story.

Teach children a song about different places that animals live. Encourage children to add their own verses to the song.

Have children draw, dictate, or write their own version of The Three Little Pigs.

Use the Letters in Our Names Routine to help children identify the letter “Bb” in their names.

Display a The Three Little Pigs chart. Point out the rhyme words. Have children generate rhyme words

Play a game matching numerals and number words.

Signal children to jump in the circle as he or she says his or her name aloud.  

Identify the two-dimensional shapes found in parts of a house (roof, walls, etc.). Revisit the book Building a House.

Go outdoors and look for shapes in neighborhood houses and buildings. Have children draw shapes they find and dictate or write what part of the building the shape was found.  

Have children glue shapes on paper to build shape houses.

Read Building a House. Focus on the different steps the builders took to build a house and compare it to the steps the children took in building their houses.

Review the different tools builders use to build a house. Sing the song and act out hammering a nail for each verse.

Have children continue to work on their variation of The Three Little Pigs. Have children dictate or write words to go along their drawings and dictations.

Display a bag of objects that begin with the /b/ sound. Invite children to take turns picking an object and deciding whether or not it goes in the “Bb” bag.

Repeat the sentence “Benny Beaver’s beach ball bounced,” emphasizing the beginning sound of /b/. Challenge children to say the sentence faster and faster.

Use sentences from Building a House to practice counting the number of words in a sentence.

Hold up a name card and signal to child to jump into the circle as he or she says his or her name. Have children act out a hammer motion each time you point to a letter in their name.

Have children name parts of the room (walls, floor, window). Have them describe the shapes of the different parts of the room and what materials were used to build them.

Provide the different materials children have used while exploring buildings this week. Allow free exploration and have children use the materials to build a house.

Reread The Three Little Pigs. Have children focus on the order of events in the story.

Play this game of tag and have “the wolf” chase after the little pigs. The game ends when all the little pigs have been tagged.

Have children finish writing and illustrating their version of The Three Little Pigs. Help children put the pictures in the correct sequence and bind the pages into a booklet.

Play the computer rhyming game Between The Lions “Dub Cubs.”

Play the video Between the Lions “Words Beginning With ‘b’.” Have children listen for /b/ words.

Reinforce recognition of the letters “Bb” and “Hh” and the words build and house by having children hunt for them in the room.

Spread out word cards and magnetic letters. Have children work in pairs to match letters to a word card.

Revisit the charts, objects, and pictures from the week.  Review building houses, tools, and shapes, “Bb,” /b/, and build.

Sing "Good-bye To You" and send children home with drawings and photos created as they explored this week.