3rd Grade GATES
"Thinking Like an Architect"
Third-graders will explore ways in which engineers and architects use their knowledge to design, build, and test structures using their problem solving skills to find solutions.
Third Grade Goes Glamping
Students combined what we have learned about architecture and the design process to create their own scale models of an RV that would suit the needs of their own families on a family vacation.
Final Products!
Making 3D Furniture to scale and measuring perimeter, area, and volume.
Comic Strip Dilations
Continuing our exploration into architecture, students practiced using "scale" to enlarge a drawing while maintaining perspective.
Day 3: Final Touches
Day 2: Transferring the design and adding color/outlines
Day 1: Getting Started
Famous World Structures
Students chose a famous structure from around the world to learn more about. They used their research skills to collect information and then created a WeVideo to share what they had learned with their peers.
Eiffel Tower EH.mp4Neushwanstein KW.mp4Empire State HC.mp4Chichen Itza AG.mp4Taj Mahal MCR.mp4Keva Plank Challenge
Students were given the task to create a free standing Christmas tree using only Keva planks.
Sell This Spooky House
Students became architects, interior designers, and realtors as they designed, decorated, and created real estate listings for a haunted house.
Insect Architects - Final Products
Students shared their final models of the homes that they created for their insect clients.
Insect Client: Dotty the Ladybug
Insect Facts/Design Implications:
Seven-spotted ladybugs live in deserts, grasslands, forests, and marshes.
We can put in a wet place.
Ladybugs fly.
We can make our home big and tall.
They eat spider mites, aphids, scale bugs, nectar, fungi, and honeydew.
We can put all of the food in the kitchen so when they're hungry they can have multiple choices.
They lay 10-50 eggs at a times.
We can make a big hatchery.
They can eat up to 50 insects per day.
We have to put in a lot of food in the cafeteria.
Insect Client: Jackson the Water Strider
Insect Facts/Design Implications:
They can fly sometimes.
We have to make it tall.
They eat insects that fall in the water.
We know what to put in the kitchen.
They can be blue and brown.
We can make a safe room that is camouflaged.
They live in the ocean sometimes.
We have to put in a room filled with salt water.
They die in the winter.
We have to put in a heater.
Insect Client: Spotty the Ladybug
Insect Facts/Design Implications:
They like to hibernate.
The house needs to be warm.
They live in large groups.
We need a lot of rooms.
They like to fly.
We need a tall house.
Their enemies are birds.
We need to make it bird proof.
They eat a ton.
We need a big kitchen with lots of food.
Insect Architects - Continued
Using the information from their research, students are designing and building a home that meets the needs of their insect client. They are utilizing repurposed materials to create a prototype of their design.
Brain Games - September
In GATES we like to take some time once in awhile to let our brains play, too! One of the very best ways to stretch our thinking is through logic, strategy, and exploration!
Insect Architects
Students are continuing to use Depth and Complexity as they learn to think like an architect. Their first job is to design a home for an insect client. This involves many steps...
Research
Depth and Complexity - BIG IDEAS
Students used details to support what they feel is the BIG IDEA about GATES.
Depth and Complexity - DETAILS
Students focused on DETAILS to show others who they are and what makes them unique!
