Lesson Plan - Types of Houses

Purpose:
To teach how houses are different.
To compare houses in other countries.
To teach different houses in the United States.

 
Review Background:
Have students name types of houses (homes) they recognize.

 
Importance of this Lesson
This lesson will incorporate Social Studies in that children will become familiar with houses of other areas and understand that a house is a home even though it might be different from what they know.

 
Objectives:
At the end of this lesson the learner will demonstrate an understanding of differences in houses by:

• Orally naming the kinds of houses in which people live.
• Naming materials houses are made of in other countries.
• Matching houses that are common to the United States with each name.
• Constructing a house.
   

Motivation:
Read the story A House is a House for Me, by Mary Ann Hoberman

 
Materials
Story A House is a House for Me
Pictures of various houses
New words
Activity sheets

• matching
• things that go together
• word scramble
• Tools and pictures of tools
• Materials for construction activity*
  
  
  Timber Hut
  

• Thick cardboard or Styrofoam (for base)
  Popsicle or art sticks
  twigs (as straight as possible)
  strips of brown construction paper (or brown paper bag)
  straw from an old straw hat or thick blades of dry grass
  small handsaw
  modeling clay
  string
  glue
  paints
  paintbrushes
  

Nomad Tent

• wooden dowels
  twigs
  thumbtacks
  scraps of fabric
  modeling clay
  scissors
  small handsaw
  Styrofoam or heavy cardboard for base
   
  

Activities and Procedures
The teacher and/or student will:

• Recall several "houses" named in the story and discuss who lived in them.
• Introduce words for houses found in other places: igloo, reed, wooden, stone, log, adobe, thatch, concrete.
• Name types of houses that are found in the immediate area.
• Discuss what houses are made from in their neighborhoods.
• Show pictures of houses around the world: Igloo, reed, river houses, nomad, rain forest, and /or towns and cities.
• Allow for a discussion of what tools they think are used to build the various houses. Match areas of the world to where different houses are found.
• Complete activity of "things that go together" by matching houses with materials from which they are made.
• Complete a word scramble of tools used to construct various houses.
• Make a model of a straw, reed, nomad, igloo, or river house.
• Discuss what materials are used to make local neighborhood homes.
• Complete "Making Words" activity. Allow students to construct a house mentioned in the lesson.

 
Early Finishers (Enrichment)

• Read other stories of houses and where they are found.
• Draw a picture of a small community of houses.
• Assign a center activity that will allow for the construction of different houses.
• Write a story titled "Living in an Igloo" (substitute other buildings).
  
   

Special Needs

• Verbal and motor skills will be developed and enhanced through discussion (new vocabulary) and completion of drawing and construction activities.
• Visual representations of houses, tools and other related materials will remain on display.
  
   

Closure
Have students identify different houses found in other regions of the world.

 

CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES

These activities will be hands-on, interactive work allowing the students to build either of the following:

Making a Timber Hut *

Directions:

• Cut the cardboard or Styrofoam in a rectangle 12in x 5in; this will serve as the base.
• Mark four (4) or five (5) circles on each side of the base where you will place the dowels or twigs. If using dowels, use the handsaw to cut in sections that will be placed into the base.  
  
• Push dowels, or twigs into the base. Glue Popsicle sticks along the base to add support.
• Use string to tie dowels to the upper (out)side of each "support" in the base. Do this for each side of the building.  
  
• At each end of the frame, form a triangle using two sticks. Tie string a little below the apex of the triangle. Another dowel or twig will rest across this angle at each end to support the "roofí.
• Lay the last dowel the length of the frame with each end resting on the triangles at the "front" and "back" of the house.  
  
• Lay Popsicle sticks for the roof.
• Cut narrow strips of construction paper. Weave strips in and out of the supports on each side.  
  
• Glue ends.
• Tie together small bunches of the dried grass, then tie each bunch to main roof beam on each. Use glue to help keep in place.
• Trim grass to even roof line.

*Adapted from: Houses and Homes, by Chris Oxlade

---

Return to School To Work Lesson Plans - Types of Houses