Stage One have spent the last few weeks unpacking and investigating their new central idea, ‘The design of structures reflects cultural influences and local conditions.’ The boys in Year One adapted the central idea to make it more understandable, changing it to, ‘The design of buildings depends on where they are.’ As the unit progresses, they will continue to unpack some of the more complex vocabulary.

The boys started with a provocation, walking around the school site, observing and investigating the materials that the school is made from. They came up with a comprehensive list and investigated why such a wide range of materials were used in the school’s construction. The boys then identified some of the strongest materials and applied that knowledge to designing a ‘wolf-proof’ house as part of a literacy activity linked to the Three Little Pigs. In the coming weeks, there will be some construction opportunities to test out their ‘wolf-proof’ theories, but unfortunately they won’t be building with some of their more popular choices- diamonds, gold and obsidian! (Having never played Minecraft, I was impressed with the boys’ knowledge of materials and the mining industry!)

The boys have also spent some time researching some of their favourite buildings and structures, using their iPads to collate and sort information and then present it in apps such as Pages. Doing this allowed them to tie in with the literacy comprehension strategy of ‘summarising,’ one of the ‘Super Six Strategies’ that the boys are focusing on in their reading comprehension this year.

In the coming weeks the boys will investigate the histories and cultural influences of several well known and also local buildings, as well as investigating how local conditions around the world including weather (extreme heat or cold etc) or natural disasters like earthquakes affect the design and building of a structure.

The boys are really looking forward to finding out how the unit will progress.

Sam Watson – Year 1 Teacher