A house like this

Lesson objectives :
• Understanding a house as a physical space for shelter, protection from heat, cold, rain, etc.
• Knowing about different materials used for building houses
• Types of houses used for shelter in different geographic locations
Suggested resources :
• Pictures - types of house
• Videos - process of building houses, people who are involved in building the house.
• Data collection sheet - to understand types of houses and materials used in student’s locality.
Expected learning outcomes :
• Students will be able to understand types of house, reasons for which houses are different at different locations, materials used, skills required to build a house.
Engaging learners : A short discussion on houses can be had in the classroom; everyone can be encouraged to speak about their house; what house do they live in, why do they live in a
house, how is a house built, what are materials used to build houses, who are the people needed to build a house, how big is the house you live in, etc. This discussion is carried out so that we get an idea about how students think and what their prior knowledge about the topic is.
Exploring houses :
Students can be asked to draw houses they have seen. The houses they draw can be colored by them. Based on pictures they have drawn discussion on types of houses can be summarized. Videos or pictures on houses at different places can be shown. Students can be asked to analyze the similarities and differences between the houses they have drawn and what they have seen in the video.
Video of houses around the world: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi-li6hprCs
To enable students to think, suggested points to observe could be walls, roofs, structure of the house, materials, climate and reason for house’s architecture etc. The analysis can be displayed
on the blackboard.
Data collection on houses in student’s locality :
Students can be assigned the task of observing and collecting data on houses they see in their locality. Questions to aid this exploration could be: types of houses they see, materials used for building that house. Analysis of data collection will help the class to calculate the number of houses in the locality, type of house based on its structure and materials used.
Visiting a construction site and interviewing workers : Students can be taken to a construction site to understand how a house is built. People at the construction site can be interviewed.

Sample interview questions are given below.
What is the type of house that you are building? What is your role in building this house? What are the steps involved in building a house?
What materials are required to build this house? Where are the materials bought from? How long will it take to build this house? What precautions have you taken while at work?
Summarization of learning : The class has been involved in multiple activities so far. So it will be beneficial if the teacher summarizes what has been learned. Teacher need not explain what students have done but encourage students toshare what they have understood so far about types of house, materials used, people needed to build a house, type of houses at different places, reasons for differences in structure of the building etc. Use drawings they have made, pictures and videos that were shown to aid in recalling learning.
Project Ainilagal : Interacting with students in other states
Discussions activities would have helped students in developing their understanding about houses around them and houses in other states. This learning can be further enhanced by organizing interaction with students in other states of our country. This interaction will help our students to further enrich their understanding on houses,
geographies and the life styles of other people.
A letter can be written to students in other states. The letter our kids write needs to start with self-introduction, small description about thier family and house, and the reason according
to you why your house is built in a particular way and will include questions about the addressee’s house.
Questions to students of other states: What type of house are you living in, How big is the house,
How many rooms are there, Types of rooms in your neighbor’s house nearby, How long do you take to travel to school, Where does your house get water from. These are some questions that
can be asked; we could ask for more questions based on the interest of the students.
Summarization and discussion of learning :
the class can have a discussion on similarities and differences they observed while interacting with other state’s students. Some specific points that can be used for summarization are: points
of difference you see, description of the houses you have seen, description of the weather and local conditions, deducing why these houses are built like that, What would happen if the desert house was made in a mountain area, find out more about the geography and the culture of the place and connect it back to its houses. Students can also share some interesting aspects that they
have liked about the houses they saw when they interacted with others.
Project output possibilities :
Posters or Picture album: Posters can be made on these themes- types of roof, types of wall, materials used for building different houses etc. OR a poster of a single house and description of the characteristics of roof, wall, flooring etc. A pie chart or a bar diagram on types of houses, materials used can help to understand the distribution of houses.