4th Grade Update: Blueprints In Progress

The mysteries of The Wright 3 continue to deepen as our 3 main characters are gradually unraveling the strange but true history of the Robie House in Chicago. Along the way, though, we let the book send us off on related thinking challenges and projects, and one of those projects is to slowly design our own homes. Little by little we've learned some basic concepts of architecture and also focused on the Math that architects use. We've created a basic layout for our homes designed to suit a family of 5, and then drawn a scaled version of the home (1 inch = 5 feet) aiming for a perimeter of about 200 ft. We've also learned about the aesthetics of a "facade" and explored using repeated elements to create a visual pattern that is pleasing to the eye.

Blueprints in progress

Calculating perimeter

Repeating elements to create a pattern on this "facade"

We've also pulled out the 3-D pentominoes in order to follow the thinking of one of our main characters in The Wright 3. We try to model his constructions, but also explore by making our own.

Here's some of the art glass in the Robie House

One of the most beautiful traits of the Robie House are the art glass windows designed by Frank Lloyd Wright himself. When I came across some old "transparency sheets," the perfect project idea came to mind. "Let's make our own art glass windows!" It was also a nice moment to discuss the "ancient classroom technology" of overhead projectors and transparencies. We mimicked Wright's designs but gave them our own unique flair of personality, first on graph paper and then transferred onto the transparencies. They look A LOT better on a sunny day, but the pictures below should give you an idea...

We've also taken time these last few weeks to review/practice our deductive reasoning skills with the help of logic grids. If you've seen our younger grade updates you'll see they've been practicing as well. We never stop doing them--they just get more and more complex!