There will be a “Seismic Event” in my classroom on October 14th. Because of this, the students are tasked with building an earthquake proof house and bringing it into class that day. The rules were explained to them and they were given a packet of the instructions for the project. The acceptable materials are: modeling clay, paper clips, straws, cotton, tape, glue, toothpicks, paper, fabric, card stock, cardboard, pipe cleaners and styrofoam. I’ve outlawed the use of legos, popsicle sticks, tongue depressors, Lincoln Logs, rocks, dowels and plywood as a means by which to challenge our builders. On the 14th, we’ll bring the buildings together and create our own seismic event and see who’s team has constructed the most earthquake proof building. They can work alone or in a group up to 4 members and they can use whatever materials they want form the list above. Their building can be houe-like or not, but it must have space inside and it must be at least two stories and small enough to fit on a piece of 8 1/2″x 11″ paper.
The guided reading I gave them today is homework, and we will be viewing a great Nova video this week on earthquakes (http://video.pbs.org/video/1690329036/) as well as working through the book.