Eiffel Tower Building Unit

Grace and I have enjoyed learning about buildings and monuments this week.  Mostly we checked out some great books at the library, and built with various implements this week--blocks, nesting blocks, toothpicks, peg boards, Duplos, etc.  But I did come across some great children's books.  I also realized that this unit could easily go several directions:

1.  Monuments--famous structures around the world (geographic location, destinct features, history, and significance).    Our favorite fiction book about monuments was hand's down: Ben's Dream by Christ Van Allsburg.   The main character is studying for a geography test and falls asleep...while dreaming his home floats around the world passing by the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, and the Taj Mahal, to name a few. I had fun creating a PowerPoint with pictures of famous monument with a inset little map as a reference as to where that monument is in the world.  I also tried to include something else familiar she could relate to that monument or area--i.e. a picture of her cousin who lives by the Statue of Liberty or the character Madeline by the Eiffel Tower.

2.  Construction--the how of building, from the foundation, to the back hoes, to the scaffolding, maerials, etc.  Curly seemed interested in two main types of construction:  homes, and BIG buildings.  Regarding homes we found several fun books about different types of homes around the world.  We also incorporated the story of the Three Little Pigs discussing why you'd want your home to be strong.  She also is fascinated by sky scrapers. David Macaulay's has an excellent book, Building Big.  It is so popular it actually became a whole series on PBS.

3.  Architecture--various types throughout history and as a profession.
We enjoyed this visual book.  I loved how perceptive she was a noticing nuances like the differences between the capitols of columns or types of arches.  Preschoolers really can be observant of intricate details if we give them the right outlets!  Since she's often talked about being an artist when she grows up we also talked about the profession of architects...whose job is to design/draw the building.