Unit Plan

Architecture: It's Elementary!—First Grade

Curated and Reviewed by Lesson Planet

Build an interest and appreciation for architecture in your young learners with this fun 10-lesson art unit. Engaging children in using their five senses, the class first observes the environment around them, paying special attention to texture, color, size, scale, and shape. As they continue developing their knowledge of architecture, students eventually make their own floor plans, create streetscapes, and build 3-D models.

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Instructional Ideas
  • Complete this as an elementary art unit, tying together the concepts of color, texture, shape, and design
  • When teaching this lesson with older students, introduce the math concepts of area, perimeter, scale, and proportion
  • During this unit, have the class work collaboratively to build a town, with each pair or small groups of students designing a different community building (e.g. school, library, town hall, police station, etc.)
Classroom Considerations
  • While originally designed for first graders, this unit can be adapted for use across the elementary grade levels
Pros
  • Included with the unit are all necessary supplemental materials
  • Letters are provided that can be sent home to parents, notifying them of the progress their children are making with the unit
  • Unit creates cross-curricular connections between art, math, social studies, and science
Cons
  • None