I wrote several posts about my first adventure into project-based learning.  In case you missed them- Part 1, click here;  Part 2, click here, Part 3, click here, Part 4, click here.

Our driving question changed at this point.  Since the houses were built, it was time for the Three Pigs to check them out. So here was our new question:

How can we market our house to persuade the Three Little Pigs to buy our house?

I invited a real estate friend to come to our classroom. She talked about how she markets a house. She shared that location and certain features can help sell a house. She also shared flyers she made for different houses. Then each group met with the real estate agent to discuss the best selling features of their house. The groups realized that choosing interesting adjectives could help in their presentations. They learned vocabulary such as A-frame, open floor plan, airy, and modern. The groups took notes as the real estate agent shared high points of each house.

 

After meeting with the real estate agent, the groups divided the house information into 4 sections: address, materials, wind test and contact information.  Each member of the group had to write the needed information with the Three Pigs in mind.  They also had to turn this information into a commercial. We used the app Educreations to make commercials for each house.

Here is an example of their writing drafts:

 

Click here to see one of their commercials. Each group also made a real estate flyer that had to have the same information as the presentation.

Here is one of the house flyers:

We also practiced our presentations with another real estate agent via Facetime. He gave us tips to make the presentations better.

We also skyped with our friends in Texas. They did the project with us. Each group shared the house they created.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BIG DAY finally arrived! The Three Little Pigs came to our classroom to see the homes and hear the presentations. (A big thank you goes out to my assistant principal, Mrs. Stacey Stocks, and our enrichment teachers, Mrs. Mandy Fox and Mrs. Judy Simpson. You are good sports!)

 

Each group gave a presentation and shared the commerical. The Three Little Pigs took a long time because it was such a hard decision. They decided that House 5 was the perfect fit for them! The finale was using a leaf-blower on the houses. Believe it or not every house stayed intact! However, only one house stayed upright. It was a fun way to end the unit.

 

I am HOOKED on project-based learning.  I know my students learned a lot and to see what they thought of the project, check out their blog post reflections on our kidblog.

Thanks for reading my first adventure into pbl! 🙂

 

 

I wrote several posts about my first adventure into project-based learning.  In case you missed them- Part 1, click here;  Part 2, click here, Part 3, click here.

Just a reminder of the project’s driving question:

As architects, what is the cheapest house we can build to protect the three little pigs from the Big, Bad Wolf?

Now came the part the kids were really excited about…BUILDING!  The material managers came with a list of supplies.  Some were shocked when they looked at the supplies realizing they were missing much needed materials.  One student looked at me and said, “I think our group is going to have to rethink this house plan.” After a few changes in design and recalculating the cost, the groups were ready to begin.

   

 

 

Once the houses were built, it was time for the “Big, Bad, Wolf test,” which was actually a hair dryer on high.  I had drawn a starting line to place the house.  The door had to face the hair dryer. I turned it on low  and then on high. The students had measuring tape (which is another CCS for math) to measure how far the house moved.  All the houses moved!  So the groups went back and planned a way to make the house stronger for test 2.  This also changed the house cost so they had to recalculate again.

Once the house was ready for “wind test” two, we repeated the test and if the house moved, they measured the distance from the starting line.  4 out of 5 houses  moved 0 cm on the second test!  The one house that moved went from moving 100 cm to only moving 8, which was still a great improvement.

This picture captures it all! They were so excited to see the results of the second wind test!

Here are the 5 houses.  I love that they were very different from each other.

 

Part 5, the final post, will be focused on sharing the houses with real estate agents, preparing for presentations for the Three Little Pigs, and also creating flyers and commercials.