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Architecture Week for Schools:

What is our school made of?

Assembly/classroom activity
Key Stage: 1 & 2
Materials:brick image per child (supplied), pencils/black, pen, staple gun
illustrative image of activity
click to print this page print this activity download word document download word format download pdf download pdf format
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Activity summary:
  • To celebrate school by acknowledging significant places, people and associations relating to place
  • To consider that buildings are made not just made by architects but the people who use them
  • To consider that the qualities of a place are not just made with building materials but by each person’s contribution
  • Each child can participate by contributing their ideas through discussion and recording one on an image of a brick.
  • The bricks are gathered and assembled to celebrate school and form a wall of ideas, associations and feelings.
  • Links can be made with Citizenship: shared environments, What makes a community?
  • Extension tasks:
    Art: Draw each of the items identified and combine to make a banner to describe the school
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Activity Plan:
Children need to take a pen/pencil and brick image into assembly
1. Introduce buildings and what they are made of
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2. Discussion
  • Identify all the people who make up the school community e.g. pupils, teachers, dinner helpers, site manager
  • Identify all the parts that make up the physical space e.g. classrooms, hall, playground
  • Identify all the activities that take place in the space e.g. different subject areas, plays, lunch
  • Identify related feelings and ideas associated with people, space, activities e.g. I love playing in the playground with my friends, I like the Wendy house because it’s cosy, I like Miss X’s smile because it makes me happy.
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3. Record Ideas
Record one idea (person/physical space/activity/feeling) on the brick image. Include name and class.
4. Display ideas
Gather bricks and display as a wall of ideas

wall of ideas
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Recommendations:
  • Pupils could include more information about their choice
  • Overlap edges of bricks to make the wall
  • Set photocopier to photo option when copying brick image.
Resources
Brick image - Print this page, photocopy and trim flush to edge of image
Brick image resource

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Feedback

"The children thoroughly enjoyed the project and got so much out of it. It fulfilled aspects of the D&T curriculum and there were lots of opportunities for cross-curricular links. The children loved working as a team and had to collaborate at every stage of the process."

Year 5 Teacher
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