The Three Little Pig Engineers

We read the story "The Three Little Pigs" today. After reading the story, we discussed the different materials that each pig used to build their house. We had a great conversation about how important it is to be a hard worker and to not be "lazy" like the young pig from the book. I tasked the students with re-creating the story by constructing their own pig house. Each table was assigned to work with a material that matched the story. They had to use their engineering skills to build a strong house that the scary wolf (blow dryer) could not knock down! In order to work as a team, I selected a "Friendship Leader" for each group. This leader was in charge of making sure that all the students worked together, took turns and used kind words. Before any building could commence, they had to begin by studying the materials and discussing their game plan. Once they had a nice, collaborative brainstorming session, the building could begin!

Here is the start of their "stick house".

They worked so hard to make the stick house "just so".

Check out this beautiful "straw house".

Uh oh... here comes the Big Bad Wolf!

Oh no! The wolf huffed and puffed and blew the house down!

The stick house wasn't strong enough to stand up to the Big Bad Wolf either.

Look at the anticipation on their faces :) Lucky for them, the wolf could not knock down their brick house.

Here are a few quotes from the students as I walked around and listen to them discuss their project.

"Listen guys, Do you want the house to blow down? Im trying to build a good house!"

"I think I have an idea. We can twist it like this."

"Oh look at this square. It has straight lines."

"We need windows for our house because if it doesn't have windows then it will be like a big block."