Activity 01
Model House Making
Provide students with materials like clay, ice cream sticks, cloth scraps, and small cardboard boxes. In small groups, they can choose a special house (igloo, tent, stilt house) and try to build a simple model of it.
Identify what an igloo is made of.
Facilitation TipFocus on the choice of material for each house type to reinforce the learning.
What to look forPicture Quiz: Show images of different houses and ask students to name them or state one fact about them.
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Activity 02
House and Home Match-Up
Create picture cards of different special houses and separate cards with their names, materials (ice, canvas, wood), or locations (snowy area, water, desert). Students work in pairs to match the correct cards together.
Explain why a houseboat is a special kind of house.
Facilitation TipTurn it into a memory game by placing the cards face down to make it more engaging.
What to look forWorksheet with activities like 'Match the house to its material', 'Fill in the blanks', and 'Circle the odd one out'.
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Activity 03
Draw Your Dream Special House
Ask students to imagine and draw their own special house. They should be able to name their house and explain one special feature it has, like wings to fly or wheels to move.
Compare a tent with a brick house.
Facilitation TipEncourage creativity and have a short 'show and tell' session for students to share their ideas.
What to look forAsk students to draw a smiley face next to the houses they feel they understand well and a question mark next to the ones they are still curious about.
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Generate Complete Lesson→A few notes on teaching this unit
Begin by asking students about their own homes to activate prior knowledge. Use large, colourful pictures and short video clips to introduce each new house type, as visual aids are very effective for this age group. Emphasise the connection between the house's design and its environment by constantly asking 'Why?'. For example, 'Why do you think a houseboat is on water?'
After exploring this topic, your students will be able to recognise different kinds of special houses and explain why they are built the way they are, connecting them to the places and people who live there.
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
Igloos are very cold inside because they are made of ice and snow.
Actually, the snow used to build igloos traps air, which acts as a good insulator. This, along with body heat and a small lamp, keeps the inside much warmer than the freezing temperatures outside.
Tents and caravans are not 'proper' houses.
A house is any shelter that protects us. Tents and caravans are perfect homes for people who need to move from place to place, like nomads or people on holiday.
All strong houses are made of bricks and cement.
While brick houses are strong, houses made of wood, stone, or even snow (like igloos) can also be very strong and are better suited for the places where they are built.
Methods used in this brief