Structures Unit Study - Grade 3

The following items are included in the unit study package and must be returned to HCOS:
1.

Parent Activity Guide (duo tang with daily activity guide and materials list for student activities; Guide is online with clickable links: http://www.onlineschool.ca/rooms/library/resource_kits/index.php

2. Structures A-Z by Bobbie Kalman 3. Arty Facts Structures, Materials & Art Activities 4. Bridges by Etta Kaner 5. Build it Up published by Scholastic (Pan Canadian Science) 6. Structure Quiz Cards 7. 10 Photos of bridges in the Vancouver area (printed with permission)

Note: Some lessons require Knex kits, which are best, but other materials may be used. Ask your teacher for a password for Discovery Education Website to watch video clips: http://www.discoveryeducation.ca/ Notes: Some lessons include more activities than youll need. Feel free to omit and/or modify as necessary. Not all activities will be suitable for all age levels, so pick and choose the ones that are most suitable for your childs level of understanding. Knex building toys consist of many small pieces and are not suitable for children under the age of 3.

Structures Unit - Daily Activity List

Day 1: What are Structures? Read and discuss Build it Up, pages 4-5 Go for a walk and draw/take pictures of structures in your neigbourhood. 8/1/2013 Revised

Read Arty Facts pg. 10 15; choose one activity to do. Read Structures A-Z by Bobbie Kalman Read and discuss Build it up, pages 6-7

Day 2:

What materials make strong building frames?

Read Build it Up, pages 10-11 Read and do Bridges page 21 (the experiment will be ongoing for two weeks). To find out more about the Tay Bridge disaster, you might want to look at http:// www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk/poems/pgdisaster.htm Build a bridge for a toy car to span a distance of about 30 cm. What materials and shapes did you use? Read Arty Facts pg. 20 & 21, 24 & 25 Watch Pyramids section (Chapter 7) on the Discovery Streaming Website about 5 minutes). Refer to Structures Comparison chart in parent activity guide.

Day 3:

How can you make the shapes in structures stronger?

Read Build it Up, pages 14-15 Read Bridges pages 1-15 Try the activities described in Bridges Construct a birdhouse out of Knex following the pattern in the parent activity guide or using your own design. How is it designed to be a strong structure?

Day 4: What is a truss bridge? Read Build it Up, pages 12-13 Read Bridges, pages 18-20 Knex Truss Bridge Lesson 4 (see parent activity guide)

Day 5:

What is a cantilever bridge?

Read Bridges pages 16-17 For further information about the Quebec bridge, you may be interested to look at The Mysteries of Canada website at http://www.mysteriesofcanada.com/Quebec/ quebec_bridge_collapse.htm Knex Cantilever Bridge Lesson 5 (see parent activity guide)

8/1/2013 Revised

Day 6:

How are domes and arches used in buildings and bridges?

Read Build it Up, pages 16-17 Read Arty Facts pg. 32 & 33 Read Bridges page 22-25 Construct an arch bridge using the activity card in the parent activity guide and pictures of arch bridges as a reference. Watch Tunnels section (Chapter 6) on the Discovery Streaming Website about 5 minutes. To learn more about the Toronto SkyDome (now called Rogers Centre), you can visit http:// www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/wonder/structure/sky.html or http://www.rogerscentre.com/about/facts.jsp

Day 7:

What is a suspension bridge?

Read Bridges pages 26-29 Read Arty Facts pg.34 & 35 Build your own example of a suspension bridge following photographs of real suspension bridges and the activity on pg. 35 in Arty Facts. Using the file of photos, sort photos into types of bridges. Why are suspension bridges so popular? Watch Suspension Bridges section (Chapter 1) on the Discovery Streaming Website about 4 minutes. Chapter 2 addresses the Tacoma Narrows Bridge disaster. The content may be disturbing to some children and could therefore be overlooked.

Day 8:

How can some bridges move?

Read Bridges pages 34-43 Build a model of a moveable bridge with Knex or with other materials Look at the photo of the Johnson St. Bridge in Victoria. How and why does the bridge move? Day 9: How does a foundation work?

Read and discuss Matthew 7:24-29 Read Build it Up, pages 8-9 Read Bridges pages 30 To learn more about the Leaning Tower of Pisa, you can go to http:// www.funsocialstudies.learninghaven.com/articles/leaningtower.htm http://www.howstuffworks.com/leaning-tower-of-pisa-landmark.htm Watch Leaning Tower of Pisa section (Chapter 4) on the Discovery Streaming Website about 8 minutes). 8/1/2013 Revised

Day 10: How can you build a skyscraper? Read Build it Up, pages 22-23 Read Arty Facts pg.18 & 19 Do Knex Tower of Strength activity (in parent activity guide) See if you can find information on 3 other famous towers. How are the towers shapes different? How are they similar? What materials and shapes are used to make the towers? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CN_Tower Watch Skyscrapers section (Chapter 5) on the Discovery Education site about 5 minutes).

Day 11: How can you build the strongest bridge? Read Build it Up, pages 28-29 Have a Junkbox Wars bridge-building contest! (Guidelines in parent activity guide)

Ongoing Unit Activities: You may want to have your child keep a structures journal for recording their findings in the different experiments and activities. Digital photos could be accompanied by 2-3 sentence explanations of the days activities. West Point Bridge Builder is downloadable bridge software designed by the US Military Academy at West Point and used for their bridge design contest. It is a useful tool for simulating the design and testing of bridge structures. You can download this software for free from http://bridgecontest.usma.edu/

Provincial Learning Outcomes for Grade 3:

Ask questions that foster investigations and explorations relevant to the content Measure objects and events Compare effects of different materials, shapes, and forces on the strength and stability of different structures. Conduct investigations into ways to improve the strength and stability of different structures

Describe shapes that are part of natural and human-built structures (e.g. domes, arches, pyramids)

Websites that you might find helpful:

8/1/2013 Revised

http://www.knexusergroup.org.uk/ is a website that supports user groups of Knex. It supplies free downloads with lesson plans on structures. You may have to sign up for a free membership. http://ake.epsb.ca/bridges/index.htm is the website showing what a Grade 3 class in Alberta learned about bridges http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/wonder/index.html is a PBS website with an interactive lab. The Wonders of the World Databank gives some fascinating stories about the history behind famous bridges, domes, skyscrapers, dams, and tunnels from around the world http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/jmac/rs/bridges.htm gives some background information about different kinds of bridges http://www.pghbridges.com/basics.htm is a website that looks in greater detail at different kinds of bridge construction and their variations. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bridge/build.html has an interactive activity where students must consider the appropriateness of different types of bridges for different geographical settings. http://www.balsabridge.com/bridge-van.htm has information about bridges around Vancouver http://www.balsabridge.com/images/bridge-van/slideshow.htm is a slide show of bridges around the Vancouver area. Peter Vogel, creator of the site, has graciously given permission for us to use prints of his photographs in the HCOS Structures resource bins. http://www.journalofcommerce.com/article/id31189 http://www.okanaganvacationguide.com/kelowna-bridge.html http://www.tac-atc.ca/english/resoudrcecentre/readingroom/conference/conf2007/docs/ s3/lachmuth.pdf History and information on how the Okanagan floating bridge in Kelowna, B.C. was constructed. In the beginning of March the Okanagan University College runs an annual spaghetti bridge building contest. To find out more about it, see http://www.okanagan.bc.ca/administration/publicaffairs/news.html?BlogEntryID=30027

8/1/2013 Revised