Building Bridges

Hi Friends! We can not believe how fast time is flying by! March is almost over and we have been working away on one of our favorite literature units so far this year. Earlier in the year as we were frantically searching for Common Core reading units we stumbled upon the BEST UNITS EVER!!!! I mean it, these are AMAZING! So amazing that we want to build a shrine for Tonya Gent, that's how much we love them!  OK, maybe not a shrine, but you get the idea. We love them and so do our students! 

The unit we are currently working on is Building Bridges. This unit is about literally building bridges and figuratively building bridges of friendship. It is so exciting to see our students make the connections to the literature and understanding the importance of working together as teams to complete a task. 

The first task of the unit was to have the students work as partners to build a bridge. If you want to see students panic, just hand them some supplies and tell them to build a bridge without any directions. It was such a fun task. 

Here are some of the creations they came up with.

After they built their bridges they realized that it was hard work and they needed to know more about bridges. So we studied up and completed a research project on bridges.

Then we built another bridge using our new knowledge. Here is how they turned out...

Aren't they great?!

We made a key and labeled our bridges with washi tape for a little extra fun. Then we put them on display in the school library for all the school to see. They were so proud! 

Here is a closer look at the key and the washi tape labels.

This was such a fun project! Can you see why we love this unit?! Our students are having so much fun learning! 

This week we are now onto the figurative bridges.  We are doing a close read of an unlikely friendship between two vastly different animals.  It is wonderful to see the students realize that this is a story of friendship!  

We would love to hear what exciting units you are using in your classrooms. 

Happy teaching!