Building a Better
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Elementary Studio Lesson
Jan Navah
In a discussion about architecture, my students learned that archi- tects must consider their client’s needs when designing a home.
In this project, the client students
needed to think about was a bird!
To complement their study of
bird migration in science class,
I decided to ask students to
“think like a bird” in order
to design wooden bird-
houses that they could
take home and actually
use.
There are several craft
suppliers who sell inex-
pensive wooden birdhouse
kits that glue together eas-
ily. Each has a hole and a
perch, in addition to
roof pieces and
front and back
pieces. I found
that if I ordered
a class pack, it was
less expensive than
ordering individual kits,
and the extra kits were
nice to have for students
who wanted to build
bird hotels or apartment
buildings that could
accommodate more than
one customer.
