Economics and Geography Lessons

Houses and Homes

MCPS Status of Book as of 4/4/96:
Approved as a Reading/Language Arts Core Book for Grade 1
Approved as Library Book for Grades K-3

Title: Houses and Homes, by Ann Morris (Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Books, New York, NY, 1992)

Lesson Developed by Barbara S. Yingling

Literature Annotation: This photographic collection of 29 homes around the world gives children a glimpse into a rich variety of cultures and customs. Photographer Ken Heyman transports the reader to six continents to show how people all over the world create homes that meet their needs.

Grade Level: 2-3

Duration: 45-60 minutes

Economic Concepts: Economic Resources, Wants and Needs

Geography Themes: Place, Relationships; Humans and Environments, Regions

MSPAP Outcomes and Indicators:

Economic Outcome: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the historical development and the current status of economic principles, institutions,, and processes needed to be effective citizens, consumers, and workers in American society.

Indicator:

• Describe the relationship between economic wants and needs.
• Identify economic resources located within a community.

Geography Outcome: Students will demonstrate an understanding of geographic concepts and processes as needed to examine the role of culture, technology, and the environment in the location and distribution of human activities.

Indicators:

• Explain the relationship between the physical setting of a community and its ability to satisfy the wants and needs of its people.
• Predict the effects of living in a given geographic setting on people's lives.

Objectives: Students will be able to:

• Identify the kinds of natural resources used in creating homes for peoples of the world.
• Examine the relationship between the type of home and its ability to meet the needs of the people in a given climatic region.

Vocabulary: canals, barges, animal hides, palm fronds

Materials:

• Book: Houses and Homes World map
• Atlas
• Plain white paper, 2 pieces for each student
• Crayons
• Pictures of climatic regions of the world like rainforest, tundra, arctic, and desert. (The pictures should not show any homes.), 1 for each group of 4-5 students
• Chart: How Homes Meet Wants and Needs, 1 for each student or a class chart

Teacher Background: Prior knowledge of climatic regions and economic resources is assumed.

Lesson Development:

Motivation:

1. Give each student a piece of paper on which to draw a picture of their home. Put some of the pictures on the board for comparison.
2. Conduct a discussion of the following:
   • How are the homes alike and different?
   • What natural resources were used in making these homes?
   • What wants and needs are met by these kinds of homes. (Think of climate conditions, safety, communication, comfort, etc.)

Activities:

1. Show the students the picture of the house in Bali on page 26 of the book. Ask:

   What can you tell me about the climate of the country where this man built his house? What natural resources did the builder of this house use? (wood, straw)

2. Locate Bali on a world map (northwest of Australia). Point out the location of Bali in relation to the equator. Tell the students that many countries near the equator have hot climates due to the directness of the sun's rays. Ask:

   How does his house help him meet his need to stay cool and his other needs? (The walls are like window blinds that can be rolled up or down to let in breezes but keep out the hot sunlight. There are no permanent walls or windows, but the roof would keep out rain or sunlight.)

3. Show the picture on page 27 of the house in Canada. Ask:

   Would the house from Bali with the roll-up walls satisfy the owner's needs in this environment? Why or why not? (No, this climate is much colder and roll-up walls would not protect the owner from the freezing air.)

4. Locate Canada on the world map. Point out how far north of the equator this country is located. Help the students to make the generalization that the farther one is from the equator, the colder the winters generally are. Ask:

   What natural resources were used to build this home? (Wooden logs were used for the walls. It appears that some kind of metal may have been used for the roof; a metal stove pipe reaches high above the roof so that it can't be buried by the snow; the metal is made from a mineral such as tin or iron. Glass windows are in the log walls; glass is made from sand, a natural resource.)

5. Show the picture on page 25. Ask:

   How did these people from Thailand take advantage of water when they built their homes?" (They built their homes right on the water. They use the water for transporting people in boats.)

6. Locate Thailand on the world map. Use an annual rainfall map of Asia in an atlas to show that Thailand can get 80 inches or more of rain per year. Explain that heavy rains can cause flooding so houses are built to avoid a flooding problem. Ask:

   What change did they need to make in their houses to be this close to water?" (Most of the houses are built up on stilts so that the water can't come into the houses. Steps are built to get down to the level of the water. Note: The students may also be interested in the hats that look like little lamp shades. These hats protect the wearers from the hot sun and rain.)

7. Show the picture on pages 18-19.

   Ask: "What natural resource did the people who built this house use? Why might they have used rocks instead of wood?" (Note that there are not many trees available on the coast while rocks are plentiful.)

8. Post the chart: How Homes Meet Wants and Needs, on the board or offer individual charts for the students to complete after the reading of the book. Discuss what each heading means. Tell the students to watch and listen for information for the chart as you read the book aloud. Help the students to complete the chart for any 5 of the homes in the book.

   Note: The first time you read the book, read just the text. Then reread the book, using the notes from the index in the back of the book.

Conclusion/Closure: Help the students to draw these conclusions:

• Homes fit the needs and wants of people in their environment.
• People use the resources available to them to build their homes.

Thoughtful Application:

1. Distribute one of the climatic region pictures to each group of 4-5 students. Direct the students to keep the picture hidden from the other groups of students. Say:

   Your group is to design a home that would be suitable for a family living in the region in your picture. Think about: temperature, rainfall/flooding, comfort/safety, and resources available in that place to use in building the home. Work with your group to draw a picture of a home that would meet the wants and needs of the people in that place. Show how the natural resources of the area would be used in building the home.

2. When the group drawings are completed, display them on the board. Assign a letter (A,B,C, etc.) to each drawing. Collect the "secret" climatic region pictures and set up a separate display on the board. Give each of the region pictures a number (1,2,3, etc.)

3. Distribute a blank sheet of paper to each student. Have the students fold the paper into 4 sections (8 sections total front and back). Direct the students to number the sections to correspond with the numbers of the region pictures on the board. Tell the students to match each group drawing to a climatic region picture and write the letter of the drawing by the correct number on their paper. After the students have matched each picture to a group drawing, direct the students support their selection by writing reasons in each box.

   Examples:

   • Climatic region picture 2 matches group drawing C; there is snow in the region and the walls of the house are snow blocks.
   • Climatic region picture 4 matches group drawing A; the grass used to make the roof came from the fields in that region.

Extension: Have the students add their own homes to the chart. Discuss how, even through they all live in the same region, their homes are not all alike. Create a list of reasons why homes in the same region may be different because of different wants and needs. Discuss the natural, human and capital resources needed to build the students' homes.

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