Architectural Resources for Primary School Teachers
As you look for new and fun things to do while kids are out of school, here are some resources. These were created a few years ago, but I think it is still relevant.
Here are several architectural coloring books with houses. Just download the pdf and print out the pages you want to color. Click the link here: Architectural Coloring books
Want to challenge your student with new vocabulary? Here is a list of Green Terms Defined.
Have a young one learning shapes – get them to find the shapes in these architectural photos: Architectural Shapes
15 Week Architecture Construction and Engineering Course
When I was in Charlottesville I taught a 15 week course to introduce high school students to the construction industry. Here is the syllabus for the program. ACE Mentor Program Design Challenge
Class Activity – Draw this room to scale
Gather supplies of a ruler (or any straight edge), graph paper (paper with squares on it) and a pencil, or a pen if you are desperate.
With the paper on the table, use your
FEET and measure out the length and width of the room where you are located by
walking from one wall across the room to the other side of the room.
Using the squares on the paper, where one square equals one footstep, mark the paper, and use the ruler to make straight lines. This is NOT easy for some people, so make sure that you are using the straight edge to make straight lines and ask for help if it keeps getting messed up.
Origami House
Build and decorate a quick house. Make a few and you can have a small village full of Origami Houses
Our friends at NEED.org always have cool resources. Here is a list of Distance Learning Resources that are hands on. NEED.org
If you know of links I should include, let me know by adding to the comments below.
Here is another resource I created while working with a Kindergarten class several years ago. These architectural shape activity pages are for Kindergarten – maybe second grade. Or maybe for anyone that is board and likes to do seek and find puzzles. How many shapes can you find in each photo? Post your results and let us know how many you find.
There are simple energy fixes for your home that you can do while staying at home for a few days. I do lots of energy audits and the most common challenge I find in almost every house is air leakage around and thru While each of these is a small hole in your thermal envelope, there are a lot of these small holes. Here is a thermal image of a typical outlet. In this image, white is warm and dark is cold air. This is an outlet in an exterior wall, but I also find this on interior walls.
You can see cold air coming around the decorative cover plate and through the outlets themselves.
It is easy to take the decorative plate off. Don’t touch the wires inside. You will want to use a silicone caulk to fix the gap. There is a plastic box that holds the outlet in place. The gap between the plastic box and the drywall / plaster is the leak. Simply fill the gap with caulk.
So this reduces the air flow but does not stop it completely. If you have any child protection plugs you can insert them into the outlets after reattaching the decorative plate. You can also order a pack of pre-cut insulation that is designed to go behind the decorative plate.
Once sealed, this hole in your drywall is no longer a source of air leaking into and out of your home. This will improve your indoor air quality and potentially reduce your monthly energy bills.
My goal in providing free energy audits has been to help people make their homes more comfortable, energy-efficient, and durable.
In 2016, I started offering free energy audits for anyone in the valley. I worked with HEC on those in the city of Harrisonburg to start with and on my own for those in the County. I wanted to help people understand their homes and businesses – the most complicated machines they will ever own. With the knowledge of how these machines run, these home and business owners (and many churches) could make changes to improve comfort, reduce energy, clean up indoor air quality, and make their homes more durable.
This morning I performed one of the last audits I will be able to do for some time – there’s just not time to run for office (www.hendricksforharrisonburg.com) and provide this service while being a single dad and business owner. Here are blog links that I hope will help you improve comfort and energy-efficiency without a full audit.
Historic Preservation of our city structures is important for the health of our community. Just a few years ago the area to the west of Rt. 11 near Bruce St. was dark, abandoned, and had frequent graffiti outbreaks.
Then Matchbox Properties renovated the building along west Bruce St. that started a revitalization. Then the Ice House came back to life with JMU, restaurants, store, and offices moving in. Finally our building, The Depot, was renovated. Now this corner of downtown is vibrant, landscaped, and active on a daily basis. This is an example of how you can use existing buildings to activate a space.
The Denton Building on court square is another landmark that has been saved and brings life to downtown.
I believe Harrisonburg made a mistake as a community when multiple buildings in downtown were demolished to build the courts building and jail. This was an active business community at the time and if those buildings existed today would not only be providing tax revenue for our city budget, but would also create a place for business to thrive. The courts and jail complex buildings are specifically designed to reduce activity on the street outside of them, closing off their walls due to their function.
I am not against taking down all buildings. Some buildings do not meet the standard of historic and do not add to the historical fabric of our place. There should be a community conversation about which buildings are important to save and which buildings could be replaced for a higher and better use before any building is taken down.
It is that time of year again, time to support Big Brothers Big Sisters by bowling for kids’ sake. This year the theme “Bowl Wars” has helped to name our team. We are Return of the Jedi Architects.
If you are interested in bowling sign up for a team and raise some money. Want to join our team let me know. Most important – WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT. you can donate HERE.
Bowl for Kids’ Sake is the signature for BBBS. Each year, Bowl for Kids’ Sake provides nearly 1/4 of the funds it takes to provide professionally-guided mentoring services free of charge to nearly 500 children and families in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. No bowling skills? No problem! Bowl for Kids’ Sake is a great way to have fun with friends, family, or co-workers while making an impact on our community.
On Saturday, March 16, 2019, hundreds of community members and businesses will come together to participate in Bowl for Kids’ Sake 2019. Together we hope to reach our goal of $112,000!
Because of you, more local children facing adversity will have the opportunity to benefit from the guidance of a caring adult mentor in 2019. Big Brothers Big Sisters will put the money raised to immediate use in our community to match more Littles with Bigs to help them rise above their challenges and stay on a positive path.
