Background
The Looking at Homes, 1st and 2nd class unit for geography will enable the pupils to develop the following skills:
- Use of pictures and plans
- Questioning
- Observing
- Predicting
- Investigating
- Estimating and measuring
- Analysing
- Recording and communicating
Through completing the unit the pupils will develop a sense of place and a sense of space.
Curriculum Integration
The unit suggests a cross-curricular approach, integrating the study of the strand unit Living in the Local Community from the Geography curriculum with the strand units Change and Continuity in the Local Environment and When my Grandparents were Young from the History Curriculum. Other possibilities for integration might be Gaeilge (Sa Bhaile), English (Poetry and stories), Physical Education (Simple Orienteering), Maths (drawing up floor plans and simple maps of immediate environment), Art (Sketching own house, 3D construction).
Overview of Unit
This unit is divided into two sections. The first section (Types of Homes and Building a School) looks at the different types of homes in the pupils' environment and in other contrasting parts of the country. The pupils will be encouraged to look closely at the design of the front of their own houses and to complete a detailed sketch. They will look at the sequence of stages in the building of a school and they will identify the main building materials used.
The second section (Plans and Pictures) looks at a front elevation and floor plan of a bungalow. Following careful exploration of the floor plan, the pupils are encouraged to draw up a plan of the ground floor of their own homes. Each section will probably take two teaching sessions and the whole unit may take four.