Kindergarten Social Sciences ILS —15A, 15C, 16A, 18B

Construction Workers

Who are the people who build buildings and what tools do they use?

Theme This lesson helps students learn to identify the people who construct buildings and the tools workers use. Matching exercises, word wheels, and puzzles help students explore jobs and workers in their communities.

Student Objectives • describe the work of six construction workers and identify the job titles and photographs of each • read the words of four tools used in construction and match them with the correct drawings • choose pieces to complete two picture puzzles depicting construction workers

Activities • identify, cut out, sort, and match the job title of a construction worker with a corresponding picture • make a word wheel • complete a picture puzzle made from a photograph of a construction worker • sing songs about buildings and construction workers (included)

Type indoor, desktop activities

Timeframe three class sessions of 20 minutes each

Materials • Handout A - photographs of 6 Chicago-area construction workers • Handout B - job titles of 6 construction workers • Handout C - word wheel top • Handout D - word wheel bottom • Handouts E and F - mixed-up picture puzzles of a crane operator and a carpenter • Handout G - picture puzzle template • Handout H - photographs of iron workers building a skyscraper • brass paper fasteners (one per student) • scissors and glue • crayons • optional tools for display: paintbrush, hammer, screwdriver, saw, etc.

Teacher Prep • photocopy Handouts A–F (one per student) • photocopy Handout G (two per student)

Vocabularycarpenter person who builds and works with wood

plumber person who works on pipes and plumbing systems

welder person who uses a special flame to melt (weld) pieces of iron or steel together

iron worker person who joins together the iron and steel framework of a building

stone mason person who lays the bricks and stone for a building

crane operator person who runs the crane that lifts heavy building parts

architect person who designs and draws the building

engineer person who helps design the building to make it strong and safe

electrician person who installs wires and lights for electricity in a building

painter person who paints the building walls

paintbrush

hammer

screwdriver

saw

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Background Information for Teacher

The word “home” (and not “house”) is used throughout the lesson on purpose. “Home” helps to encompass all different types of dwellings where students may live.

photos All photos of construction workers © Patricia Evans, 2001. Used with permission.

Activity Procedures To be completed in any order over three class sessions

Use Handouts A and B to introduce and discuss the professions of six construction workers, the work they do, and their job titles.

Give each student a set of Handouts A and B. Have students cut apart the six photographs and words, then match the worker with the title. Glue the

words on the blank space below the picture of each worker.

Distribute Handouts C and D showing the two parts to the word wheel. Have students cut around the two large circles, then cut out the two large

windows in the home and the rectangle piece to cover the bottom window. Place the picture of the home on top of the pictures of the tools and join the two circles together with a brass paper fastener. Students can color the home on the wheel as desired.

Give each student one copy of Handouts E and F (mixed-up picture puzzles) and two copies of Handout G (picture puzzle template). Have

the students cut out the mixed-up puzzles and glue the correct pieces together on the templates.

Sing some of the new construction songs presented at the end of this lesson. You may need to relate some of the words in the songs to the

workers and tools shown in Handout A. Or, bring in several real tools to show your students.

Schoolyards to Skylines © 2002 Chicago Architecture Foundation

Discussion Points • Have you ever seen any buildings under construction in your neighborhood?

• What kind of building was being built?

• What jobs were the workers doing at the building?

• What kinds of tools were they using?

• Would you like to do any of these jobs when you get older? Which ones? Why?

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Extensions

• Talk about different fixtures, furniture, and parts of your classrooms, discussing which of the six construction workers may have worked on them. Example: wooden desk / carpenter; brick walls / stone mason; sink and toilet / plumber; lights / electrician.

• Use wooden blocks, cardboard “bricks”, Legos®, Tinker Toys®, or Lincoln Logs® in your classroom to help strengthen the ability of students to visualize, design, build, and think in three dimensions.

• If a construction project is occurring near your school, take advantage of this opportunity to observe workers in action. Talk frequently with your class about what is happening on the site and record the progress on a timeline or a picture chart.

• Play a game of charades. Have some students act out the different professions with the sounds that tools make, while the rest of the class guesses who they are pretending to be.

• Invite a guest speaker to your class. Send a list of these design, engineering, and construction professions home with your students, asking for volunteers to visit your classroom. A relative or friend who is a carpenter, for example, can be invited to talk about what they do and to show some of the tools used in their profession.

• Add some construction worker dress-up clothes and tools to your dramatic play area. Items such as a hard hat, work gloves, protective goggles, boots, overalls, and paintbrushes will provide many of opportunities for creative role-playing.

• Mix up some homemade Kool-Aid® playdough for your students to experience creative building. Provide them with plastic disposable knives, a rolling pin, and other tools so they may mimic construction workers and the work they do.

Kool-Aid® Playdough Recipe

One batch is sufficient for 2–3 students to work with at one time. For a wonderful color and fragrance, use grape, orange, or cherry flavor. For white unscented playdough, simply omit the Kool-Aid®.

Mix together: 3 cups bleached white flour 1-1/2 cups salt 3 tablespoons cream of tartar Set aside this mixture.

Bring to a boil: 3 cups water 1/4 cup cooking oil 1 small package of no-sugar-added Kool-Aid®

Add the hot liquid to the dry mixture. Knead until smooth. Store in an airtight container or a strong zippered plastic bag.

Interdisciplinary ConnectionPhysical Education Talk about how iron workers must work high above the ground when they are building a skyscraper with structural steel beams. The workers are usually harnessed to the structure so they don’t fall off, but they still need to have excellent balance. Show the pictures of steel workers on Handout H and discuss how it may feel to walk along the steel beams up in the air. Represent a steel beam with your school’s balance beam or a long piece of masking tape on the floor. Students can practice walking heel to toe without falling off.

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Oh, Do You Know Who Built My Home?sung to the tune of: Oh, Do You Know the Muffin Man?

Oh, do you know who built my home? who built my home who built my home Oh, do you know who built my home? It took the work of many

An architect, designed my home designed my home designed my home An architect, designed my home It took the work of many

The carpenters, hammered and sawed hammered and sawed hammered and sawed The carpenters, hammered and sawed It took the work of many

The painting crew, painted the walls... The stone masons, laid the bricks... The concrete crew, poured concrete... The plumbers worked, to fit the pipes... Electricians, gave us lights...

Now I know who built my home...

B-U-I-L-D sung to the tune of: B-I-N-G-O

There was a painter who used a brush to paint all of the plain walls P-A-I-N-T, P-A-I-N-T, P-A-I-N-T to paint all of the plain walls

The carpenter who used a hammer to hammer all the nails N-A-I-L-S, N-A-I-L-S, N-A-I-L-S to hammer all the nails

An architect who used a computer, black pens, and a scale to measure S-C-A-L-E, S-C-A-L-E, S-C-A-L-E black pens, and scales to measure

There was a mason who used a trowel to stack all of the red bricks B-R-I-C-K, B-R-I-C-K, B-R-I-C-K to stack all of the red bricks

Electricians used screwdrivers to install colored wires W-I-R-E-S, W-I-R-E-S, W-I-R-E-S to install colored wires

There was a plumber who used a wrench to fit all of the round pipes P-I-P-E-S, P-I-P-E-S, P-I-P-E-S to fit all of the round pipes

Schoolyards to Skylines © 2002 Chicago Architecture Foundation

Resources Bam, Bam, Bam, Eve Merriman, Dan Yaccarion, illust. New York: Henry Holt, 1995.

Building, Elisha Cooper. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1999.

Building a House, Byron Barton. New York: Puffin Books, 1984.

Construction (First Discovery Book X), Philippe Biard, ed. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1997.

How a House is Built, Gail Gibbons. New York: Holiday House, 1990.

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New songs from the Chicago Architecture Foundation using old favorite melodies: (Use and teach verses as needed.)

Illinois Learning Standards and Benchmarks 15A Understand how different economic systems operate in the exchange, production, distribution and consumption of goods and services.

15.A.1b Describe how wages/salaries can be earned in exchange for work.

15C Understand that scarcity necessitates choices by producers.

15.C.1a Describe how human, natural and capital resources are used to produce goods and services.

16A Apply the skills of historical analysis and interpretation.

16.A.1b Ask historical questions and seek out answers from historical resources (e.g., myths, biographies, stories, old photographs, artwork, other visual or electronic sources).

18B Understand the roles and interactions of individuals and groups in society.

18.B.1a Compare the roles of individuals in group situations (e.g., student, committee member, employee/employer).

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Many People Work Together sung to the tune of: The More We Get Together

chorus: Many people work together together, together many people work together to build skyscrapers

verses: Architects design plans engineers make buildings strong many people work together to build skyscrapers

The workers pour concrete and carpenters hammer many people work together to build skyscrapers

Stone masons use trowels and workers weld steel many people work together to build skyscrapers

Crane operators lift beams and painters use brushes many people work together to build skyscrapers

Businessmen and businesswomen work in the skyscrapers up and down in elevators they move floor to floor

This is the Way We Build a Homesung to the tune of: This is the Way We Go to School

This is the way we build a home build a home build a home This is the way we build a home and make a place to live

This is the way we pound the nails pound the nails pound the nails This is the way we pound the nails and make a place to live

This is way we saw the wood...

This is the way we stir the paint...

This is the way we paint the walls...

This is the way we lift the crane...

This is the way we stack the bricks...

This is the way we drive the truck...

Schoolyards to Skylines © 2002 Chicago Architecture Foundation

Handout A

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Construction Workers

Schoolyards to Skylines © 2002 Chicago Architecture Foundation

Handout B

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carpenter

stone mason

welder

iron worker

crane operator

plumber

cut along the dotted lines

Schoolyards to Skylines © 2002 Chicago Architecture Foundation

Handout C

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Social Sciences

Construction Workers

cut along the dotted lines

Cut out this rectangle and glue it on the left side of the bottom window, matching up the “+”, to create a flap for hiding answers.

What tools do we use to build a home?

Schoolyards to Skylines © 2002 Chicago Architecture Foundation

Handout D

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cut along the dotted line

screwdriverhammer

pain

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Handout E

Schoolyards to Skylines © 2002 Chicago Architecture Foundation

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Social Sciences

Construction Workers

cut along the dotted lines

Schoolyards to Skylines © 2002 Chicago Architecture Foundation

Handout F

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cut along the dotted lines

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Handout G

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Social Sciences

Construction Workers

Schoolyards to Skylines © 2002 Chicago Architecture Foundation

Handout H

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