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The first time I laid eyes on the Eiffel Tower, I cried. To see that iconic building spinning gracefully overhead was more than my young adult self could imagine. Get your students reading and falling in love with this Parisian fixture. |
English/Language Arts
Explore word choice - imagery
Spidery, majestic, illustrious, iron skeleton - these are all words and phrases Author Munro incorporates in this Minute. These words evoke images and feelings that would not enter the reader’s mind if they were absent. Send your students through this article looking for the words that make them “see” what she is talking about. Then send them to their own writing journals to add some language to tantalize the senses of their readers.
Explore biography
This biographical Minute explores both the life of the engineer, Gustav Eiffel, and his famous tower. Have your students explore the Tower’s website to get more information about how it was built, the man who built it, and take a virtual ride to the top!
Social Studies
Explore the French Revolution
Author Munro tells readers that the Eiffel Tower was designed and constructed for the International Exhibition of Paris, held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Have your students take a closer look at this War - the causes, the outcome, and the aftermath.
STEM
Explore architectural engineering
Time for some construction fun! Run some close up pictures of the Tower and see if your students can recreate the base using construction materials of their choice. What are the challenges? Do some materials work better than others? What kinds of factors should they consider that are materials based? Location based? How do you balance the two?
Explore materials - metals
When students do a little digging, they will find that Eiffel was an engineer enamoured with all things metal. Have your student experiment with different metals in the classroom. What do they observe? How do metals work? What do they need to know to create using metal? Where can they get the raw materials? Explore the medium!
Art
Explore architecture as an art form
One look at Author Munro’s painting of a portion of the Eiffel Tower will convince your students that interesting architecture can make for beautiful art. Have students find a building feature and draw a close up view. Encourage them to play with perspective - draw the view from the top looking down, the bottom looking up, from behind, from the right, etc. If they use features around the school, you can have students see if they can guess the location of the feature in the art.
Research Skills
Explore the power of video content
Use this Minute to take a look at video as a research source. YouTube has a video that shares pictures during the construction timeline of the tower. What else can your students find? If they use it in research, how do they cite a video source?
Explore word choice - imagery
Spidery, majestic, illustrious, iron skeleton - these are all words and phrases Author Munro incorporates in this Minute. These words evoke images and feelings that would not enter the reader’s mind if they were absent. Send your students through this article looking for the words that make them “see” what she is talking about. Then send them to their own writing journals to add some language to tantalize the senses of their readers.
Explore biography
This biographical Minute explores both the life of the engineer, Gustav Eiffel, and his famous tower. Have your students explore the Tower’s website to get more information about how it was built, the man who built it, and take a virtual ride to the top!
Social Studies
Explore the French Revolution
Author Munro tells readers that the Eiffel Tower was designed and constructed for the International Exhibition of Paris, held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Have your students take a closer look at this War - the causes, the outcome, and the aftermath.
STEM
Explore architectural engineering
Time for some construction fun! Run some close up pictures of the Tower and see if your students can recreate the base using construction materials of their choice. What are the challenges? Do some materials work better than others? What kinds of factors should they consider that are materials based? Location based? How do you balance the two?
Explore materials - metals
When students do a little digging, they will find that Eiffel was an engineer enamoured with all things metal. Have your student experiment with different metals in the classroom. What do they observe? How do metals work? What do they need to know to create using metal? Where can they get the raw materials? Explore the medium!
Art
Explore architecture as an art form
One look at Author Munro’s painting of a portion of the Eiffel Tower will convince your students that interesting architecture can make for beautiful art. Have students find a building feature and draw a close up view. Encourage them to play with perspective - draw the view from the top looking down, the bottom looking up, from behind, from the right, etc. If they use features around the school, you can have students see if they can guess the location of the feature in the art.
Research Skills
Explore the power of video content
Use this Minute to take a look at video as a research source. YouTube has a video that shares pictures during the construction timeline of the tower. What else can your students find? If they use it in research, how do they cite a video source?
© Karen Sterling, 2018 - May be used for educational purposes without written permission
