Building a House for the 4th Little Piggy!

This summer when we worked on re-writing the first grade curriculum we decided that we needed to challenge our students more to think "outside of the box".  With the shift to Common Core, we needed to start pushing our first graders to think in more complex ways, be more creative and innovative students and learners.  
SO, this past 3-day week we spent the WHOLE week working on a very special unit where the students were challenged to create a house for the fourth little pig! The students were super pumped because we stopped all other instruction for this-no reading, math or science besides all of the amazing skills that were lumped into this unit!  We read numerous versions of the 3 little pigs, discussed different houses and what important parts of a house are, created towers... and then finally the students created a "house" out of random recycled materials with a partner.  When they were done...we tested them.  The students and I tried to "blow" the houses down and then the pairs had to decide what they could have done differently to "fix" their broken houses.  It was Awesome!!!!  Watching the students work together, share ideas, brainstorm and create something-all while being completely engaged in a task that included so many subjects in it-was a thrill to watch!!!  Looking forward to more learning like this in first grade!!!!