Monday, July 24, 2017

Brain Break: Paper Cup Columns

Hello again!

Today's post is a quick one. It works both as a Brain Break and as a more standard lesson-type activity, depending on how you use it. It's fun and engaging. Plus, as a bonus - it incorporates a buzzword from the past few years of education - STEAM. For more info on Brain Breaks, see my previous post about the Sticky Step. For more information on STEAM, check out this short page on STEAM Basics.

Preparation: You will need some specific materials, and students assigned to groups (or maybe partners if necessary)
Stacking the Cups
  • Paper Dixie Cups (5 oz. size) - 15 per group
  • Scissors - 2/3 pairs per group
  • Students will also need prior knowledge about the three major classical orders or an explainer sheet (see picture at right)

Goal of the Activity:
Build 3 columns, one Doric, one Ionic, and one Corinthian.

Sample Columns
A majestic Corinthian column
A simple, free-standing Doric column

Victory criteria: 
  • The different capitals on the columns must demonstrate knowledge of their features.
  • Each column must be 5 cups tall.
  • Each column must be free-standing.

Some notes:
  • The first time students do this activity, they will probably find it difficult.
  •  many of STEAM or STEM activities, you can run it as a
    • race (first team to finish wins!)
    • challenge (every team that completes the activity wins!) 
  • You can increase the difficulty of the activity by adding to the height of each column. 
  • If you use it as a Brain Break, you can recycle the cups!
  • If, by chance, you used paper cups with the Solo Jazz design, that would be the bomb. :-)
classic, but not classical, cups from the ’90s

2 comments:

  1. Do you have a link you could post for the column handout? I think my Latin 4s would like such a hands-on brain break or activity.

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  2. Good question! It's not my material to share - the handout came from the Exploratory Latin Exam Activity Packet:
    http://www.aclclassics.org/store/teaching-packets/ele/e15-cd-version.html

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