Third Grade Shelter Projects - Shepherd Valley Waldorf School

How Do the People of the
World Build Shelters
This notebook documents the model shelter projects for an entire third grade class
at Shepherd Valley Waldorf School in Niwot, Colorado. As parents, we were really
amazed by the variety, the creativity, and the intricacy of the projects! And the
shelter styles represent many places in the world. The students learned so much, not
only from building their own projects but from all their classmates.
This was intended to be a cooperative project between parents and students. In this
way, the parents served as role models for their children, for researching a subject
and for designing and building a model. This experience in third grade is one part
of a larger curriculum which is very effective at developing the creative capacities
of the children. When the children from this third grade class are a little older, they
will be able to work independently to carry out extensive creative projects, which is
evident at any Shepherd Valley campus visit. For these future projects, the children
will be filled with confidence based on this third grade experience!
The children were asked to make an oral presentation about their shelter projects
and be able to speak about them conversationally. Some even prepared written
information for their classmates! In this notebook are some excerpts of the ways the
students explained their own shelters.
Speaking as a parent, it was really fun to be engaged in this project. I think most
parents felt this way. I hope you enjoy seeing our children's projects as much as we
enjoyed helping to create them!
–Tamara Andreas, Shepherd Valley Waldorf School Parent and editor of this
document
©2012 Shepherd Valley Waldorf School. 6500 W. Dry Creek Parkway, Niwot, CO, 80503
Call 303-652-0130 for information or to schedule a visit or classroom tour. www.ShepherdValley.org