Slide outline for Lesson 4.1. Thirteen slides, one day. The six housing type slides double as the review cards before the Home Safety and Conservation Quiz. [Sal: replace the described photos with photos of housing in your own town where you can; students match faster when the buildings look familiar.]
Spaces We Live In
- Unit 4, Lesson 4.1
- Today: the seven jobs of a home, who needs what, and six kinds of housing
- You are the housing counselor today
Teacher notes
Image: a street with an apartment building, a house, and a row of townhouses side by side.
Leave this up while students enter.
Do now
- Think of any home you know: yours, a relative's, one from a show
- No addresses
- One sentence: one thing that home does well for the people in it, and one thing it does badly
- Two minutes
Teacher notes
Cold call four students for the "does well" half. Write the answers in a column on the board. You will match them to the seven jobs on the next slide.
A home has seven jobs
- Shelter: keeps out rain, cold, heat
- Safety: locks, detectors, nothing to trip on
- Storage: a place for your things
- Rest: sleep and quiet
- Work: homework, cooking, laundry
- Play: fun and company
- Belonging: it feels like yours
Teacher notes
Image: a row of seven small pictures: a roof in the rain, a lock, a closet, a bed, a kitchen counter, a board game, a family photo on a wall.
Match the do now column on the board to the seven. Almost every "does well" answer lands on one of them. Students copy the seven onto the top of the handout.
Your living space is bigger than your house
- The state says: family, school, work, and community are all part of your living space
- Which of the seven jobs does this school do for you?
- Hand vote, one job at a time
Teacher notes
Image: a map-style drawing with a house in the middle, a school, a store, a park, and a workplace around it, with lines connecting them.
This is NYS EDM 1. a) in plain words. Expect shelter, safety, work, play, belonging. Rest and storage get laughs; take them.
Four Corners
- BABY / TEEN / GRANDPARENT / WHEELCHAIR USER
- Your person just moved into a plain two-bedroom apartment
- List three things this person needs from the home that another person might not
- Four minutes, then one reporter per corner
Teacher notes
Send a quarter of the class to each corner. Circulate. Push "why" on every need: what happens if the home does not have it?
Universal design
- Design the home so it works for as many people as possible, without changing it later
- No-step entrance, doors 32 inches or wider, lever handles, a shower with no lip, light switches you can reach sitting down
- Good for a wheelchair user, a grandparent, a parent carrying a baby, and a teen on crutches
Teacher notes
Image: a front door with a gentle ramp instead of steps, and a lever handle.
Ask: who else besides a wheelchair user is helped by a no-step entrance? Take three answers.
Apartment
- A unit in a building with other units
- Usually rented; the landlord fixes things
- Shared walls, halls, sometimes an elevator
Teacher notes
Image: a three-story brick apartment building with a row of mailboxes by the door.
Single-family house
- Stands alone on its own land
- Usually owned; the owner fixes things
- A yard, a driveway, more space, more work
Teacher notes
Image: a two-story house with a small front yard and a driveway.
Condo and townhouse
- Condo: you own your unit and share the building; you pay a monthly fee for the shared parts
- Townhouse: attached on one or two sides; you own the unit and usually a small yard
- Both can be owned; townhouses are often rented too
Teacher notes
Image: left, a modern building with balconies; right, a row of narrow attached two-story homes.
Manufactured home and shared housing
- Manufactured (mobile) home: built in a factory, moved to a lot; you often own the home and rent the lot
- Shared housing: roommates who split rent, or several generations in one home
- Both are common and both can do all seven jobs
Teacher notes
Image: left, a single-story manufactured home on a lot with a shed; right, a house with three bikes out front.
Rent or own
- Rent: monthly payments to a landlord; easy to move; the landlord repairs; you do not build ownership
- Own: a mortgage (a loan for a home); harder to move; you repair; part of each payment builds ownership
- Neither is better. It depends on the family, the money, and how long they will stay
Teacher notes
Image: two columns, a key with a lease on the left and a key with a house deed on the right.
Students fill in the two definition lines on the handout. Do not open the rent-versus-own argument today; Lesson 4.16 and Unit 2 handle the money side.
Match the Family to the Home
- Teams of three
- Six families, six homes, no repeats
- Every match needs a reason from the card: "This family needs ___, and this home has ___"
- One family has no perfect fit; pick the least bad and say what is missing
- Twelve minutes
Teacher notes
Say the rule twice: the card tells you the need, the listing tells you what the home has. If the sentence does not name both, it is not done. Circulate with the checklist.
Exit card
- 3 of the seven jobs of a home
- 2 needs that change when a grandparent moves in
- 1 type of housing you want to know more about
Teacher notes
Three students read one line aloud. Sort the cards before the next period.