Building 1/76th of the Great Wall of China

As a teacher this was a wonderful project to watch, the intensity of the student's work, the amazement that turned to tedium in the heat, and then the excitement of finishing, the return of the amazement and the need to show everyone they could find.  

The photographs show our journey of building 1/76th of the Great Wall of China that measured 14,494 centimeters. It started at our classroom, went around the playground, all the way to the second set of soccer bleachers.

 First we had to get blocks, we counted ours, sorted them by color to help with the calculations and set of to ask for more from other teachers.  We got as many as we could.

 

  The students worked in teams to build
sections of the wall, making it curved just  like the photographs of the actual wall they
had previously observed.  It didn't matter to them the exact shape, as they said, it is a representation not a copy.






As we were working, the third grade had spotted us from their window and came out to ask what we were doing. They quickly asked it they could help, "Of course" we said.

 A small group of students recorded the numbers of cubes and the length we had achieved, lots of addition and multiplication going on here.

We took a couple snack and water breaks, this was exhausting work on an unusually hot day, but the students persevered and at last the final blocks were being laid.

The finished wall - a relieved set of builders!

As soon as they were done a cry of "Hooray" went up and everyone fell to the ground!

Within seconds the next cry was, "Can we show everyone?" 

"I'll go to the Middle School."

"I'll get first and second grade"

"Can we show Cat?" Cat is our math specialist.

And they came, virtually the entire school came to visit our wall over the course of the next thirty minutes. The 4th grade led the visitors along the route, shared their experience and answered questions.

What an exhausting but fun day.  I was absolutely amazed at the incredible length the Great Wall of China must be.  At only 1/76 it was an incredible feat of patience and building for the 4th grade, I am glad we only had a limited number of cubes, we'd still be building now!