Write ROMAN ARCHITECTURE on a large block. Put tiles of historical Roman buildings on medium blocks and place them in front of the ROMAN ARCHITECTURE block.
Write SIZE, COLOR, SHAPE and MATERIAL on the sides of one large block.


Present picture #1 to students. Point the reflective side of the SIZE/COLOR/SHAPE/MATERIAL block at the picture. Discuss the characteristics of the building. Flip the SIZE/COLOR/SHAPE/MATERIAL block around to look at the same building from several points of view.

• From the perspective of size, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of color, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of shape, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of material, how does the building look?
• What other parts does the building have?

Have a student list the characteristics of the building on a card. Next to each characteristic, they can place a small block. When they have finished talking about the building, the small blocks can go into the corresponding medium block.


Place the index card with the small blocks aside. Repeat the previous step with the picture #2 and #3.

• From the perspective of size, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of color, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of shape, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of material, how does the building look?
• What other parts does the building have?

• From the perspective of size, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of color, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of shape, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of material, how does the building look?
• What other parts does the building have?

Compare the three lists that students have made about the three Roman buildings.

• What parts do these buildings have in common?

As students answer, place small blocks inside the ROMAN ARCHITECTURE block. Have one student make a list of the common characteristics of the three buildings on an index card and place the list in the ROMAN ARCHITECTURE block.

Repeat the process about Greek architecture.

• From the perspective of size, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of color, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of shape, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of material, how does the building look?
• What other parts does the building have?

• From the perspective of size, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of color, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of shape, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of material, how does the building look?
• What other parts does the building have?

• From the perspective of size, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of color, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of shape, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of material, how does the building look?
• What other parts does the building have?

• What parts do these buildings have in common?

Repeat the process about Washington D.C. architecture.

• From the perspective of size, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of color, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of shape, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of material, how does the building look?
• What other parts does the building have?

• From the perspective of size, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of color, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of shape, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of material, how does the building look?
• What other parts does the building have?

• From the perspective of size, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of color, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of shape, how does the building look?
• From the perspective of material, how does the building look?
• What other parts does the building have?

• What parts do these buildings have in common?

As in the image below, organize the ROMAN ARCHITECTURE, GREEK ARCHITECTURE and WASHINGTON D.C. ARCHITECTURE blocks and four medium blocks on a surface you can write on.

Explain to students that they will first look at the relationship between Roman and Greek architecture.

Have them compare the notecards with the characteristics of Roman and Greek architecture.

• What is the relationship between Roman and Greek architecture?

As students answer, place small blocks inside the medium blocks.

Repeat the previous step about the relationship between Roman and Washington D.C. architecture and between Greek and Washington D.C. architecture.

• What is the relationship between Roman architecture and Washington D.C. architecture?
• What is the relationship between Greek architecture and Washington D.C. architecture?

Discuss the relationship among the three types of architecture.

• What is the relationship among the Roman, Greek and Washington D.C. architecture?

Connect the ROMAN ARCHITECTURE block and the GREEK ARCHITECTURE block. Discuss the relationship between Roman/Greek architecture and Washington D.C. architecture.

• What is the relationship between Roman/Greek architecture and Washington D.C. architecture?

As students answer, place small blocks inside the medium blocks.