Source Type 5 - Reading a Building

Examine 4-photo set of one local landmark building from 4 angles.

• Affirm: 'A building is a primary source.'
• Set 5-feature framing

Today we meet Source Type 5: ARCHITECTURE. A building is itself a primary source. We use a 5-feature observation routine: (1) MATERIALS - wood, brick, stone, steel? When were they common? (2) STYLE - tall windows, gables, columns, ornament? What era? (3) PURPOSE - home, mill, school, church, store, bank? (4) CHANGES - what was added or altered? (5) SETTING - what is next to it now, and might have been next to it then? Faith Ringgold's Tar Beach uses a real Harlem rooftop as primary setting - she shows us how a child can READ a building.

• Material correlates with era.

  model Red brick with white-painted wood trim. Likely 1880s-1920s era when red brick was common for commercial buildings.

  prompt What can you tell about this building from its MATERIALS?

• Name the 5 features.
• What does MATERIALS tell us?

M-3-F-HIS-11-A Photograph

Set of 4 high-resolution photographs 8x10 of ONE real local landmark building from 4 angles (front, side, rear, detail close-up of materials/ornament). Teacher-localized. Building selected from teacher's curated list (must include at least one marginalized-community-significant building - e.g., historically Black church, immigrant neighborhood center, labor-hall, women's club, Indigenous community building - across the lesson 11/18 set). Source line: 'photographed [date] for educational use.'

• Individually complete MG-7 for one local landmark building.
• Share one inference about the building's age with a partner.

M-3-F-HIS-11-B Diagram

MG-7 reproduction at 8.5x11 portrait. 5 numbered boxes: MATERIALS / STYLE / PURPOSE / CHANGES / SETTING. Each box has sketch space + sentence-frame starter. Header: 'Reading a Building - A Building Is a Primary Source.' Companion 4-photo reference set.

MG-7 Diagram

One physical sheet per child. Used in lesson 11 to observe a real local landmark building (teacher-selected). Companion 4-photo set of the local building at four angles. The sheet doubles as a portfolio artifact for the lesson 18 capstone.

• Apply 3 of the 5 features to today's building.

• Add architecture vocabulary to Word Wall
• Preview: tomorrow we audit voices

• Walk past one old building in your area. Sketch 1 detail and identify 1 of the 5 features.