What is Terrace Town? Since its inception in 2000, “Terrace Town” has introduced architecture and community design to over 2500 elementary school students and educators.
Mrs. Austen’s and Mrs. Schneider’s classes received a great introduction to “Terrace Town” by a real architect, Arlen Kay. He explained city planning with the students using 3D blocks and a Smartboard. Using wood pieces held together by pegs, he built a five foot long bridge across two tables. He was demonstrating the strength that triangles add to the design of a bridge. He also built a freestanding arch across two tables and showed how it needed to be supported. When he was done with the arch, the students got to walk underneath it! The students learned about force, tension, compression, and so much more! Then the students were able to try on their own to build the tallest structures they could using Keva blocks. The BRIDGE: The ARCH: BUILDING THEIR OWN TALL STRUCTURES: