Making an Igloo

I've run across several posts about building igloos with all the snow we are getting this winter in various parts of the country. Cool Tools have reviewed several igloo making tools and  resources in the past.  Including the documentary on igloo building embedded below.

The Toy Report had a fun post recently about building an igloo as a family project.  They ended up using a plastic storage container to shape the blocks as they found the "toy" forms pretty much useless.  Their igloo is shown to the left.  One item I thought was interesting was that they discovered that they needed someone inside to build the walls stating:

"Do not attempt to get in or out of the igloo or build a doorway until the igloo is complete.  One person stays inside to place the blocks, the other makes the blocks."

If you watch the documentary below, that's exactly how the Eskimos built their igloos.  Including the last two pieces of the roof that were fitted from the inside out. 

[Image: Captured from Toy Report: http://toyreport.org/family-life/building-kids-igloo/]

Mobile Classrooms

In our district, when a school reaches capacity and there just aren't enough classrooms, mobiles are brought in. These things are essentially mobile homes with most of the interior walls taken out. You would think that something like this could be manufactured in such a way that would best meet the needs of a modern classroom. Well thought out storage. Lots of electrical outlets. Built-in computer drops. Adequate cooling and heating. You know, all the things you want in a classroom.

I've haven't seen a well designed one yet.

I was talking to our head custodian about mobiles the last time we had one brought in and he mentioned the price. At the time, we had just moved my mother-in-law into a brand new double wide manufactured home. Her three bedroom structure cost thousands of dollars less than the one we had just installed at our school. How could this be? I think it was a case of going with the lowest bidder without properly specifying features. Still, I always thought there was a lot of room for improvement with these things.

I was pleased to see that someone was thinking about mobiles in a different way when I stumbled onto this posting about prefab classrooms (pictured above). They don't look like mobiles, they are green, and the specs sound much better than anything I've seen.

[Image captured from Inhabitat: http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/09/24/chartwell-school-unveils-new-prefab-classrooms/]