1. Select the buildings for your city.

2. Give each student an "acre" of land for his or her building. (Square board) Some may have ponds on them.

3. Decide on the shape of your city streets and the location of the buildings.

4. Use multilink cubes (or whatever comparable material you have) to build the building.

5. Draw a mat plan and corner views of the building.

6. Build the building out of centimeter cubes, glue them together, paint the sides and roofs.

7. On 21 by 21 cm graph paper, make a scale drawing of your building. Include a pond, if there is one, roads, parking lots, sidewalks, etc. Be sure road connect with your neighbor.

8. Transfer this scale drawing to the actual 8 1/4 inch square board.

9. Line the roads and parking lot with gray plaster. Use white plaster for the sidewalks.

10. Cover the pond with dark blue construction paper and a layer of blue plastic wrap.

11. Glue green construction paper onto the remaining areas.

12. Measure from either the edge of the board or the road or the other landmarks to locate the exact position of your building.

13. Glue the building into place.

14. Develop a project related to your building. For example, a menu for a restaurant, a stamp for a post office, a list of activities for a retirement center, or a mascot for a school.

15. Line up the acres to create the city.