Saturday, July 9, 2011

Ideas for building a community

Dear Students and Parents,

Here is a great example to get some ideas for a project the students will do this semester. Thank you for your participation.


1.       Build a Model Community (3rd grade)
When I was a third grade teacher, I used to build model communities with my class.

I began by making a list of all of the commercial and public buildings a small community might have. Each type of building was written on a separate index card: supermarket, hardware store, gas station, automotive repair, hospital, school, police station, fire station, post office, public library, restaurant, pizza shop, bakery, clothing store, gift shop, florist, town council building, community center (with pool), movie theater, condo association building, apartment (since managing can be a full time job) etc.

Since I had twenty-one students, I had twenty-one building cards. A few were duplicates: restaurant, gas station, supermarket.

I also had twenty-one residential cards that identified different types of homes: house, duplex, condo, apartment

My students used graph paper to either build 3 dimensional models of their homes or their businesses.


Scale size was important, so prior to beginning construction, I consulted with each student regarding the maximum size for any wall.

For those of you who don't want to do this, you can actually purchase and download "z" scale (1:220) model houses on-line. The neat thing about doing this is that the buildings would be pretty. With care you could use them for several years. The scale size would also be consistent from one building to another.



Here is a source for purchasing model paper homes.
http://fiddlersgreen.net/#

The drawback to using downloadable buildings is that the kids would be less vested in their buildings. Having students build their own buildings would also be a good exercise in understanding symmetry and congruency, and understanding area, length, width, and scale size.

Once the buildings were made, I "created" a model town. Green butcher paper covered a huge sheet of ply board that had been laid on a rectangular table in the back of the classroom. Roads were made to scale using black construction paper. I also added parking lots and driveways as needed.

Each street was named. I used my computer to print out street names. After cutting out the names, I used glue sticks to identify each street.

I also identified each home or business i.e. "Tami's Supermarket, George's post office, Emily's house."

The model town then became a teaching tool.

How did I use it?

1) Students learned how to give directions. For example, after placing a model car at Sam's house, Lucy was asked to give Sam written directions for driving from his house to her flower shop.

Directions of turn left and then turn right were not acceptable as I would model using the car. While "driving" down the road, I would wonder aloud ... "which left? Left on Smith Avenue or left on Daisy Street?"

Students learned to use landmarks or street names. "Turn left out of your driveway and turn right at the school. Turn left on Brown street. My shop is the third building on the right."

2) The model community was very useful as a creative writing focus in language arts. Students designed advertisements for their businesses.

They wrote letters to each other using "addresses" from the model town i.e. Sarah Smith, 101 Blair Street, Anywhere, Texas 78429. The student postmaster collected and delivered these letters.

Students wrote persuasive paragraphs. For example, when told that a waste disposal company wanted to purchase a plot of land for dumping trash (6 inches square on the model community), students wrote a paragraph explaining why this was or was not a good idea. Was construction of the waste disposal company a good idea or not?

Surprisingly enough, those students who would have "lived" next to the dump site always protested the idea. They typically wrote about the smell and the unpleasant sight of mounds of garbage. Some of the more creative students also wrote about the constant noise of garbage trucks driving to and fro from the site. One student even wrote about his plummeting property value. (He was either very bright or he had a talk with mom and dad while doing his homework).

3) Social Studies: As a culminating activity, I announced that the Federal Government wanted to build a highway through the town. The highway would be 2 1/2 times the width of a current street. Students were organized into groups and told to design a highway that would have the least negative impact on the community. I gave them scaled maps and strips of black construction paper (also scaled to size) to help with their planning.

This was essentially a values clarification exercise. What businesses and services does a community need?

Again - I typically found that students were vested in their homes and businesses. It was alright to bulldoze a neighbor's home or business, but not theirs.

Each group gave a presentation about their plan. Each group also wrote a persuasive paragraph.

Students then voted on the plans via secret ballot ...

These were only some of the ideas that I used when teaching this unit. It was lots of fun and the model community always caught the eyes of visiting parents.

Language Arts Parts of Speech Quizes

3rd grade Dolch Sight Word List

Preprimer
Primer
First
Second
Third
a
all
after
always
about
and
am
again
around
better
away
are
an
because
bring
big
at
any
been
carry
blue
ate
as
before
clean
can
be
ask
best
cut
come
black
by
both
done
down
brown
could
buy
draw
find
but
every
call
drink
for
came
fly
cold
eight
funny
did
from
does
fall
go
do
give
don't
far
help
eat
going
fast
full
hers
four
had
first
got
I
get
has
five
grow
in
good
her
found
hold
is
has
him
gave
hot
it
he
how
goes
hurt
jump
into
just
green
if
little
like
know
its
keep
look
must
let
made
kind
make
new
live
many
laugh
me
no
may
off
light
my
now
of
or
long
not
on
old
pull
much
one
our
once
read
myself
play
out
open
right
never
red
please
over
sing
only
run
pretty
put
sit
own
said
ran
round
sleep
pick
see
ride
some
tell
seven
the
saw
stop
their
shall
three
say
take
these
show
to
she
thank
those
six
two
so
them
upon
small
up
soon
then
us
start
we
that
think
use
ten
yellow
there
walk
very
today
you
they
where
wash
together

this
when
which
try

too

why
warm

under

wish


want

work


was

would


well

write


went

your


what




white




who




will




with




yes



Social Studies Games and information

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twFs9Vk6F0A