Embedded Files
Content
History-Social Science Framework Ch. 3 "Geography of the Neighborhood" pp. 36-37
Students begin the study of geography by exploring the immediate environment of the school and their neighborhood, including its topography, streets, transportation systems, structures, and human activities, in Standard K.4 using the question What is our neighborhood like? Teachers guide students’ investigations of their surroundings with questions about familiar features of the environment, where they can be found, and how maps can be used to locate them. Students demonstrate spatial concepts and skills by using a variety of materials such as large building blocks, wood, tools, toys, and other recycled objects to construct neighborhood structures. Such group activities become important beginnings of map work for young students. Students are encouraged to build neighborhoods and landscapes and to incorporate such structures as fire stations, airports, houses, banks, hospitals, supermarkets, harbors, and transportation lines. As a result of these activities, students are made aware of how stairs and curbs in their neighborhood pose physical barriers for people with mobility impairments such as those who use wheelchairs.
Inquiry
Essential Question:
What is our neighborhood like?
Learning Activities
Picture files, stories, and informational texts should be used to deepen students’ understanding about the places they are creating and the work that is done in these places. Literature such as The Listening Walk by Paul Showers, or Barrio: Jose’s Neighborhood by George Ancona, featuring photos of a Latino neighborhood in San Francisco, may be used to pique students’ interest in exploring their environment.
Exploring the environment surrounding their school today and discussing how it is different than when the school was built focuses students on the fact that people in earlier times used many of the same goods and ecosystem services that are used today, such as lumber, water, and food. They discover that in earlier times, people more directly consumed the goods and ecosystem services from natural systems rather than obtaining them from sources like grocery stores and lumberyards (see appendix G for California Environmental Principle II). Having students reflect on the management and use of natural resources on their campus provides them with a picture of the way resource use has changed over time (see below the California Education and the Environment Initiative [EEI] curriculum unit “Some Things Change and Some Things Stay the Same,” K.4.5–K.6.3).
Some Things Change and Some Things Stay the Same (EEI)
Description: Students become familiar with the idea that history relates to events, people, and places of other times.
Content: Students compare and contrast the locations of people, places, and environments and describe their characteristics. Construct maps and models of neighborhoods, incorporating such structures as police and fire stations, airports, banks, hospitals, supermarkets, harbors, schools, homes, places of worship, and transportation lines. Demonstrate familiarity with the school’s layout, environs, and the jobs people do there. Students understand that history relates to events, people, and places of other times. Understand how people lived in earlier times and how their lives would be different today (e.g., getting water from a well, growing food, making clothing, having fun, forming organizations, living by rules and laws) (HSS Standard: K.4.5-K.6.3).
Inquiry: What is our neighborhood like?
Lessons:
A Look at Our School
Life (and School) in Earlier Days
When a Community Grows
Managing Our School's Resources
Citizenship
Field Experience to the San Diego Model Railroad Museum
Culminating: Town Hall Meeting
STEAM Extension Activities
Children's Engineering Long Ago and Today - Students collaborate to build a town over time
Report abuse