Part 2

Lesson Plan

UNIT: This is My Neighborhood

Grade: 2

Duration: 2 days

Big Ideas: Students get to know their way around the school’s neighborhood by identifying features there the four senses.

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OBJECTIVES:

  • Predict what they might see, hear, and smell on their neighborhood walk.
  • Use their senses to describe all the things they see, hear, and small through their school neighborhood.
  • Assist with creating a map key
  • Work to create a block map of their school neighborhood.

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MATERIALS:

  • Paper and markers
  • Clipboard for each student
  • Pencils
  • Rulers
  • Poster board for each group
  • Crayons and art supplies
  • Digital camera

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INSTRUCTIONS:

  • Divide students into groups of four students for the walk and map assignment.
  • Create a Prediction Chart by drawing 3 columns (See, Hear, and Smell) on a piece of paper and giving it the following heading: What We Might See, Hear, and Smell in our School Neighborhood
  • Prepare a piece of paper with the following heading: Map Key
  • On each sheet of the poster board, draw “blocks” and label streets to represent your school neighborhood. Students will later fill in all the items they saw from their walk on this “block map.”
  • Set up drawing materials (crayons, pencils, rulers, etc.) for each of the groups to complete their block maps.
  • Designate a bulletin board to post the maps, map key, and digital photos.

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LESSON INSTRUCTIONS:

PART 1: THE NEIGHBORHOOD WALK

  • Tell students that they will be going on a walking tour of their school neighborhood. However, they must first predict what they will see, hear, and smell during their walk. Reveal the Prediction Chart you created ahead of time. Fill in each column with student responses and post the chart paper so you can check the predictions after the walk.
  • Explain that the students’ job is to observe what they see, hear, and smell during their walk and record their observations in the appropriate columns.
  • Break students into small groups and give each student a copy of the recording chart, a clipboard, and a pencil.
  • Take digital photos. Print them when you return so you can refer to them later in the lesson.
  • When you return to the classroom, gather the students around the Prediction Chart and review. Ask students what can be added and/or deleted. Process the walking tour with a brief discussion of what the children observed. Collect their recording charts for assessment.

PART 2: MAP MAKING

  • Review the walking tour with the students. Tell them that they’ll be helping you create a map key that includes all the things they saw. Later, they’ll split into groups to make maps of their school neighborhood using the map key. Use the Prediction Chart you revised after the walk to review the things students observed.
  • Discuss the things that should be on a map of their school neighborhood and list them on your map key chart paper. Explain the way a map key functions. Show students how they can draw pictures to represent items on their maps.
  • Decide as a group what the pictures should look like for each item. If desired, have the “artists” of the class help draw the pictures on the chart paper. Post this map key for students to refer to while creating their maps.
  • After the map key is complete, share the sheets of white poster board with the students, pointing out how you have designated the neighborhood “block” and street names. Tell them that they’ll be working in the same groups from the walking tour to draw in all the things that they saw, like the buildings, people, signs, and cars.
  • Remind students that they’ll be using the map key pictures to represent neighborhood things, and they’ll need to work together to decide who will draw each item. Give some examples of how they might do this. For example, designate one student to draw all the buildings, another to draw the signs, and so forth.
  • Use photo prints from the walk, share them with the students to “revisit” the neighborhood before getting started.
  • Assemble the groups and help them decide where to work. Give them a block map sheet and drawing materials, and let them begin. Encourage groups to refer to the class-created map key and to use those pictures to represent each item.
  • When the maps are complete, allow time for each group to present their map to the class. Post these maps and the digital photos near the map key.

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LESSON EXTENSION:

  • Take another neighborhood walk and focuses on different an objective: Interview store owners or employees.

Work Cited

Roudez, Tracey. “This Is My Neighborhood.” Scholastic, Scholastic, http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plans/teaching-content/my-neighborhood/.

Discourse Community Project-part 2-Lesson Plan