Bringing the Neighborhood into the Classroom

Today in class we were able to get to know and understand the valve of our own neighborhoods and the others around them. We were all to bring in a picture of our neighborhood or what we thought of when we thought about our neighborhood. We then all posted our pictures on the wall for everyone to be able to see. We went in a couple groups and filled out a diagram comparing and contrasting our neighborhood picture with that of someone elses in the class. In doing this we were able to see that even thought we all attend the same school, some of our neighborhoods are very different. It was a nice activity to be able to see where people lived and what they had around them that you may not and what you have around your neighborhood that other people did not. This can show students the value of neighborhood and that even though they may appear to be very diferent they have some things in common. We were also given a chance to include some writing skills into this lesson by making up a short poem about our neighborhood. We were also given the chance to answer some questions about what we loved about or neighborhood and what we may want to change about it. This activity provides a great lead in to talking about other things in a community such as street names, addresses and how apartment ones are different, also intersections, sidewalks, how people get around and so much more!! This is a great acttivity to make things really relate to the students and give them information about things that are right outside of their doors. This is also very simple to do with students because even if they do not have the means at home to get a picture of their neighborhood it can be done at school through google maps as long as they know their address! Great authentic learning activity that you can shape and mold to fit any grade level! I would recomend doing this activity to introduce the idea of neighborhood and expand on this idea!