| TAF >> Teaching Materials >> Online Publications |
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| INTRODUCTION | |
| PART I Myself & the Neighborhood | |
| Myself & Neighborhood | |
| Community Quilt | |
| The Mail Carrier | |
| Let Your Fingers Do the Walking | |
| The Sign Walk | |
| Who I Am | |
| Baking Bread with the Little Red Hen | |
| PART II Exploring Systems | |
| What's in a Thumb | |
| Parts of You | |
| Puzzles Are Systems | |
| How Many Systems Do I Belong To Right Now | |
| PART III Communicating with Others | |
| Talking with our hands | |
| Lullabies link people | |
| PART IV Myself and the Larger World | |
| Move, Feet, Move | |
| The Challenge of the Desert | |
| Planning a Park | |
| Communication Tools | |
| TV or Not TV | |
| Missing the Point | |
| Who Likes Animals | |
| A Simple Chocolate Bar | |
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MYSELF
& THE NEIGHBORHOOD Introduction Every primary teacher has probably had the experience of asking a five- to eight-year-old student a concrete question and receiving an enthusiastic but erroneous reply. To the question "What state do you live in?" a student may respond with the name of his or her city or street. Or to the question "How far do you think it is from Oakland to San Francisco?" a student may reply, "A hundred miles." One reason for these misinformed answers is the child's immature sense of distance and time, which only maturity and experience can alter. Children may be very much aware of their immediate world-the street, the school, the neighborhood÷but unaccustomed, and therefore unable, to see the larger world that reaches beyond the immediate experience of daily life. By exploring with students what is in fact closest and most familiar to them÷family, friends, school neighborhood-a teacher can help students begin to understand the interconnections between the self and the world. Eventually, the students who understand their role in the immediate context of daily life will be able to comprehend that each person plays an important part in an even larger environment. Field trips which make a laboratory of the school neighborhood are an indispensable aid in teaching children about their roles in a larger world. Purpose Through concrete, meaningful experiences students become familiar with their neighborhoods. Areas of study Social Studies (recognizing what makes up a neighborhood, large and small group dynamics, mapping, becoming familiar with various professions and observing them) Language Arts (reading, handwriting, oral language, listening, creative writing) Mathematics (comparing, contrasting, tallying, one-toone correspondence, measurement) Art (drawing, photography) Science (collecting plant life, labeling and identifying neighborhood plant life) Objectives Through the exploration of the neighborhood, students will: Become familiar with street names, landmarks, houses, and buildings in the area. Become familiar with the various types of occupations in the neighborhood. Become familiar with the plant life in the neighborhood. Comments to the teacher By using your neighborhood as a tool to enhance your curriculum, you can give children concrete and meaningful experiences. Field trips or walks need not be long. Begin with short walks and gradually work your way up to longer ones. Don't forget to take advantage of spontaneous happenings in your neighborhood. A new building under construction can be the catalyst for an entire unit. A marvelous experience happened recently on one of our class walks. We discovered a group of men assembling a sculpture on the lawn of a hospital. We sat down and watched the artists put together their creation. We hypothesized what it would look like when completed. We discussed the need for the artists to work as a cooperative team. We observed what equipment they needed to complete the job. Children asked questions about why the artists wanted to put the sculpture at the hospital and who decided they could build it there. The success of your curriculum depends not only on enthusiastic field trips but on materials and extra help as well. Parent volunteers can help to implement a unit. Before each unit is begun, writing notes to parents describing your goals and needs, and the skills that will be covered usually helps to stimulate interest. When parents understand why you need film, or volunteers for phone calling and car pooling, they are often very generous. Begin your neighborhood unit by defining the area you will be exploring. Discuss the boundaries of "your school neighborhood." You may wish the boundaries to be the two blocks around the school or the five blocks between major crossing streets. Explain to the children that not every child lives in this area, but by looking at the school surroundings everyone will learn something about the neighborhood. You may wish to take field trips to all the areas of the city from which your students come. Activity Ask your students what they think they will see while walking in the neighborhood (trees, cars, stores, etc.). Have a student record the answers or record them yourself. Next, take the children out into your neighborhood with the list they have compiled. (The children's list will give you some insight into how familiar they are with the neighborhood.) Check off the things listed as you find them in the neighborhood. Add items as children discover them. Cross off those that appear on the list but not in the neighborhood. Take the revised list back to the classroom and read it out. Ask one of the students to rewrite the revised fist on a long sheet of butcher paper, numbering the items. Leave plenty of room for additions. Hang the list somewhere in the classroom. |
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