The expanding horizons curriculum in elementary social studies usually includes the study of neighborhood and community at the second and third grades. The following unit provides background information and lesson plans for teaching about neighborhood and community in any school. Where I Live Children will identify specific characteristics of their own neighborhood and share the information with their classmates. This ctivity will enable children to see that other neighborhoods can be different from their own, but also similar in many ways. In this activity students make a picture web to describe a place.
Students discuss the characteristics of life in the country, in a suburb, and in a city.
With this activity, students express a personal view of land areas as well as buildings, schools, stores, and cultural events that make their community unique. As children study their own community, they also develop the framework for learning about other communities. In this activity, children interview a classroom visitor to learn about another community and discover what it has in common with their own.