Curated OER
All Around the Neighborhood
Second graders explore the roles, responsibilities and skills of community leaders as they discuss the definition of community. They brainstorm businesses in the community and explore the importance of each profession represented in the...
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Understanding: Geography
Students explore their neighborhoods. In this geography activity, students make a map of their neighborhood. They must include a key, natural terrain, buildings and streets. They also write a descriptive paragraph about their neighborhood.
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CLASSROOM MAPS
Students do a blind tour of their school by responding to verbal commands. They look and discuss various maps in the classroom. They locate the direction of the sunrise and discuss the compass directions of North, South, East, and West.
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Families and neighborhoods
Students create their house to add to a class "neighborhood". In this lesson on family and community, students read the book Family by Todd Parr and discuss how all families and houses are different. Then, students create their own...
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Map Reading
After examining a map from 1803 and 2003, they explore how to become map readers. They describe what they see on the map from 1803 and compare the information to the map from 2003. Students create their own map of the neighborhood that...
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Mapping the Most Common U.S. City Names
Students discuss the most common U.S. place names. They map the locations of U.S. cities with the most common names and use an atlas, or an online map tool such as MapQuest or Yahoo Maps.
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Ticky Plans His Trip to Antarctica to See Tacky
First graders participate in a creative problem solving activity to help Ticky get to the Atlantic Ocean. They identify Ticky's problem, brainstorm ways to solve the problem, and develop a plan. They write the steps Ticky needs to take...
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Mathematical Roadmaps
Second graders observe how a sample math problem is solved on the overhead. They work in small groups to develop a strategy for solving another problem using counters as well as a large sheet of paper to write down their explanation of...
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It's a Beautiful Day in MY Neighborhood
Students create and produce their own "WAlk Through" video about their neighborhood, develop script writing and on-camera narration skills, and gain knowledge and expertise about the landmarks in their own neighborhoods.
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Mapping My World
Students are introduced to simple maps and view a map of a classroom and compare distances of items shown.
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Welina's World
Young scholars living in Hawaii draw a picture of themselves in their neighborhood. They draw their neighborhood in relation to their district and then in relation to the island they are from. They compare their pictures to their...
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My Neighborhood:
Students act as tour guides for their communities after conducting research about their neighborhoods. After conducting research, students write stories and create maps of their communities to share with classmates and community members.
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May 25 - National Bike Month
In this writing prompt worksheet, students learn that May 25th is 'National Bike Month.' Students write about a bicycle path they would create through their neighborhood or town and where it would lead. Students include a description of...
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Neighborhood Appreciation
Fifth graders examine the neighborhoods around their school. Using maps, they document landmark buildings and community organizations with digital cameras. They write about their journeys and share them with the community.
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How Do I Get There? Planning a Safe Route to School
One much-needed skill for young learners is direction giving. Have your class plan and draw a safe route for them to travel from home to school. They will also draw places and items that are in between home and school in order to build a...
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My Neighborhood: A Webquest
Students engage in a Webquest to discover their school and community. They interview staff members of the school, create maps and take digital photographs of the school. As they write about their school, they use Microsoft Word to...
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Your Neighborhood Geography
Tenth graders use maps and an atlas to observe different climates throughout the world. In groups, they brainstorm what they expect to see in their own neighborhoods and take pictures. They present their pictures to the class and write a...
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Your Galactic Address
Middle schoolers discover their place in the universe. In this astronomy lesson, students identify their location on various maps that have increasingly larger scales. In the end, the middle schoolers write their address in terms of...
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Describe My City
Learners explore the functions of cities by creating a visual image of their own neighborhood. Students diagram, list, and label the major businesses and cultural areas of the neighborhood where they grew up, then write a letter to a...
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Historical Markers
Students read the "Chicago Tribute Markers of Distinction," and pick one famous person to write about. For this creative writing worksheet, students write about this person's home. Additionally, students pretend that 100 years from now,...
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The Gingerbread Friend Is Loose!
Students explore the story of the Gingerbread Man, and compare the story's neighbors and neighborhoods with those of their school. They bake Gingerbread Friends cookies, retell the story, take a neighborhood walk, and create a class book.
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Cartography Project
A activity involving mapping, the use of a compass, writing and following directions, and exploring the first two themes of geography is here for you. Learners create original maps that show the routes they take through their own...
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Navigating Your Community
Learners draw a map from memory describing the route between their classroom and the gym including a legend, a compass rose, a map scale, symbols, and a landmark at every change of direction. They then retrace their steps in their maps...
Arts Midwest
The Joy Luck Club: Culture and History
Explore San Francisco's Chinatown in a lesson plan about the first few chapters of The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. Kids research Chinatown on the Internet and create a virtual tour of the neighborhood, including the foods, cultural events,...