Lesson Overview:

In this lesson, students learn what can be done with parts of the city when they are no longer useful or safe.   How can an older or rundown part of the city be transformed?  Can we change what we have or must we build something new?  Using the world-famous example of NYC’s Highline Park, students will be inspired by purposeful and transformational urban change.

Lesson Plan:

Suggested Grades:

4-5

Objective:

Each student will be able to explain the concept of urban renewal and give an example of a successful urban renewal project.  (AASL 3.1.5, “Connect learning to community issues.”) (Key Concept: Change.)

Suggested Time:

40-45 minutes

Success Criteria:

Each student will complete an assignment that asks them to think critically about outdated, run-down, or worn-out places in a city.  Using the example of NYC’s Highline Park, students will come up with creative solutions for an urban decay problem.

Lesson Outline:

1. Introduction:

In the “tuning in” lesson, students generated a list of buildings/places in cities, then created a class skyline.  Explain that today we are going to look closely at a problem some cities have as they age.  New cities rarely have old infrastructure in need of demolition or repair.  However, older cities are often faced with aging or deteriorating buildings and infrastructure.  In this lesson, we think about ways to handle parts of the city that are no longer useful.

2. Main:

Use the PowerPoint presentation (attached) to introduce the concept of urban renewal.  Adapt this for your city as needed.

Push hard to get the kids to come up with ideas for what could have been done with the old train tracks.  Many of them will say, “Tear them down.”  That is what most New Yorkers assumed would happen.  But, in this case, a few people had a different vision and created something new and incredibly successful.

Once the children have talked through the problem and come up with a few solutions, tell them that New York turned the old train tracks into a park!  Show the video, “The Highline Design Video”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-yEb4JT-A8  The video moves quickly so you may wish to stop it in places to make sure the kids understand how the park was built.

3. Conclusion:

Emphasize that there are no limits to what can be done in our cities.  Cities today look nothing like cities of the past.  Today cities are greener, more beautiful, and more purposefully built.  Challenge the children to look for urban renewal projects in their own neighborhoods, or perhaps to even get involved with a local project.

Resources:

1. Introductory PowerPoint presentation explaining the setting and background for the High Line Urban Renewal project.
2. The High Line Design Video 2008: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-yEb4JT-A8
3. Images of the High Line from NYC Parks: https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/the-high-line/photos
4. High Line official web page “Friends of the High Line” (great video resources):  http://www.thehighline.org/
5. Computer, screen, and projector for showing students the PowerPoint and video.

Notes:

As far as I am aware, there are not children’s books about The Highline.  However, there are several other videos and photos on the Friends of the High Line web page.  Be sure to check those out.

Recommended books for this lesson:

None

Key Terms:

Urban Renewal, Highline Park, New York City, Parks, Urban Decay, Inner Cities, Urban Architecture

High Line Photos and Info

Lesson Overview:

In this lesson, students get a chance to try their hand at mapping one of the school’s spaces.   I’ve seen teachers give several periods to a project like this, but I find that one period works just as well to give children a feel for how difficult it is to make a good map!  Kids usually enjoy making their maps and want to add color or outlines to make their maps shine!

Lesson Plan:

Suggested Grades:

3-4

Objective:

Each student will complete a simple map of one of the school’s common spaces:  Library, foyer, playground, cafeteria, or theater/auditorium.  (AASL 1.2.3, “Demonstrate creativity by using multiple resources and formats.”)

Suggested Time:

45-55 minutes

Success Criteria:

Each student will complete a simple map of one of the school’s common spaces.

Lesson Outline:

1. Introduction:

Ask the children to tell you a few things about city planning, communities, or maps that they have learned so far.  Connect to last week’s lesson in which they made a skyline.  Today, instead of looking at a large space (i.e., the entire city or the entire skyline), the students will look in greater detail at one of the spaces in a city, the school.  They’ll focus even more narrowly by looking at one of the spaces inside a school, the school library.

Ask the children if they know what a map is.  (If you have taught the atlas lesson, they will definitely know!)  I like the definition Loreen Leedy gives in Mapping Penny’s World, that a map is “a picture of someplace from above.”   Ask the children to repeat this definition with you.

Use a flip chart or whiteboard and make a simple map with the children.  This should last no more than two minutes.  You might map a sport field or court to show the position of the net, hoops, goals, etc.  Or, you might map a convenience store that has just one or two aisles – anything simple so that they get the idea that their map should have the perspective of looking at something from above.

2. Main:

Tell the children that today they will make a map of the school library.  Pass out the graph paper, pencils, and clipboards.  Give the children 20-25 minutes to map out the library and its furnishings.  Don’t give too many instructions, but explain that they should include important features such as the circulation desk, bookshelves, chairs, and tables or computers.  If there are doors and windows, try to include those as well.

Check in with the children as they work.  Keep them on task and try not to let anyone get frustrated.  Watch for children that erase multiple times.  These are kids who get stuck wanting their project to be perfect.  Encourage them to do their best and keep going.  We are not looking for masterpieces, just a simple map to show the most important parts of our library.

3. Conclusion:

Pull the children back to the carpet or circle area.  Ask them to show their work to at least one person who has not seen it before.  Compare the maps on a few features.  They might ask their partner how he/she represented tables, chairs, doors, or windows.

Ask the children a few questions to get them to reflect on their experiences.

• Was this harder or easier than you thought it would be. Why?
• What was the easiest part of the library to map?
• What was the most difficult part to map?
• If you had to do this assignment again, what would you do differently?
• Do you think that someone could use your map to find his or her way around the library?

Thank the children for their work.  If enough of them finished, make a display of the library maps to show the school community what the children have learned.

Resources:

1. Pencils and erasers
2. Clipboards
3. Chart paper or dotted paper. If you don’t have chart paper, download the paper in the size you need from this web site:  https://www.printablepaper.net/category/graph.  Printable Paper has letter size, legal size, A4, and just about any other size you could ever need!
4. Rulers
5. A few simple, sample maps from the recommended books below to show the children.
6. A copy of a theme park map the children might recognize (optional.)

Notes:

If your library is too small for the entire class to work comfortably, have half the group work on mapping the library and another group map the reception or foyer area.  Other options might be the cafeteria, playground (weather permitting) or auditorium/theater. 

I have debated a few times about giving kids more structure and guidance for this lesson, or in other words, teaching them about scale, direction, map keys, etc.  However, I have found that if you let them experiment, they will learn and figure out their own way to manage these challenges.  My conclusion is that it’s just better to give them a piece of graph paper or dotted paper and let them loose!

There are some apps and technology tools that work well for this lesson, but for elementary aged children, I prefer using pencil and paper and letting them work it out.

Recommended books for this lesson: 

1. Mapping Penny’s World by Loreen Leedy.
2. Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney.

Key Terms:

Maps, Mapping, Interior Design, Space Utilization, Libraries, Library Design

 

Lesson Overview:

In this lesson, students use the mixed media masterpiece by Jeannie Baker to take a detailed look at how common people can transform their communities.  From urban blight to urban paradise, the gradual unfolding of home and community takes place under Baker’s masterful designs.  The text is wordless, so children work out and tell the story as they go.  It is a challenge for them, but they love it and are drawn into the story through their own efforts to construct the story.

Lesson Plan:

Suggested Grades:

3-5

Objective:

To understand that people’s actions influence the communities in which they live, and that it is possible to create a lovely neighborhood through hard work and care for the environment.  (AASL 3.1.5 “Connect learning to community issues.”)

Suggested Time:

40-50 minutes

Success Criteria:

As a class, create a chart, Padlet, or Mind Map to show how the neighborhood changed over time.  (Key Concepts:  Change  and Responsibility.)

Lesson Outline:

1. Introduction:

Welcome the children.  Ask them to tell you about some of the things they have been learning in their Unit of Inquiry on communities.  In today’s lesson, we will take a close look at a city neighborhood that was not a nice place to live.  But, something happened and the community changed.   As we work our way through the story, look carefully at the pictures.  Try to figure out what has changed in the community and why you think it has changed.

Inform the children that the story has no words, so they will need to provide the words to tell the story.

Organize the class mind map, Padlet, or chart so that the children can contribute their ideas.

2. Main:

Teach Home by Jeannie Baker.  If you have a way to enlarge the pictures, please do so.  The mixed media images are full of intricate detail, and the better the children can see the city, the easier it will be for them to make contributions to the discussion.

For each two-page spread, you are looking through a window at the city beyond.  There are two-page spreads for approximately 24 years.  Ask the students to make a few notes about each period in Tracy’s life, using the Student Handout (attached).

Couple w/newborn:  (Old fence, concrete, roads, urban blight, neighbor planting a bush.)

Toddler Child:  (Green grass in the yard.  Baby pool, neighbor’s bush has grown.)

Tracy at 4:  (New fence, play area, curious neighbor boy.)

Tracy at 6:  (Garden path, neighbor gives Tracy a plant.)

Tracy at 8:  (Part of old fence removed, Tracy is gardening, Old man and boy planting a tree across the street in the abandoned lot.)

Tracy at 10:  (Lot across the street is now a gathering spot.  Graffitti gone. “Reclaim Your Street” sign.)

Tracy at 12: (Garden replacing concrete across the street.  Tracy’s garden flourishing. Neighbor making a new wall.)

Tracy at 14: (Tracy discovers make-up, her garden is thriving.  Birds, children, elderly enjoying safe outdoor spaces.)

Tracy at 16: (Park and lake in distance.  Tracy has a boyfriend.)

Tracy at 18:  (Tracy is considering universities.)

Tracy at 20:  (Red haired boy is the new friend.  Neighborhood looking healthy and green.)

Tracy at 22:  (Tracy gets married in her neighborhood.)

Tracy at 24:  (Tracy and her husband welcome their own baby to a much different neighborhood.)

Extension For Older Students:

Ask for one paragraph that addresses the question, “What is our responsibility in creating attractive, healthy, comfortable communities?”

Extension For Younger Students:

Give them a simple drawing of a house, and ask them to transform it into a more livable place.

Extension Class Project:

Using a paper roll, or an A1-sized piece of paper, sketch a window like Ms. Baker uses in her books.  Outside, draw a bleak city.  During breaks and in free time, have the children transform the community just as Ms. Baker does in her books.  This would be a project that might stretch a week or two, but if you have one table to dedicate to the effort and some scraps of cloth, paper, twigs, sand, etc. the kids would make their own mixed media neighborhood.

Conclusion:

As the lesson wraps up, ask the children why the people worked so hard to change their neighborhood.   Was their result worth the effort?   What is our responsibility as citizens and neighbors?  Should we wait for someone else to make a nice neighborhood for us, or should we contribute to the effort?  What do you think you can do to make a positive difference in your own neighborhood?  (Key Concept:  Responsibility)

Resources:

1. Copy of Home by Jeannie Baker. (In the UK market, the book was sold under the title Belonging.)
2. Copies of Student Handout (attached).
3. Flipchart paper or projected Padlet, to record class ideas.
4. Paper, pencils, and art supplies to support your extension project.

Notes:

I worked with one teacher who liked to have her students do a writing extension after working with this text.  Feelings of home or belonging are often part of the pastoral program at many international schools, and she had them do a piece of creative writing to address this topic.

Recommended books for this lesson:

1. Copy of Home by Jeannie Baker. (In the UK Market, the book was sold under the title Belonging.)

Key Terms:

Urban Renewal, Cities, Neighborhoods, Neighbors, Plants, Home, Belonging, Families, Change, Responsibility

 

Student Handout, Home, by Jeannie Baker

Lesson Overview:

In this lesson, students “tune in” to their new unit by sampling the content of some of the collection’s picture books.  Using at least three picture books, the children will see how many elements of cities and neighborhoods they can spot in their favorite stories.  They will then use their information to create a class cityscape.

Lesson Plan:

Suggested Grades:

2-3

Objective:

To find elements of neighborhoods or cities in some of the library’s picture book collections.  (AASL 1.1.6: “Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g. textual, visual media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning.”)

Suggested Time:

35-45 minutes

Success Criteria:

Each child will identify at least 10 places or structures commonly found in cities or neighborhoods.  Children will use then use the information to make a quick sketch of one place often found in a city.  When these are displayed together, the class will have a “tuning-in” cityscape!

Lesson Outline:

1. Introduction:

Explain that, at the beginning of this new unit on city planning, we will sample a small bit of the library’s collection to see what we can find out about cities.  There is a lot of information “hidden” in rhymes, pictures, and symbols in some of our picture books.

Pass out blank paper and pencils.  Ask the children to listen and watch for places commonly found in cities.  In some of the stories these are not explicitly named, so they will have to be listening and watching carefully!   Instruct them to take notes on only one side of the paper.  The back side of the paper has a special purpose, and they will find out about that at the end of the information gathering.

2. Main:

Choose three story books to read and discuss together.  Try to use short texts so that you can expose the children to several different authors, illustrators, and styles.  As you work through the stories, ask the kids to jot a few notes, perhaps in a graphic organizer or mind map, about what they see or hear that is commonly found in a city or neighborhood.

They should come up with things like:

Gardens	Offices	Airport
Restaurants	Homes	Train Station / Stop
Schools	Shops / Markets	Bus Station / Stop
Barber/Beauty Shops	Parks / Playgrounds	Bridges / Roads / Tunnels
Malls	Stadiums	Lakes / Mountains, etc.
Swimming Pools	Museums	Police / Fire Station

Each child should independently collect at least ten ideas about what is commonly found in cities and neighborhoods.  If the students do not have ten ideas each, encourage them to talk with a partner and trade ideas so that their lists are complete.

Ask the children to turn their paper over, and in five minutes quickly sketch one of their ideas.  Don’t give them much time – this is just a “get it down on paper” activity.  Be sure to ask the children to place the bottom of any buildings at the bottom of the paper and to fill the entire space.  Hopefully this will be enough so that the cityscape elements will visually fit next to each other.

3. Conclusion:

Ask the children to tidy up and come back together.  Next, ask them to line up and hold their papers so that the pictures face outward.  The pictures should form a class cityscape that they can display and show their teacher.

Resources:

1. Paper and pencils.
2. Colored pencils / crayons / markers.
3. Selection of picture books that represent cities and neighborhoods.

Notes:

Although I have written this lesson to do as a class, you could also set up stations and have children work independently in small groups.

The goal of this lesson is to get the children to think broadly about what is found in cities and neighborhoods.  Some of the recommended texts do this more than others.  Please use books you have in your collection.

If you have a longer period, you can extend the lesson by having the children use magazine clippings or found materials to create individual cityscapes.  Sarah McMenemy’s work in her “Panorama Pops” series is very inspiring.  She is an illustrator who is well known for her renderings of buildings and architecture.

Recommended books for this lesson:

Please choose a sample of picture books from your collection that either talk about or show cities and neighborhoods.  There are many to choose from, but over the years I have used:

1. Home by Jeannie Baker.
2. Only One Neighborhood by Marc Karshman and Barbara Garrison.
3. All Through My Town by Jean Reidy, illustrated by Leo Timmers.
4. Round Trip by Ann Jonas.
5. Wow! City! By Robert Neubecker
6. Busytown or any of the books in the “Busytown” series by Richard Scarry.
7. London, Paris, New York, or any of the “Panorama Pops” city books by Sarah McMenemy.

Key Terms:

Cities, Neighborhoods, Parks, Shops, Roads, Hospitals, Schools, Urban Planning, City Planning, Urban Renewal