Urban Planning, City Design: Unit Overview
Use your collection and the children’s creative enthusiasm to go to town, quite literally, with this unit. Start with some literary analysis that compares how cities are portrayed in picture books. Extend that with a little note-taking, an information literacy skill, and by creating city skylines. Explore urban renewal through the brilliant work of Jeannie Baker, map the library, take a virtual trip to NYC’s High Line Park, and even consider the possibility of an underwater city using current events sources. There is wealth of material to draw on and to keep the kids engaged in this non-stop, city planning unit.
Urban Planning, City Design #1: Tuning In to City Planning
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… Read more
Urban Planning, City Design #2: Home, by Jeannie Baker
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,… Read more
Urban Planning, City Design #3: Challenge: The Library Map
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… Read more
Urban Planning, City Design #4: Highline Park, Urban Renewal
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… Read more
Urban Planning, City Design #5: Underwater Cities
Lesson Overview: In this lesson, students are challenged to think about cities of the future. What might they look like? How would they be different from today’s cities? Using a current events article, kids will complete a short reading, then think about what an underwater city might look like and… Read more