Rural, Urban, and Suburban

This week we have been learning about different types of communities.  Rural, urban, and suburban were new vocabulary words for all of the students.  Early in the week when we began our lessons I asked the students if they have ever heard of any of these words.  Only one courageous kid raised his hand and said, "I think they are all types of cars."  This sure made me grin, :) and boy have we learned a lot since then!

After I gave an introduction on the topic we watched a BrainPop Jr. lesson all about different types of communities.  Then we sorted out traits and made our own flap books that tell about the traits of rural communities, suburban communities, and urban communities.





The following day we searched through magazines to find pictures that illustrated each community.  This turned out to be harder than it sounds!  Just as I was about to pull my hair out at the next picture of a living room, bedroom, or kitchen that was presented to me, they got it!  We had a great discussion about which picture belonged where and WHY.  Success!   Phew!

After we had a clear picture of what each community might look like the kiddos drew their own depiction on their flap books.  Finally, we each selected our favorite type of community and wrote an opinion piece telling why we prefer it.

I am so proud of everyone's hard work!  We have learned so much in one week!