Grade
2
Fun Ways to Explore Three Communities—Urban, Rural, and Suburban
Pros and cons of urban, suburban, and rural life, according to second graders.
Key Takeaways:
- Explore the three main types of communities with the Scholastic News 2 issue “Summer in My Community.”
- Delve into prior knowledge and misconceptions about different communities.
- Use group work to list pros and cons of living in each type of community.
My second graders LOVED September’s Scholastic News for Grade 2 issue about kids getting ice cream in three different communities—urban, suburban, and rural. There was lots of spontaneous chatter as we opened the magazine.
Seeing kids who looked like them in very different landscapes had them buzzing. Though the ice cream was also pretty attention getting, mostly they were chatting about places they’ve visited that look like the images.
I capitalized on that spontaneous chatter and asked them to tell everyone where they’d been. Then I asked them to say what type of community they thought it was.
From that, I was able to get an idea of their prior knowledge and discover some of their misconceptions. For example, back in Kindergarten, they took a class a trip to the “farm,” which is really just an attraction that’s part of a local park. I let their background knowledge drive the way we approached the lesson.
Here’s how it went:
Step 1: I built background knowledge by showing the Scholastic News video on communities and vocabulary slideshow
Step 2: For the whole class instruction, I projected the issue and used the audio read-aloud feature.
Step 3: For small group instruction, the kids read the magazine with partners to really comprehend the material.
Step 4: We had a class discussion about why our community fits best into the suburban category. We brainstormed lots of things that we see and do that were similar to the video and the magazine. We then talked about places that we know of that are rural or urban. Don’t miss September's game! The kids had so much fun building their own community and then sharing which type of community it was.
Step 5: For a lesson extension, we made posters about pros and cons of life in each community. For my class, it worked best to divide them into three groups, with each group working on one kind of community. This lesson extension came about quite naturally. As we were discussing each type of community, the kids were voicing their opinions about them. So, I capitalized on their interest and had them create posters that listed the pros and cons of living in each community.
When we finished, we had a gallery walk. Each poster was put on a table and the entire class was able to walk to them and see the details in each one. I also provided post-it notes in case someone had a pro or con they wanted to add. This way they could express their opinion without writing directly on the poster.
The knowledge they gained through these activities was quite surprising. I realized that they knew these communities existed and that they were all different, but they had no idea they had specific names. Kids have a natural curiosity about the world around them and after they learned about the three main communities, they had many questions, such as what would you call a beach or a theme park? I added some of them to our Wonder Wall chart. Any time a student finishes their work early, they are welcome to research the questions and let us know!
Additional Ideas:
- Incorporate geography by giving students names of places to research and have them decide which would be classified as urban, suburban, or rural.
- Divide the students into three groups, one for each type of community. Direct them to make up a short play depicting what life would be like living in that community.
- Debate it! Divide the kids into three groups based on what type of community they think they’d like to live in. Pretend to be a parent who is deciding where to move. Have each group talk for a few minutes and then present to the “parent” why their type of community would be the best place to move. Make it meaningful and be sure to give feedback by explaining which group was most persuasive.
- Get their whole bodies moving! Have kids brainstorm lists of things they would see in each community. Then quickly write those items on index cards. Have one child act out a word, like tall buildings, cows, cars, etc. The other kids have to guess both the word and the type of community it would probably be found in.
- Explore Overlap. Many of the aspects of each community can overlap, such as traffic in both urban and suburban. Challenge the kids to think of things that might overlap within the three communities.
- Extend the idea of “Summer in My Community” to the other seasons and have students draw or write about winter, spring, or fall in different communities.
To bring fun, hands-on lessons like these into your classroom all year long, try Scholastic News for yourself. Sign up for a FREE 30-day trial and discover how Scholastic News can help you engage students in seasonal lessons all year long.
Denise Boehm teaches second grade in Florida. She also writes the blog, Sunny Days in Second Grade.
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