Mrs. Russo's First Graders: Collaborative Community Map

As a culminating activity to consolidate our learning and exploration of community in Social Studies (just prior to Spring Break) we joined forces with Ms. Koo's K/1 class to create this collaborative mapping masterpiece of our community, Champlain Heights. This was no small feat, let me tell you. It quickly became their project and was tackled with full enthusiasm and determination from every angle. Once we got going, there was no stopping this crew of kids. They were passionate about including all of the places and spaces they felt really define, represent and meet the needs of their families in the community. We could barely keep up!

To create the map we consulted google maps to help draw out a simplified version of the community streets. Chalk on black paper. Did I say simplified? This hood is a web of tightly knit co-ops with cultasacs and crescents so inticrately woven it's near impossible to recreate on a scale that would sufficiently support forty plus paper bag houses to represent the single most important place in each child's interpretation of community - home. We quickly realized there was zero chance of fitting all of the colourfully decorated houses accurately on the map. Hence, the birth of the pin and string system. The kids were responsible for creating their own street labels and with google maps and some quick estimation, we got every home secured to the map.

The children decided on which additional places and spaces were important to include on the community map. Using oodles of paper and supplies parks, shops, cars, schools and fire halls were constructed and lovingly situated on the map. It was surprising how particular these customers were, cars had to be in exact spots, as did trees and shrubs!