Families+in+their+communities

=Families in Their Communities: =



Dear C-3 Parents,
Over the next few weeks we will be doing an exciting social studies unit! This unit is an introduction to teaching social studies called the “Families in Their Neighborhoods” Storypath.

A Storypath is just what it sounds like. It is a story that children are part of and help create. It leads them down a carefully constructed path where students make characters and solve problems. This unit starts small, with individual people, and moves outward. It connects what students’ learning to what they already know. This type of learning helps all our students!

Students can be bored by traditional text-book units based on memorizing facts. In this unit, students are engaged by //becoming// their characters. They are tied to the characters’ thoughts, feelings and emotions. They learn by doing, and sharing rather than just reading and being taught to. The fun of hands-on learning is more useful, and kids remember it.

This unit takes a few weeks. This is so we can look many different parts of our communities. I this unit we will read, write, measure, problem-solve, work together, and discuss! By using these skills together, we save time, and students can deeply examine real problems and solutions in their communities. It is our hope that this will provide them with the skills to take what they learn outside the classroom walls, and to apply their learning in their real-lives. Students are citizens, and this unit teaches them the skills they need to be good ones. This is our responsibility as teachers, and at Maple we take that responsibility seriously.

On this website are some fun at-home activities, that are connected to what we do in class. We hope you will enjoy doing these assignments with your students! We know that it can be hard to find time for homework, so we have given a lot of time to finish this homework. If you are having trouble or have questions, please contact me any time.

Thank you to all our great parents. Remember, YOU are our community. Your help and class visits are always welcome!



Activities: 1) What's in my neighborhood? 2) My neighborhood: Problems and solutions 3) We did it!