As a kid growing up in rural North Carolina, TV options were limited to 4 channels. Fortunately, one of those channels carried Sesame Street, one of the best children’s shows out there with some of the catchiest kids’ songs. Think Pitagora’s Switch only with Muppets. Anyway, one of the common songs was about community members and helpers, the “people in your neighborhood.”

I jumped at the chance to share this modern update to a childhood classic, and it kickstarted our discussion of community members and how they help the community. This discussion led to our current project, designing our own community! First, we reviewed what kind of buildings, shops, services, and so on we thought were important to a community. Then the students formed their town planning councils — they were able to create their own equal groups. And from there, the students started designing the rough drafts of their maps.

Rare are the activities where the students actually ask me if they can work on it some more, but this one was drawing rave reviews from a very critical crowd!

That brings us to where we are today, taking that rough draft and plotting it out onto a bigger, proper map-sized sheet of paper!

Parents, keep an eye out on those Toddle portfolios for your kids’ own designed cities!

We’re wrapping up UOI 1, and will soon be jumping straight into UOI 2. This is one I have been looking forward to very much, as it touches directly onto a personal interest of mine that I am super excited to share with the kids. What is it? Stay tuned!

–Josh