LESSON PLAN the City

LESSON PLAN – The City

Theme –

CAREER SKILLS – Career Management

KEY SKILLS – Communication, Problem Solving, Working With Others, Improving Own Learning and Performance

WORK RELATED LEARNING – Learning For Work

COMPETENCIES – *ai, *aii, *bi, *ci, *cii, *di, **ei, **eii, **eiii, **eiv, **evi, ***fiv, ***kiv, ****li, ****mi

SUGGESTED SUBJECT AREA – Social Studies, English, Arts, Personal Development

Learning Outcomes:

· To develop the decision-making process.

Main Understandings

A city is made up of a large number of people that have a variety of jobs.
A city is made up of 4 main communities and each community is developed for a specific purpose.
People settled in the location where the city grew for specific reasons.
Cities have forms of government that make and enforce laws and provide services for the people.
Weather and climate influences the lives of the people in the city.
A city causes pollution to the environment and people can develop conservational attitudes and habits to decrease pollution.

Values

To appreciate their home environment and the ways they can personally contribute to it.

Should one group or one person be responsible for deciding what laws are passed in the city?

Table of Contents

Introductory Objectives: Characteristics of a City

Objective One: People of a City

Objective Two: Occupations in the City

Objective Three: 4 main communities of a City

Objective Four: Settlement patterns

Objective Five: Elected Representatives

Objective Six: The Effect of Weather on a City

Objective Seven: Pollution & Conservation

INTRODUCTORY OBJECTIVE:

The students will learn that a city is defined by specific characteristics.

MATERIALS: Alien Mask, markers, chart paper.

PROCEDURES:

Enter the class wearing an alien mask and costume (or have another teacher dress as an alien). Introduce yourself as an alien from the planet Pzar. Tell students you have come to earth to learn what a city is and how to recognize one. You have read books on cities but are still confused. Can they help you find "What a city is?"
On a large paper in front of the class (or chalkboard if no paper is available), list all the characteristics of a city the class can brainstorm. (ie: has people, business, shopping centres, no farm animals, streets, stores, parks, schools, etc. Include information about population, government, people, history and different areas of a city.) ** Guide questions may be needed to help students give characteristics you want them to say.
As an Alien, summarize things students told you about a city. Thank the students for the information they have given you and leave.
Return to the class as yourself--the teacher. ROLE PLAY that you have no idea of what has just occurred. Tell the students that you just arrived at the school because you had car problems that morning. Ask the students to tell about the alien. Ask them what the alien wanted? Other questions to ask:

· Do you think you gave the alien the information it came for?

· What did you tell the alien about cities?

· Do you think the alien will be able to recognize a city now?

· What other things could you tell the alien about cities if it returned?

Tell students they are going to learn more things they could tell an Alien next time.

OBJECTIVE 1: A city is made of people of different ages and races.

PROCEDURES:

Have students gather pictures of people in cities from magazines, newspapers, etc. Have students cut out pictures of people from different age groups and races who may live in a city. Paste these on to one large paper to create a class collage of city images and faces.

OBJECTIVE 2: A city offers a variety of occupational opportunities to its citizens.

PROCEDURES:

Make a list of jobs with the class. Use students' ideas and information from the yellow pages of the telephone book.
Ask students what kind of jobs exist now that may not have existed when their grandparents were young. (eg. Computer Technicians.)
Make a worksheet with three columns titled, "Name of Job", Name of Workers", and "Kind of Work". After doing the worksheet have students write if they would like this job. After completion of the chart have students go into partners and share what they have written down.

OBJECTIVE 3: A city has four main communities and each one has specific purposes.

PROCEDURES:

Discuss with the students the four areas of a city and what is in each part: Business, Residential, Parks and Recreation and Industrial.
List different things you would find in each area (kinds of buildings, vehicles, parks or open spaces, streets, etc.). Select a city and locate these areas.

OBJECTIVE 4: Cities are settled for different reasons.

PROCEDURES:

Tell students that they are in pioneer times, coming to Canada with their families, and looking to live somewhere. What would the land need to be like? (fertile, water available, protection).
Introduce reasons pioneers settled where they did: a ford in a river, a bay, railroad tracks, shallow rapids in the river, and other people in the area.

OBJECTIVE 5: People in a city elect representatives who decide how money is spent and what laws will exist.

PROCEDURES:

Ask the students various questions about rules and who makes them: ie: Who makes the rules at home? (family members), Who makes the rules at school? (principal, teachers) Who makes the rules for the city? (Aldermen and Mayor).
Hold a city council session in the classroom. Students are members of council. Give these situations:

· Should dog owners be allowed to walk their pets in parks? Who should clear up after them? List the pros and cons of this situation, then have a secret ballot vote as to whether a law should be passed.

· Should children ride their bikes on the sidewalk? After students have role played arguments on both sides of the issue, have another secret ballot. Students may vote for or against the issue idea based on personal feelings, not the side they were given to role play.

Select other issues to role play and vote on. Issues might be curfew times for children, shoplifting penalties, uses of parks, and other issues relevant to the children. Discuss as a class how the students felt when their group did not win or had fewer reasons to prove their view.

OBJECTIVE 6: How changes in seasons affect how we live in the city.

PROCEDURES:

Walk into classroom wearing clothing for the opposite season ie: shorts in winter, scarf in summer. Ask students if this attire is appropriate? (no) Brainstorm clothing that is worn in summer vs. winter. List these things on chart paper.
Compare jobs in different seasons (eg. snow removal, street cleaning, tree trimming, playground supervision, etc.) Tell students that how we live and what we do is affected by the weather outside.

OBJECTIVE 7: Certain items can be recycled to protect our environment and keep our city clean.

PROCEDURES:

Help students make a collage made of garbage. Ask students why garbage is harmful to our environment? (kills animals, looks messy, kills plants).
Ask students if they saw any of garbage on their way to school today? (yes, pop cans, cigarette butts, paper, wrappers) Ask the students what we can do about this. (Clean it up).
Take students outside in pairs to clean up the playground. Remember to give one garbage bag to every pair, rubber gloves to all students, and set boundaries before sending students out. When the playground is cleaned up, put bags in the garbage bins.
Go back to the classroom and draw two pictures on blank paper. One should show the playground before it was clean and the other show after they had cleaned it.
Have students write in their journals about the experience. Have them tell how they felt when they went out and when they came in.
Review with the students why it is important to protect our environment and city by not littering.

LESSON CLOSURE

· This exercise may take one afternoon or three days to complete.

· Have the students get into pairs and begin brainstorming ideas of their ideal city.

· Then have them write a story about the perfect city as they see it. Have students decide what their city will look like. While one student takes a turn writing the other student can add to their picture.

· Make sure the students are paired up with partner they work and co-operate well with. In the story have the students include where they are living (this does not have to be a realistic place on our planet), the kind of rules or government they would have, the jobs and schooling that would exist, the climate of the city, and the problems and solutions for their city. To make this job easier for the students give them these different areas before they begin writing and have them make a list of the things they want to write about under each heading. This helps avoid misunderstandings between partners and allows you (the teacher) to guide students more effectively.

LESSON EVALUATION

The students will be evaluated both informally and formally. Breakdown of evaluation for this unit is as follows: