This week, we started a new unit – Kid Town! In this unit of study, the students learn through a simulation what kind of things it takes to make a town function and run. This week, we are focusing on two main concepts – maps and the concept of needs and wants.
We started the study by being introduced to a map of a huge newly-discovered island. We found out that maps have a key or legend that tell the map reader what the different symbols on the map mean. We discussed what people need to survive and then looked on the map to see where we thought would be a good place to settle. We narrowed it down to five different places and took a vote to narrow it down to three. We then took a vote to pick the one place we would build the town. Make sure to ask your student what kind of resources it has around it!
We also had a discussion about how towns are named. We figured out that they can be named after people, something near the town, other places, or even things like liberty. We also discussed other things that we saw like town names ending in -ville or -ton. Ten town names were nominated. We voted it down to three, and then voted for the one we thought would be the best. As you can see from the title to this article, it was Cooltopia!
We will be learning some more about maps and starting to see what shops we might want to have in the town. We are also starting to learn more about jobs and places we might see in a town. Be looking for more on that over the next couple of weeks!